This template enables users to create monthly cash flow projections for any user defined three year period. The template includes a monthly income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet. The cash flow projections are based on monthly turnover, gross profit and expense values that are entered by the user as well as a number of default assumptions which are used to create an automated balance sheet. These assumptions include opening balance sheet balances, working capital ratios, payroll accruals, sales tax, income tax, dividends and loans. The monthly reporting periods are based on any user defined start date.
Note: Refer to our Monthly Cash Flow - Forecast vs Actual template for a solution which enables users to compare monthly cash flow forecasts to actual account balances. Our unique range of templates also includes business plan forecasts as well as annual & weekly cash flow projection templates.
The template includes the following sheets:
Assumptions - this sheet includes the default assumptions on which the monthly cash flow projections are based.
IncState - this sheet includes a detailed monthly income statement for a 36 month period. All the rows that are highlighted in yellow in column A require user input and the codes in column A are mainly used in the sales tax, receivables & payables calculations. The rows that do not contain yellow highlighting in column A contain formulas and are therefore calculated automatically.
CashFlow - as with the income statement, only the rows with yellow highlighting in column A require user input. All the other rows contain formulas and are therefore calculated automatically.
BalanceSheet - all balance sheet calculations are based on the template assumptions and the monthly income statement & cash flow statement calculations. No user input is therefore required on this sheet.
Loans1 to Loans3 & Leases - these sheets include detailed amortization tables which are used to calculate the monthly interest and capital repayment amounts that are included on the monthly income statement and cash flow statement. Each sheet provides for a different set of loan repayment terms to be specified.
Note: If you do not want to include any of the line items that are listed on the income statement, cash flow statement or balance sheet, we recommend hiding these items instead of deleting them. If you delete items which are used in other calculations, these calculations will result in errors which you then need to fix or remove.
Setup
Business Name & Reporting Periods
The business name and the start date for the cash flow projections need to be entered at the top of the Assumptions sheet. The business name is included as a heading on all the sheets and the 36 month reporting period which is included in the template is determined based on the start date that is specified. This date is used as the first month and 35 subsequent months are added to form the 3 year projection period.
User Input
The income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet only require user input where there is yellow highlighting in column A. All rows without yellow highlighting are automatically calculated as detailed in these instructions. Note that even the user input columns contain annual totals which should not be replaced with values.
Income Statement
All monthly income statement projections need to be entered exclusive of any sales tax that may be applicable.
Turnover & Gross Profits
Monthly turnover values need to be entered on the IncState sheet for all 36 months (excluding the annual totals in the columns with dark blue column headings). The projected monthly gross profit percentages also need to be entered on this sheet and are used in order to calculate the gross profit values. The monthly cost of sales projections are calculated by simply deducting the gross profit values from the monthly turnover values.
The template includes two default lines in each of these sections - one for a typical product based item and one for a typical service based item. The template can therefore be used for both service and trade based businesses. There are no cost of sales and gross profit values in service based businesses and a gross profit percentage of 100% can therefore be specified. You can also hide the cost of sales and gross profit sections if you do not want to include them in your cash flow projections.
Note: You can insert as many additional line items as required by inserting the required number of items in each section and then entering the appropriate values where user input is required or copying the formulas from one of the existing lines. We recommend inserting additional line items between the two existing default line items.
Note: The codes in column A are used in the sales tax and trade receivables calculations. The first two characters represent the sales tax code and the last two characters represent the payment status. Refer to the Balance Sheet - Sales Tax and Balance Sheet - Trade Receivables sections for more information on these codes.
Other Income
Monthly projections of other income should be entered in this row. Note that other income may consist of items like interest or dividends received and this line item is therefore not included in trade receivables and sales tax calculations. If you want to include other income in the trade receivables or sales tax calculations, you need to add the income to the Turnover section as an additional line item.
Operating Expenses
All the monthly operating expense projections need to be entered in the operating expenses section of the income statement. The template contains 22 default operating expense line items but you can add as many additional items as required or delete the line items that you do not need. When adding additional line items, remember to copy the formulas in the total columns from one of the existing line items.
Note: The codes in column A are used in the sales tax and trade payables calculations. The first two characters represent the sales tax code and the last two characters represent the payment status. Refer to the Balance Sheet - Sales Tax and Balance Sheet - Trade Payables sections for more information on these codes.
Staff Costs
All the monthly staff cost projections need to be entered in the staff costs section of the income statement. The template contains 2 default staff cost line items but you can add as many additional items as required or delete the line items that you do not need. When adding additional line items, remember to copy the formulas in the total columns from one of the existing line items.
Note: The codes in column A are used in the sales tax and trade payables calculations. The first two characters represent the sales tax code and the last two characters represent the payment status. Refer to the Balance Sheet - Sales Tax and Balance Sheet - Trade Payables sections for more information on these codes.
