Your strategy in your head – translated into numbers
Many business owners know exactly where their company is heading. We turn that into a financial model that shows the path in revenue, earnings and liquidity: traceable, robust and ready for any transaction.
Successfully run, but rarely calculated
In mid-sized companies, planning often lives in the owner's experience, not in a model. That works surprisingly well day to day. But when a bank, an investor or a buyer asks what the next years look like, the answer in numbers is missing.
No ongoing controlling
The monthly management accounts arrive from the tax advisor and are filed away. Deviations only show up once they appear in the annual accounts.
Planning by gut feeling
The goals are clear but documented nowhere. Nobody except the owner can follow, check or update them.
No look ahead
There is no forecast over three to five years that a third party can review, and therefore no basis for negotiating the future.
If you don't plan yourself, the other side will calculate your future for you
Whether sale, investment or financing: no transaction happens without a plan covering at least three to five years. If you have none of your own, the buyer or investor builds one, with their assumptions, calculated cautiously and rarely in your favour.
The future will turn out differently than planned. Planning is still worth it, because it forces you to reveal what really drives the business.
Make value drivers visible: Which products, customers and prices carry the result, and how does each decision show up in the financials?
Set priorities: Those who know the effect of individual levers invest time and money where they move the most.
Stay on course: The monthly comparison of plan and actuals shows early where the company drifts off track, and leaves room to steer back.
From driver to number – step by step
We do not plan backwards from the revenue figure, but from what creates it: enquiries, customers, volumes and prices. Each step builds on the previous one until earnings, liquidity and financing are in place.
Every assumption with a source
Every planned figure can be traced back to the evidence: order data, contracts, price lists, loan overviews.
Every assumption with a rationale
The derivation and argument sit alongside, so they withstand scrutiny by a buyer or bank.
Every change documented
When an assumption is adjusted, it is clear when, why and with what effect.
A model you work with – not a file for the drawer
You receive an Excel model that belongs to you and that you can update yourself. Actuals from accounting and your plan come together in it.
Earnings and liquidity
Revenue, contribution margins, EBITDA and liquidity per month and year, over three to five years.
Scenarios
What happens if growth fails to materialise, prices rise or a major customer drops out? The answer comes at the push of a button.
Plan vs. actual
Every month the current figures from the trial balance and management accounts against the plan, with variances and an updated forecast.
Financing in view
Loans, repayment and debt service planned individually, the way banks want to see it.
What if …?
Using a company with €20m revenue and €2m EBITDA as an example: move the sliders and see how the next five years change.
New customers, new products, higher volumes
Acts directly on gross profit
Wage agreements, new hires, skills shortage
From the first plan to ongoing controlling
Depending on the occasion, a solid planning framework is enough. Or you need a model that withstands due diligence and runs along month after month.
Planning
- Plan over three to five years based on your accounts and goals
- Revenue, costs, EBITDA and liquidity per year
- Workshop on goals and key assumptions
- Evidence for every assumption
- Monthly updates
Financial model
- Everything from Planning, on a monthly basis
- All eight steps with source and rationale per assumption
- Scenarios and financing with repayment schedule
- Basis for company valuation, bank and investors
- Monthly updates
Controlling
- Everything from the Financial model
- Monthly import of trial balance and management accounts
- Plan vs. actual comparison with commentary on variances
- Updated forecast for the remaining months
The financial model is also the basis of every robust valuation: Company valuation – what is your business worth?
What business owners want to know about financial planning
Why plan if things turn out differently anyway?
Because the value lies not in accuracy, but in the thinking beforehand and the comparison afterwards. Planning shows which assumptions hold, and shows early when one of them no longer does.
I don't want to sell. Do I still need this?
Yes. A financial model helps with investment decisions, conversations with the bank, succession and alignment among shareholders. And if an opportunity does arise, you are prepared.
Which documents do you need?
The annual accounts of the last three years, the current trial balance or management accounts, an existing plan if there is one, as well as key contracts and the overview of your loans. We work out the rest together with you.
Does this replace the tax advisor?
No. The tax advisor looks at the past year, the financial model looks ahead. We use their figures as the actuals base, the two complement each other.
Can I keep the model going myself?
Yes. The model is an Excel workbook that belongs to you. We show you how to update it, or take that over for you every month.
What do your next five years look like in numbers?
In a non-binding initial call, we clarify which model fits your situation and what it brings you.
Book an initial call