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WHAT THIS TEMPLATE IS FOR

This is an integrated three-statement financial planning model for an operating company. It links a monthly income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement across a 48-month timeline, and it is built for the job most finance teams actually do every month: report the month that just closed, compare it against the approved budget, and re-present the full-year view to management.

It suits SMEs and mid-market companies that plan monthly and report against a board-approved budget, as well as finance professionals, consultants and analysts who need a clean, auditable base model they can adapt to a client or a business unit.

THE ROLLING CUT-OFF

The feature that sets this model apart is a single control called Last Actual Month. Every month up to and including that date reads from the Actuals Input sheet; every later month is forecast from the assumptions. When you close a month, you enter it and move that one cell forward — the revenue drivers, headcount, operating expenses, working capital, capex, debt and all three statements re-cut themselves automatically. The annual column headers relabel too, so a part-actual year shows as A/E rather than pretending to be a forecast.

A second control, Plan Anchor Month, holds the forecast path in place. Because the drivers are anchored to that month rather than chained off the cut-off, closing a month does not disturb the rest of the plan. Actualising January does not silently move your December forecast.

WHAT IS INSIDE

– Three revenue modules — recurring/contract, project/services and transactional/product — each with its own driver build and an on/off toggle, so you can run one, two or all three.
– Headcount and fully loaded payroll by function, with benefits and bonus loading.
– Driver-based operating expenses, working capital on days, a straight-line PP&E schedule and an explicit debt schedule with interest.
– A full approved monthly budget P&L down to net income, plus balance, headcount and capital targets.
– A variance sheet comparing the current view against the plan line by line, with an EBITDA bridge that decomposes the gap into revenue, gross margin and operating expense effects.
– Base, Upside and Downside scenarios from one selector, plus a comparison sheet that shows all three side by side without changing your selection.
– An executive dashboard with KPI tiles and four charts.
– Key ratios: free cash flow, net debt, net debt to EBITDA, interest coverage, DSO, DIO, DPO and the cash conversion cycle.
– A Checks sheet with 28 controls and a single PASS or FAIL status covering balance sheet integrity, cash flow tie-outs, roll-forwards, input validity and cut-off consistency.

HOW TO WORK WITH IT

Start on the Cover sheet, which explains the conventions and colour coding. Enter your opening balance sheet and your closed months in Actuals Input. Set the scenario, the Last Actual Month and the Plan Anchor Month on Assumptions, then work down the driver list — blue font on pale yellow marks every editable input, and data validation blocks out-of-range entries. Replace the illustrative budget with your approved plan in Budget Targets. Read the results on the Dashboard, Variance and Scenario Comparison sheets, and confirm the Checks sheet shows PASS before you circulate anything.

WHY YOU NEED IT

Most monthly reporting packs are rebuilt by hand every period, which is where errors and lost hours come from. This model is designed so the monthly cycle is one input sheet and one date cell. It is also built to be auditable rather than opaque: all cells are unlocked, there are no macros and no add-ins, it uses only standard Excel functions available in Excel 2016 and later including Excel for Mac, there are no circular references and no iterative calculation, and there is no cash plug — financing is entered explicitly, so if the plan runs out of cash the model says so instead of hiding it. The currency code and units label are inputs, so the workbook is not locked to US dollars.

WHAT THIS TEMPLATE IS NOT

It is a planning, budgeting and reporting model, not a valuation model. It does not contain a DCF, a cap table, an LBO or a returns waterfall, and it is not tailored to the specific KPIs of any one industry. Figures shipped in the populated file are illustrative and must be replaced before use. Nothing in this workbook is accounting, tax, legal or investment advice.

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