Note: Staff costs have been included in a separate section on the income statement in order to be able to calculate payroll accruals. If you do not need to include payroll accruals in your cash flow projections, we recommend entering nil values and hiding these rows. If you delete the section, some of the payroll accrual formulas may result in errors and you therefore may need to delete them as well.
Depreciation & Amortization
Monthly projections for depreciation and amortization need to be calculated independently of the template and included in this section. We unfortunately cannot include default depreciation or amortization calculations because some businesses may have very different asset bases than others with existing assets which may already have been depreciated over a number of years. Any calculation which is based on a percentage of the balance sheet asset value may therefore not be accurate.
If you already have a sheet which is used for depreciation or amortization calculations, you can include it in this template and add formulas in the depreciation & amortization section of the income statement to include your calculations in the appropriate line items.
We also realize that some users may want to include depreciation and amortization as part of their operating expenses. We have therefore provided for this in that the depreciation and amortization calculations on the cash flow statement are based on the default code which is included in column A. You can therefore enter nil values in the depreciation & amortization section on the income statement, hide the section and include these line items in the operating expenses section and as long as you also include the default codes in column A, the cash flow statement values for depreciation and amortization will be calculated correctly.
Interest Paid
All interest paid calculations are automated and based on the amortization tables on the Loans1 to Loans3 and Leases sheets. The template accommodates the inclusion of loans & leases based on four different sets of loan repayment terms which need to be specified on the Assumptions sheet.
Opening loan balances are based on the balance sheet opening balances section on the Assumptions sheet and additional loan amounts can be entered in the proceeds from loans section of the cash flow statement and will then automatically be included in the appropriate amortization table.
You do not need to use all four loan amortization sheets - if you only need to include loans based on one set of repayment terms, you can delete the other loan amortization sheets, delete the other interest paid rows on the income statement, delete the other proceeds from loans rows on the cash flow statement, delete the other repayment of loans rows on the cash flow statement and delete the other loan balances from the balance sheet.
The template provides for four sets of loan repayment terms - the same amortization table can basically be used for all loans with the same repayment terms by adding additional loan amounts as proceeds to the cash flow statement in order to add new loans to the appropriate amortization table.
If you need to add more than four sets of loan repayment terms, you will need to copy one of the amortization sheets, change it to reflect the appropriate loan terms and then change the formulas in the amortization table to be based on the correct loan repayment terms at the top of the sheet. This means that you need to add another set of repayment terms to the Assumptions sheet and link the fields at the top of the new amortization table to the appropriate cells on the Assumptions sheet.
If there is an opening balance for the required additional loan terms, you need to include a new code in the balance sheet opening balances section on the Assumptions sheet and base the opening balance calculation in the first period of the amortization schedule on this code. You also need to add new rows to the interest paid section on the income statement, the loan proceeds section on the cash flow statement, the loan repayment section on the cash flow statement and the loan balances section on the balance sheet. The appropriate formulas can be copied from one of the existing items and the sheet reference in the copied formula can then just be replaced by the sheet name of the new amortization table that you've added.
Taxation
The taxation line item on the income statement is automatically calculated based on the profit before tax and the income tax assumptions which are specified on the Assumptions sheet. If you do not want to include income tax in the cash flow projections, simply enter an income tax rate of 0%. This will result in no income tax being calculated.
If you do want to include income tax calculations, the appropriate income tax percentage needs to be entered in the Income Tax section on the Assumptions sheet. You can also enter a value for an assessed loss (as a positive value) which may have been carried over from a previous tax year which would result in income tax only being calculated after profits exceed the value of the assessed loss.
You also need to specify the payment frequency in months and the first calendar month in which a payment needs to be included. The template automatically provides for income tax based on what is due and includes the income statement amount and a provision for taxation on the balance sheet. The payment frequency and month of payment assumptions are then used to determine when the income tax liability will be settled which will result in the appropriate cash outflow being recorded on the cash flow statement and the provision for taxation being reduced.
The template can accommodate income tax calculations based on current and subsequent month payments. If you select the Current option, the income tax payment amount will be calculated based on all amounts that have accrued up to and including the month of payment. If you select the Subsequent option, the income tax payment amount will only be calculated based on all amounts which have accrued up to the previous month end.
Example: If you select the Current option in the Income Tax section of the Assumptions sheet, all income tax amounts up to and including the current month will be included in the income tax payment amount. This means that the provision for taxation at the end of the particular month will be nil. The Current setting is therefore usually appropriate for provisional taxpayers.
Example: If you select the Subsequent option, all amounts up to and including the previous month end will be included in the income tax payment amount. The provision for taxation balance on the balance sheet will therefore not be nil at the end of the month of payment and include the current month's income tax charge.
Dividends
The template also includes automated dividends calculations. If you do not want to include any dividends in your cash flow projections, you can simply specify a dividend percentage of zero percent.
