We have a saying in KCARD when we are looking at financial statements or projections that come into our shop – “Did you find the dead body in them?” This is our little way of referring to the situation where we see a financial statement and instantly know that something is not quite right. A lot of times it is not on purpose. Instead, it is often where someone makes a mistake as they are developing the statement that can lead to the financial reports being inaccurate and the business owner not truly understanding the past or future financial performance and health of their business.
Financial Projections: Looking into a More Reliable Crystal Ball to Make Decisions
In our blog post a few weeks ago, we took a look at how you develop initial revenue assumptions for a new business. In this post, let’s talk about an existing business and how we help that business develop financial projections. Why bother with developing projections? You know they are going to be wrong, right? Sure. Projections will almost certainly not be exactly correct because so many factors go into what will happen to reach a sales number or expense number.
How Much Am I Going to Make? Developing Revenue Assumptions
To prepare financial projections for a new business, you have to be able to come up with a way to calculate expected revenue. I have had conversations with people who insist that there is no way to come up with such a number and really struggle with this. How do you calculate your expected revenue for the next year to three years?
Balance Sheets
To continue our financial series this week, we’re discussing balance sheets. Your balance sheet shows what you own (assets) and what you owe (liabilities) on a specific date. This important financial statement says a lot about your business…