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Financial planning blog
Practical articles on startup budgets, unit economics, cash flow, forecasting and financial model review.
Published articles
18 articles
Break-even analysis: check the target against capacity
Calculate the sales threshold, compare it with staffed capacity, and rework price and shift costs when the operation cannot deliver enough units.
Build a two-driver sensitivity table in Excel
Build the grid yourself, fix mixed references and row/column input mistakes, and read the break-even boundary with capacity costs included.
Build and update a 13-week cash flow forecast
A weekly cash schedule with invoice timing, a reserve shortfall and an update that carries actual cash into next week's forecast.
Capital spending vs depreciation in a cash forecast
Trace an equipment purchase through cash dates, monthly depreciation, carrying value and financing without losing or counting a payment twice.
Cash conversion cycle: from days to a funding schedule
Calculate cycle days correctly, then use a dated two-batch example to see why positive margins can still require cash before customers pay.
Company actuals and forecasts: fix period and source errors
Worked period and restatement examples show how to separate reported actuals, derived values and assumptions in a company forecast.
Contribution margin per order: calculate the cost of a discount
Work from a 100-order cost bridge to the extra orders needed after a price cut, including the shift cost that can erase the gain.
DCF review: trace cash flow, terminal value and equity
A complete illustrative DCF from operating cash flow to per-share value, with the formula and timing errors that can distort the result.
Debt service: principal, interest and the cash payment gap
A three-month loan and cash example shows why a positive coverage ratio can still leave too little cash on a payment date.
Downside cash scenarios: set a trigger in time to act
Connect a cash stress to the payment deadline, then show what a deferral fixes now and what it costs in the following period.
Financial model review checklist: find and fix common errors
A practical checklist with formula repairs, input checks and a worked example showing why $8,000 profit can still leave only $9,000 cash.
First-order economics: returns, acquisition cost and cash
A 100-customer example shows the acquisition ceiling, double-counting traps in returns and why contribution can exceed cash generated.