If you want to include dividend calculations, you need to specify a dividend percentage which will be applied to the profit for the period in order to calculate the dividend value. You also need to specify the frequency in months of dividend payments and the first payment month. The frequency of dividends determines when the dividends are included on the income statement and the first month of payment determines when the dividend payment is included on the cash flow statement (only has an effect if the dividend payment option is Subsequent).
You can also specify whether the dividend is paid in the month of calculation (Cash option), the month after calculation (Next option) or in a subsequent month. When you elect the subsequent month option, the payment of the dividend will be included based on the relative position of the first month of payment in relation to the year-end period (which is determined based on the template start date at the top of the Assumptions sheet).
Example: If you want to include a dividend in the last month of each financial year, select a payment frequency of 12 months and month 12 as the first payment month. Then select the Cash option in order to include both the dividend on the income statement and the payment in the last month of the year.
Example: If you want to include a dividend in the last month of each financial year but delay payment to the first month of the next financial year, select a payment frequency of 12 months and month 12 as the first payment month. Then select the Next option in order to include the dividend on the income statement in the last month of the financial year and the payment in the first month of the next financial year. A dividend payable amount will then automatically be included on the balance sheet at year-end.
Balance Sheet
All the calculations on the balance sheet are automated and no user input is therefore required.
Opening Balances
If you need to compile cash flow projections for an existing business, you will need to include the opening balance sheet balances at the start of the cash flow projection period. This is facilitated in the Balance Sheet Opening Balances section on the Assumptions sheet. The opening balances that are entered here are included in the first column on the balance sheet.
You can use the trial balance as at the end of the period immediately before the start of the cash flow projection period for this purpose. All assets should have positive balances and all equity & liabilities should have negative balances. The opening balances should also balance to a total of nil as with any accounting system trial balance. If you enter balances and the total of all balances is not nil, the entire opening balances section on the Assumptions sheet will be highlighted in orange.
You then need to fix the imbalance by adjusting the opening balances so that the total comes to a total of nil. The orange highlighting will then be removed automatically. Also note that the cash flow projection balance sheet cannot balance if the opening balances do not balance.
Note: If you are preparing a cash flow projection for a new business, you can include zero balances for all the balance sheet items in the opening balances section.
Non-Current Assets
The property, plant & equipment balances on the balance sheet are calculated by adding the purchases of property, plant & equipment as entered on the cash flow statement and deducting the depreciation charges that are included on the income statement.
Intangible assets balances are calculated in much the same way by adding the purchases of intangible assets as per the cash flow statement and deducting the amortization charges which need to be entered on the income statement. The calculation of the investments balances on the balance sheet is a bit simpler in that only the purchases of new investments as per the cash flow statement is added to the previous month's balance and there is no depreciation or amortization on investments.
Note: Purchases of property, plant & equipment, intangible assets and investments all need to be entered as negative values on the cash flow statement.
Current Assets - Inventory
The inventory balances on the balance sheet are calculated based on the inventory days assumption which is specified on the Assumptions sheet. The number of days that are entered here is applied to the monthly cost of sales in order to calculate the appropriate inventory balance. This calculation is based on the actual number of days in each month if the inventory days assumption is greater than the number of days in the appropriate month.
Example: If you enter an inventory days assumption of 60 days and the month is April, the entire cost of sales value for April will be included in the inventory balance because April only has 30 days. After including the 30 days in April, there is a difference of 30 days between the 60 days assumption and the 30 days in April. The March cost of sales balance will therefore be used, divided by the 31 days in March and multiplied by the 30 remaining days. The inventory balance at the end of April will therefore consist of the cost of sales total for April and an equivalent of 30 days of the 31 day cost of sales of March.
Note: The above calculation principle is applied regardless of the number of days which are entered as the inventory days assumption on the Assumptions sheet even if the value of the inventory days assumption requires the inclusion of more than 2 months. This method of calculation is the most accurate way of projecting inventory balances even for businesses where there is significant sales volatility.
Note: If your business does not carry inventory, you can simply enter a nil value in the inventory days assumption on the Assumptions sheet. The inventory line on the balance sheet will then also contain nil values.
If you want to include variable monthly inventory days, you can do so by changing the inventory days assumption in the Workings section of the balance sheet which has been included below the section with the ratios. Simply replace the formula which links the inventory days assumption to the value on the Assumptions sheet by overwriting it with the appropriate inventory days value.
Current Assets - Trade Receivables
The trade receivables balances on the balance sheet are calculated based on the debtors days assumption which is specified on the Assumptions sheet. The debtors days number can be determined based on the average trading terms which has been negotiated with customers. The debtors days is applied to the monthly turnover in order to calculate the appropriate trade receivables balance. This calculation is based on the actual number of days in each month if the debtors days assumption is greater than the number of days in the appropriate month.
