“Manage Your Profit”
A Proforma Financial Analysis Tool
What is it?
In financial statements, the term “proforma” is included when a method of calculating financial projections has been used. A Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) is similar, but primarily uses a company’s previous financial results to predict future outcomes.
If your business is very small, you may not need a sophisticated financial analysis. However, using this tool will allow you to better manage and scale your business from month to month. Any founder or manager needs to anticipate the company's future financial condition to strategically plan marketing, hiring, inventory, and investing in the business.
If you’re in need of funding, having this financial information will enhance your presentation. It demonstrates that you are operating a business with the intention of succeeding and that you understand how to manage and grow responsibly.
You may be able to create these financial statements using free templates found online or on YouTube videos. However, if you are not familiar and comfortable with financial data, you will likely become fatigued while reviewing the templates and samples, and then be left to figure out how to use them on your own. The opportunity for confusion and error is significant. Additionally, these free tools are often oversimplified and generic. You and any loan officer or investor need to have access to accurate, detailed, and up-to-date financial data.
I have coached and assisted many founders and startups in this process, irrespective of their understanding of financial statements. Interacting with me to develop these financial documents will benefit you both in the short term and provide you with an ongoing management tool to grow your business.
Process
It is essential to recognize that this is a collaborative process—we will work together to complete this financial analysis. This is NOT a DFY (do it for you) program—it is a DWY (do it with you) program. The learning element is built in. It will be your financial management tool. We will not create fictional numbers to “make things look good.” Creating nonsense will serve no purpose in creating a reusable tool to better manage your business.
We will begin with a Zoom Discovery Call. From that dialogue and a brief questionnaire, I will develop an estimate of the timeline to complete your financial tool. If you have not started this financial process, then starting from scratch will require an in-depth conversation to understand the details of your existing business or idea before launching a new one.
There will be 3 or 4 Zoom calls during the process to continually guide you and review the process. We will build your proforma spreadsheet together using Microsoft Excel, the spreadsheet program universally available and understood. If you are unfamiliar with Excel, please visit the resources section on my website for guides that are easy to use.
Through our dialogue, I will gain a deeper understanding of your business. We will delve into your industry, business structure, operations plan, marketing, pricing, profitability, management, employees, taxes, and more. There is also the likelihood that new data will need to be acquired through research and vendor quotes before and during the development process. This approach ensures the data used is current and accessible.
Please also review the Processing Procedure
Timeline
Completion will depend on your existing knowledge of known and unknown expenses, the type of business (B2B or B2C), your product/service mix, pricing models, and your value proposition—in other words, anything that defines or has an impact on income and expenses.
On average, this process takes 3 to 4 weeks, starting from scratch. This includes time for research and gathering estimates related to suppliers, logistics, licensing, employees, and a range of other elements specific to your business, not a generic model.
I strongly advise that you have either a) a completed Business Plan, or b) these components of a plan: An Industry Analysis, a Business Model, and a Pricing Model. These will provide the basic data to complete the financial analysis. If you don’t yet have these elements, please tell me, and I can guide you.
Deliverable
Your Manage Your Profit financial tool will include a proforma Profit & Loss Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet. Typically, the statements will show startup or current expenses, as well as 3 years of future financial activity, broken down by month for year one and by quarter for years two and three.
You will have a financial management tool to edit and use every day, allowing you to understand and manage your Income, Expenses, and Profit in real-time.
Pricing And Billing
The cost of this service is $1,500. If you are using my Business Plan Development or Business Plan Review service, I will provide the Manage Your Profit program at a 10% discount. The billing for the combined services will be included in the invoicing and your payment plan.
Payments are made as follows:
A deposit of $500 when our Agreement is signed (this payment will be considered part of the initial payment if the Proforma service is included in one of the Business Plan services)
Two equal payments of $500 each are then made in 30 and 60 days.
Your initial invoice will specify the future payment dates.
If the plan is completed earlier than the scheduled payments, the final payment of the balance is due within 10 business days of completion.
This payment plan will effectively stagger predictable, affordable payments over a manageable timeframe.
If you are in a) Ideation mode (no revenue yet), b) have been in business for less than 1 year, or c) have less than $50k in annual sales, the Manage Your Profit price is reduced to $1200 with $300 monthly payments.
Free And Discounted Update Service
For up to one year after the final invoice payment, I will provide an additional 60-minute call at no charge to answer follow-up questions or assist you with new situations that may have evolved since our initial engagement. Simply email me to request an appointment time.
If additional assistance is needed beyond the free call offer, I will provide any additional time at a 25% discount off my hourly rate.
Guaranty
If any service that I provide does not meet your satisfaction and expectations of the stated deliverable, I will work with you to rectify the situation to an amicable resolution.