Example: If you enter a debtors days assumption of 60 days and the month is April, the entire turnover value for April will be included in the trade receivables balance because April only has 30 days. After including the 30 days in April, there is a difference of 30 days between the 60 days assumption and the 30 days in April. The March turnover balance will therefore be used, divided by the 31 days in March and multiplied by the 30 remaining days. The trade receivables balance at the end of April will therefore consist of the turnover total for April and an equivalent of 30 days of the 31 day turnover of March.
Note: The above calculation principle is applied regardless of the number of days which are entered in the debtors days assumption on the Assumptions sheet even if the value of the debtors days assumption requires the inclusion of more than 2 months. This method of calculation is the most accurate way of projecting trade receivable balances even for businesses where there is significant sales volatility.
Where sales tax is applicable, the appropriate sales tax value relating to monthly turnover will be added to the trade receivables balance. Sales tax codes are defined on the Assumptions sheet and the codes in column A next to the turnover amounts on the income statement are used to determine the appropriate rate of sales tax to be used.
The trade receivables calculation will also only include lines that are coded with a sales tax rate code (in the first two characters) and a "C1" at the end of the code. The C1 part of the code refers to credit sales while the inclusion of a C0 code at the end refers to cash sales. Cash sales do not need to be included in the trade receivables calculation and turnover lines with C0 or no code in column A are therefore ignored when calculating trade receivable balances.
Example: If the standard rate sales tax code is V1 and the appropriate turnover line needs to be included in the calculation of trade receivables, the code V1C1 needs to be added in column A of the appropriate turnover line on the income statement. If you do not want to add sales tax in the trade receivables calculation but you do want a trade receivables line to be included in the balance sheet, you can add a code which refers to a 0% sales tax calculation as well as the C1 credit sales indicator.
Example: If you do not want a particular turnover line to be included in the trade receivables calculation, you can include any sales tax rate followed by C0 in order to exclude the line in the trade receivables calculations. For example, a turnover line with a code of V1C0 would not form part of the trade receivables calculations.
Note: If your business has no trade receivables, you can simply enter a nil value in the debtors days assumption on the Assumptions sheet. The trade receivables line on the balance sheet will then also contain nil values.
If you want to include variable monthly debtors days, you can do so by changing the debtors days assumption in the Workings section of the balance sheet which has been included below the section with the ratios. Simply replace the formula which links the debtors days assumption to the value on the Assumptions sheet by overwriting it with the appropriate debtors days value.
Current Assets - Loans & Advances, Other Receivables
The loans and advances & other receivables balances cannot be calculated by basing them on specific income statement items and they are therefore calculated by adding the movements in these balances as per the cash flow statement to the balances of the previous month. If you therefore want to increase or decrease these balances, you need to add the amount of the increase or decrease to the line with a matching description on the cash flow statement (under the changes in operating assets section).
Current Assets - Cash & Cash Equivalents
The cash & cash equivalents balances on the balance sheet are linked to the closing cash balances on the cash flow statement. If the resulting cash & cash equivalents balance has a negative value, it will automatically be included in the bank overdraft line in the Current Liabilities section of the balance sheet.
Equity - Shareholders Contributions, Reserves
The shareholders contributions & reserves balances cannot be calculated by basing them on income statement items and they are therefore calculated by adding the movements in these balances as per the cash flow statement to the balances of the previous month. If you therefore want to increase or decrease these balances, you need to add the amount of the increase or decrease to the line with a matching description on the cash flow statement.
Note: The shareholders contribution line on the cash flow statement can be found under the cash flow from financing activities and the reserves line on the cash flow statement under the non-cash adjustments.
Equity - Retained Earnings
The retained earnings balances on the balance sheet are linked to the retained earnings for the year which is calculated on the income statement.
Non-Current Liabilities - Loans 1 to 3, Leases
The template provides for loans & leases to be included based on 4 different sets of loan repayment terms. Loans with the same repayment terms can be grouped together in the appropriate line item. There is no difference between the treatment of loans 1 to 3 and leases. If you do not have finance leases and have loans with 4 different sets of repayment terms, you can use the Leases sheet and rename the appropriate line items accordingly.
Note: The loan repayment period in years is limited to a maximum period of 30 years. If you want to include a loan repayment period which exceeds this period, you need to change the data validation settings in the appropriate input cell by selecting the data validation feature from the Data tab on the Excel ribbon and editing the maximum value of 30 which has been set in the loan repayment period cells.
Each of the loan repayment terms can be specified in the Loan Terms section on the Assumptions sheet. The loan terms include the annual interest rate, loan repayment period in years and a selection field which can be used to indicate interest-only loans. These loan repayment terms are then included at the top of the appropriate loan amortization sheet on the Loans1 to Loans3 and Leases sheets.
Note: A set of loan terms can be specified as interest-only by selecting the "Yes" option from the interest-only drop-down list in the appropriate loan terms on the Assumptions sheet. If this selection is made, the loan will be interest only and not include any loan repayments.
All the calculations on the amortization sheets are fully automated. The loan terms are taken from the Assumptions sheet and the opening balances in the first row of the amortization table are based on the opening balances that are entered in the balance sheet opening balances section of the Assumptions sheet.
The loan repayments, interest charged and capital repayments are calculated based on the outstanding balances at the beginning of each period. Additional loans can be added to the appropriate amortization table by entering the appropriate values in the proceeds from loans section on the cash flow statement (under the cash flow from financing activities section).
The outstanding loan or lease balances at the end of each monthly period are then included in the appropriate lines on the balance sheet.
Current Liabilities - Bank Overdraft
The bank overdraft as well as cash & cash equivalents are based on the closing cash balances which are calculated on the cash flow statement. If the appropriate monthly closing balance is negative, the balance is included as a bank overdraft and if it is positive, it is included as cash under current assets on the balance sheet.
Current Liabilities - Trade Payables
The trade payables balances on the balance sheet are calculated based on the creditors days assumption which is specified on the Assumptions sheet. The number of days that are included here can be determined based on the average trading terms which has been negotiated with suppliers.
The monthly cost of sales, operating expenses and staff costs on the income statement are added together in order to determine a monthly value on which the trade payables calculations should be based. Expenses and costs which are paid on a cash basis can be excluded from the trade payables calculation by entering a code which ends in C0 in column A on the income statement. The codes in column A start with the appropriate two character sales tax code and end with the two character payables code.
Example: The expense codes in column A for all line items that need to be included in the trade payables calculation and which need to be subject to sales tax at a standard rate should be V1C1. If the expense item is settled on a cash basis and also subject to the standard sales tax rate, the code in column A should be V1C0 which will then result in the item not being included in the trade payables calculation.
If you want to also include purchases of property, plant & equipment in the trade payables calculation, the standard code of PPE in column A on the cash flow statement needs to be amended to the appropriate code which starts with the sales tax code and ends with C1. For standard sales tax, the code will therefore be V1C1.
Like the calculation of inventory and trade receivables balances, the trade payables balances on the balance sheet are based on the actual number of days in each month if the creditors days assumption is greater than the days in the appropriate month.
Example: If you enter a creditors days assumption of 60 days and the month is April, the entire cost of sales & expense value for April will be included in the trade payables balance because April only has 30 days. After including the 30 days in April, there is a difference of 30 days between the 60 days assumption and the 30 days in April. The March cost of sales & expense balance will therefore be used, divided by the 31 days in March and multiplied by the 30 remaining days. The trade payables balance at the end of April will therefore consist of the cost of sales & expenses total for April and an equivalent of 30 days of the 31 day cost of sales & expense values of March.
Note: The above calculation principle is applied regardless of the number of days which are entered as the creditors days assumption on the Assumptions sheet even if the value of the creditors days assumption requires the inclusion of more than 2 months. This method of calculation is the most accurate way of projecting trade payables balances even for businesses where there is significant sales or expense volatility.
Where sales tax is applicable, the appropriate sales tax value relating to monthly cost of sales & expenses will be added to the trade payables balance. Sales tax codes are defined on the Assumptions sheet and the code in column A next to the cost of sales & expense amounts on the income statement are used to determine the appropriate rate of sales tax to be used.
The trade payables calculation will also only include lines that are coded with a sales tax rate code (in the first two characters) and a "C1" at the end of the code. The C1 part of the code refers to purchases on credit while the inclusion of a C0 code at the end refers to cash purchases. Cash purchases do not need to be included in the trade payables calculation and cost of sales & expense lines with C0 or no code in column A are therefore ignored when calculating trade payables balances.
Example: If the standard rate sales tax code is V1 and the appropriate cost of sales or expense line needs to be included in the calculation of trade payables, the code V1C1 needs to be added in column A of the appropriate line on the income statement. If you do not want to add sales tax in the trade payables calculation but you do want a trade payables line to be included in the balance sheet, you can add a code which refers to a 0% sales tax calculation as well as the C1 credit purchases indicator.
Example: If you do not want a particular cost of sales or expense line to be included in the trade payables calculation, you can include any sales tax rate followed by C0 in order to exclude the line in the trade payables calculations. For example, an expense or cost of sales line item with a code of V1C0 in column A on the income statement would not form part of the trade payables calculations.
Note: If your business has no trade payables, you can simply enter a nil value in the creditors days assumption on the Assumptions sheet. The trade payables line on the balance sheet will then also contain nil values.
If you want to include variable monthly creditors days, you can do so by changing the creditors days assumption in the Workings section of the balance sheet which has been included below the section with the ratios. Simply replace the formula which links the creditors days assumption to the value on the Assumptions sheet by overwriting it with the appropriate creditors days value.
Current Liabilities - Sales Tax
The template accommodates the inclusion of sales tax in all relevant calculations based on four default sales tax calculation codes and any sales tax period. All income statement and cash flow statement items need to be entered exclusive of any sales tax that may be applicable and the trade receivables and trade payables balances on the balance sheet will be calculated inclusive of sales tax. The net sales tax liability is included in the Sales Tax line on the balance sheet.
The template can be used for general sales tax (GST) and value added tax (VAT) purposes. Where there is no sales tax input which reduces the sales tax liability, the codes in column A on the income statement can simply be changed to contain a sales tax code (in the first two characters of the code) which has a zero percentage. Only the sales tax codes that are included next to the turnover lines will then be included in sales tax calculations (as required by some general sales tax calculations).
The appropriate sales tax percentages can be entered in the Sales Tax section of the Assumptions sheet. The template provides for 4 default sales tax codes, each with its own sales tax percentage. The sales tax codes are numbered from V1 to V4.
The income statement contains codes in column A which affects the calculations of sales tax and trade receivables or trade payables. The first two characters of these codes determine which sales tax percentage is used in the sales tax calculations. If an income statement item needs to be excluded from sales tax calculations, you should use a sales tax code with a zero percentage on the Assumptions sheet.
Note: Each line on the income statement can therefore only be linked to one sales tax percentage. If more than one sales tax percentage needs to be applied to the same income statement item, you need to split the income statement amount into two lines and enter the appropriate sales tax codes in column A for each of the lines.
Note: If you are preparing cash flow projections for a business which is not subject to sales tax, simply enter zero percentages for all four sales tax codes.
The sales tax assumptions that need to be specified on the Assumptions sheet also include the frequency of sales tax payments (in months) and the calendar month of the first payment period. You can therefore calculate sales tax based on any period frequency from one to twelve months.
Example: If your business is subject to sales tax payments of every two months and the first payment is due in February, a frequency of 2 needs to be specified and the first payment month should be set to 2 for February. Similarly, if your business is subject to sales tax payments of every 6 months with payments due in March and August, the frequency should be set to 6 and the first payment month should be set to 3. If your business is subject to monthly sales tax payment periods, the frequency should be 1 and the first payment month should also be 1.
The Current or Subsequent setting in the Sales Tax section on the Assumptions sheet determines how the calculated sales tax amounts of the current period are handled. If you select the Current option, the sales tax amounts of the current period will be included in the calculation of the payment amount which is due in the particular month and the sales tax liability at the end of the payment month will be nil.
If you select the Subsequent setting, the sales tax amount of the current period is not included in the calculation of the payment amount and the sales tax liability at the end of the appropriate payment month will always include at least one month.
Note: The Subsequent setting is usually the appropriate setting to use for sales tax purposes. The Current settings is more applicable to tax types which are subject to provisional tax.
Example: If you set a payment frequency of 1 month, first payment month of 1 and select the Current option, the sales tax liability on the balance sheet will always be nil because the current month's sales tax will be included in the sales tax payment. If you have the same period settings and select the Subsequent option, the sales tax liability on the balance sheet will always include the current month's sales tax because the payment amount will be based on the previous month's sales tax.
Note: The first payment month setting refers to the month of payment and not the sales tax period end. There is a difference - a sales tax period may end in February with payment in March which means that the first payment month of the calendar year is actually January or month 1 (if the payment frequency is two months).
Current Liabilities - Payroll Accruals
The payroll accrual on the balance sheet is based on the payroll accrual assumptions in the Working Capital section of the Assumptions sheet and the amounts in the staff costs section of the income statement. If payroll deductions are paid in the same month as they are incurred, you can set the payroll accrual percentage to zero and the payroll accrual balances on the balance sheet will also be zero.
Staff costs have been included in a separate section on the income statement to make it easier to calculate payroll accrual balances. You can however include staff costs in operating expenses but you need to ensure that you also include the "PAY" code in column A for all the staff costs that you want to include in the payroll accrual calculations.
You also need to specify the appropriate percentage of staff costs which needs to be included in your payroll accruals. This percentage should be based on the percentage of staff costs which are paid in a subsequent month and is based on the current month's staff costs. Payroll accruals usually consist of salary & wage deductions which need to be paid over to third parties and differ from entity to entity. You therefore need to calculate the appropriate payroll accrual percentage based on the composition of the salary or wage structures of all employees.
The payroll accrual assumptions that need to be specified on the Assumptions sheet also include the frequency of payroll accrual payment periods (in months) and the payment month of the first payroll accrual period. You can therefore calculate payroll accruals based on any payment period frequency from one to twelve months. The calculated payroll accruals are added together in the payroll accrual balance until the month of payment.
Example: If you need to settle payroll accruals every two months and the first payment is due in February, a frequency of 2 needs to be specified and the first payment month should be set to 2 for February. Similarly, if you settle payroll accruals every 6 months with payments due in March and August, the frequency should be set to 6 and the first payment month should be set to 3. If you settle payroll accruals on a monthly basis, the frequency should be 1 and the first payment month should also be 1.
The Current or Subsequent setting in the Payroll Accruals section on the Assumptions sheet determines how the calculated payroll accrual amounts of the current period are handled. If you select the Current option, the payroll accrual amounts of the current period will be included in the calculation of the payment amount which is due in the particular month and the payroll accrual balance at the end of the payment month will be nil.
If you select the Subsequent setting, the payroll accrual amounts of the current period are not included in the calculation of the payment amount and the payroll accrual balances on the balance sheet at the end of the appropriate payment month will always include at least one month.
Note: The Subsequent setting is usually the appropriate setting to use for payroll accrual purposes. The Current setting is more applicable to tax types which are subject to provisional tax payments where payment occurs in the same month as the tax calculation.
Example: If you set a payment frequency of 1 month, first payment month of 1 and select the Current option, the payroll accruals on the balance sheet will always be nil because the current month's payroll accruals will be included in the payment calculation. If you have the same period settings and select the Subsequent option, the payroll accruals on the balance sheet will always include the current month's payroll accrual because the payment amount will be based on the previous month's payroll accrual.
Note: The first payment month setting refers to the month of payment and not the payroll accrual period end. There is a difference - a payroll accrual period may end in February with payment in March which means that the first payment month of the calendar year is actually January or month 1 (if the payment frequency is two months).
If you want to include payroll accruals based on variable monthly payroll accrual percentages, you can do so by changing the payroll accrual percentage assumption in the Workings section of the balance sheet which has been included below the section with the ratios. Simply replace the formula which links the payroll accrual percentage assumption to the value on the Assumptions sheet by overwriting it with the appropriate payment accrual percentage.
Current Liabilities - Other Accruals, Other Provisions
The other accrual & other provisions balances cannot be calculated by basing them on specific income statement items and they are therefore calculated by adding the movements in these balances as per the cash flow statement to the balances of the previous month. If you therefore want to increase or decrease these balances, you need to add the amount of the increase or decrease to the line with a matching description on the cash flow statement (under the changes in operating assets section).
Current Liabilities - Provision for Taxation
The calculation of income tax on the income statement is based on the profit before tax on the income statement and the assumptions that are specified in the Income Tax section on the Assumptions sheet.
The profit before tax amount is multiplied by the income tax percentage on the Assumptions sheet in order to calculate the monthly income tax value. If there is a loss before tax on the income statement, no income tax will be calculated but if there were profits before the period with the loss, the income tax that was calculated in previous periods will be reversed in the period with the loss.
The template also makes provision for the inclusion of an assessed loss which has been carried over from previous financial periods and income tax will only be calculated after the assessed loss has been fully reduced by profits in the projection periods.
The income tax assumptions on the Assumptions sheet also include the frequency of payment of income tax (in months) and the calendar month of the first income tax payment. You can therefore calculate a provision for income tax based on any payment period frequency from one to twelve months. The calculated income tax amounts are added together in the provision for income tax balance on the balance sheet until the month of payment.
Example: If you need to settle income tax liabilities every six months and the income tax payments are due in February and August of each year, a frequency of 6 needs to be specified and the first calendar month should be set to 2 for February. Similarly, if you settle income tax liabilities at the end of each quarter with payments due in March, June, September and December, the frequency should be set to 3 and the first payment month should also be set to 3. If you need to settle income tax liabilities 9 months after each year-end and the cash flow projection year-end is February, the frequency should be set to 12 months and the first payment month should be set to 11.
The Current or Subsequent setting in the Income Tax section on the Assumptions sheet determines how the income tax amounts of the current period are handled. If you select the Current option, the income tax amounts of the current period will be included in the calculation of the payment amount which is due in the particular month and the provision for income tax balance on the balance sheet at the end of the payment month will be nil.
If you select the Subsequent setting, the income tax amounts of the current period are not included in the calculation of the payment amount and the provision for income tax balance on the balance sheet at the end of the appropriate payment month will always include income tax for at least one month.
Note: The Current setting is usually the appropriate setting to use for income tax purposes if the entity is a provisional taxpayer which effectively means that income tax is paid in advance. If the entity is not a provisional taxpayer, the Subsequent setting should be used because income tax will be settled after being incurred.
Current Liabilities - Dividends Payable
The calculation of dividends on the income statement is based on the profit for the year on the income statement and the assumptions that are specified in the Dividends section on the Assumptions sheet. Dividends will only be calculated if you enter a dividend percentage on the Assumptions sheet - if you therefore do not want to include dividends in your cash flow projections, you can simply enter a zero value as the dividend percentage.
The dividend percentage that is specified on the Assumptions sheet is applied to the profit for the year on the income statement which can be found directly above the dividends line. Dividends will also only be calculated if there is a cumulative profit for the year.
The dividends assumptions on the Assumptions sheet also include the frequency of payment of dividends (in months) and the first calendar month of the dividend payment. You can therefore calculate dividends based on any payment period frequency from one to twelve months (although 6 or 12 months is the norm). The calculated dividends amounts are added together in the dividends payable balance on the balance sheet until the month of payment.
Example: If dividends are declared every six months, you need to specify a frequency of 6 months on the Assumptions sheet and then select the appropriate payment basis. Dividends will be reflected on the income statement every 6 months and the dividends payable balances on the balance sheet will be determined based on the first payment month and the payment option which is selected (Cash, Next or Subsequent). Similarly, if the payment frequency is set to 12 months, dividends will be included on the income statement every 12 months and the dividends payable balance will be determined based on the first payment month and the payment option.
The Cash, Next or Subsequent setting in the Dividends section on the Assumptions sheet determines how the dividends payable balances on the balance sheet are calculated and therefore also when the dividend payment will be included on the cash flow statement.
If you select the Cash option, the dividend payable balances on the balance sheet will always be nil and what this means is that the dividend payment is effectively included in the same month as the month in which the dividend is declared. The month in which the declared dividend is included is based on the payment frequency (in months) and the cash flow projection year-end.
If you select the Next option, the dividend payment will be included in the month after the month in which the dividend amount is included on the income statement. The dividend payable balance on the balance sheet will therefore only contain a balance in the dividend declaration month.
If you select the Subsequent option, dividends will be included on the income statement based on the frequency setting on the Assumptions sheet and the payment of the dividend will be delayed until the first payment month (also as per the Assumptions sheet) is reached. A dividends payable balance will be reflected on the balance sheet in all months until the payment month is reached.
Example: If you set the dividend payment frequency to 12 months, a dividend amount will be included on the income statement in the last month of the appropriate cash flow projection year. If the payment option is set to Cash, no dividend payable amount will be included on the balance sheet and the dividend payment will be included on the cash flow statement in the same month.
Example: If you set the dividend payment frequency to 12 months and the payment option is set to Next, the dividend will be included on the income statement in the last month of the appropriate cash flow projection year, the dividend payable at the end of the financial year will equal the income statement amount and the dividend payment will be included in the first month of the next financial year.
Example: If you set the dividend payment frequency to 12 months and the payment option is set to Subsequent, the dividend will be included on the income statement in the last month of the appropriate cash flow projection year and the dividend payable at the end of the financial year and all subsequent months in the new financial year until the first payment month is reached will equal the income statement amount. The dividend payment will be included in the first payment month as set on the Assumptions sheet but in the year after inclusion on the income statement.
If the cash flow projection year-end as per the above example is February, the first payment month is set to 9 for September and the Subsequent payment option is selected, the dividend will be included in February on the income statement and the same amount will be included as a dividend payable on the balance sheet from February to August of the next financial year. The dividend payment will then be included in September on the cash flow statement and the dividend payable at the end of September will be nil.
Balance Sheet Errors
If the balance sheet for any monthly period does not balance, the amount of the imbalance will be included in the row below the total equities & liabilities and displayed in red. The template has been designed in such a way that the balance sheet should always be in balance as long as the total of the balance sheet opening balances which are included on the Assumptions sheet is nil.
If you see an imbalance on the balance sheet, you therefore need to check the opening balance sheet balances on the Assumptions sheet and ensure that the total of all the opening balances in this section is nil.
If fixing the opening balances does not resolve your imbalance, you can e-mail our Support function and let us know what changes you have made to the formulas in the template so that we can assist you. If you have made a lot of changes, you may need to start over with the downloaded copy of the template.
Balance Sheet Workings
We have included all the calculations which form part of the calculation of balance sheet balances in the Workings section below the balance sheet ratios. These workings will not be printed and are for information purposes only. You can therefore hide this section if you do not want to see it on the sheet but do not delete any of these formulas because it will result in calculation errors if you do!
Cash Flow Statement
All the rows on the cash flow statement which require user input are indicated with yellow highlighting in column A. All the other rows contain formulas which automate the calculations of these items which are all based on income statement or balance sheet values.
The input rows on the cash flow statement are all related to balance sheet items where the calculations on the balance sheet are based on adding the movement on the cash flow statement to the previous month's balance on the balance sheet. If you need more guidance on any of these items, refer to the appropriate section for the particular item under the Balance Sheet section of these instructions.
Note: The colour of the codes in column A on the cash flow statement indicate whether positive or negative values need to be entered in order to increase the appropriate balance sheet item's balance. If the code is green, positive input values increase the balance sheet balance and if the code is red, you need to enter negative values in order to increase the balance sheet balances.
Loan Amortization Tables (Loans1 to Loans3 & Leases sheets)
The template makes provision for including loans with up to four different sets of repayment terms in the cash flow projections. The amortization tables that are used to calculate the interest charges, additional loan amounts, loan repayments and outstanding balances have been included on the Loans1, Loans2, Loans3 and Leases sheets. No user input is required on these sheets.
Note: Refer to the instructions in the income statement - interest paid section and the balance sheet - non-current liabilities section for guidance on how these amortization tables have been compiled and where to include user input for each of these amortization tables.
