sample business budget template excel

Business Budget Template

Having a business budget is essential for any size business. A business budget helps you decide whether you can grow your business, give yourself a raise, purchase additional inventory and assets, and whether you may be able to avoid bankruptcy.

It's possible to modify a personal budget spreadsheet to apply to a business, but if you are using our Income Statement Template , you'll want to use the business budget spreadsheet so that you can create a budget that is parallel to your income statement.

For those who are just starting a business, or thinking of starting a business, you might be interested in the free Business Start Up Costs template. A startup cost analysis is an important part of a good business plan and can help you get things off the ground before you begin using a more detailed business budget.

License : Private Use (not for distribution or resale)

"No installation, no macros - just a simple spreadsheet" - by Jon Wittwer

Description

This spreadsheet contains two sample business budgets designed for companies providing services or selling products.

Service Providers : The Services worksheet is a simple business budget that separates income and business expenses into categories that closely match those used in an income statement. The categories are fairly comprehensive, but it is also easy to add, remove, and modify the categories.

Retailers, Manufacturers, Publishers : The Goods worksheet includes the categories in the Services worksheet, but also has a Cost of Goods Sold section for recording inventory and purchases and calculating Gross Profit.

12-Month Business Budget

This worksheet is a variant of the above business budget, with sales and business expenses broken down by month . This is helpful for budgeting quarterly expenses and other business expenses that occur at specific times of the year.

The Goods worksheet lets you record sales and cost of goods sold for multiple products .

Business Budget for Multiple Products

This version allows you to perform a detailed analysis of your business expenses and cost of goods sold (COGS) if you are selling multiple products. Columns are also included for calculating the Percentage of Total Sales for each product and the various expenses.

Using the Business Budget Spreadsheet

These business budget templates are pretty simple to modify and customize. However, here are some things you should know and keep in mind as you use these templates:

Double-Check the Formulas

If you add or move categories around, make sure to double-check the calculations, especially the SUM() formulas that calculate the totals and subtotals, to make sure that the right cells are summed.

Conditional Formatting for red Values

The Difference is calculated as Actual - Budget. Conditional formatting is used to highlight the Difference red if income is less than the budget amount or if business expenses are more than the budget. In other words, a red value means you ought to take a closer look at it.

Analyzing Cost of Goods Sold

The costs associated with producing and purchasing goods are variable costs that increase or decrease with the volume of production and sales, such as wages for direct labor required to produce the goods, packaging, inventory purchases, shipping, and commissions. These costs are usually compared to the total sales. A careful study of these costs can help you determine pricing for your products, which products are more profitable, etc.

Multiple Products

The Goods spreadsheet is set up initially to record total net sales for each quarter. If you want to perform a more detailed analysis for multiple products, you can insert additional rows and separate the sales and costs according to product, or you can use the bonus spreadsheet that is designed for performing a detailed analysis for multiple products.

Income Taxes

A separate section under business expenses calculates the Net Income Before Taxes by subtracting the Total Expenses from Total Income. This helps you make a simple estimate of the income taxes, assuming all the Expenses are tax deductible. If you have any taxable expenses make sure to subtract those values from the Net Income Before Taxes before estimating your income tax budget.

Budgeting Large Non-Recurring Expenses

One of the reasons for budgeting is of course to help you determine whether you will be able to afford upgrades, new construction, asset purchases, etc. However, this budget spreadsheet is mainly for comparing your operating income and expenses to make sure that in your normal business activities you are earning more than you are spending. You would typically look at your Net Income to determine whether you will be able to expand your business, make large asset purchases, etc.

More Business Budgeting Resources

• Small Business Budgeting Tips and Techniques at investopedia.com
• Drafting Your Budget at entrepreneur.com

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Financial Statements

• 18 min read

Top 10 Free Excel Business Budget Templates for 2023

What Is Budgeting?

Why is budgeting important, how to create a budget template, how to make a monthly budget template, why use a template for budgeting, how to use an excel budget template, top free excel business budget templates, 1. business case excel template, benefits of using a business case excel template, 2. p&l statement excel template, benefits of using a p&l statement excel template, 3. revenue forecasting excel template, benefits of using a revenue forecasting excel template, 4. balance sheet excel template, benefits of using a balance sheet excel template, 5. income statement excel template, 6. startup business budget excel template, 7. expense-tracking excel template, 8. cash runway excel template, 9. unit economics excel template, 10. operating budget excel template.

A business budget is an essential tool for any business, no matter how big or small. It helps you stay on track with your finances and ensure that all areas of your organization run efficiently. With a budget in place, you can quickly identify areas where costs are getting out of control and make adjustments before they become problematic.

Creating a budget can be daunting, especially if you are unfamiliar with Excel. Thankfully, many free Excel business budget templates are available that make it easy to set up your own budget. These templates provide an easy-to-follow format that allows you to quickly input your income and expenses so you can get started right away.

Budgeting is a process of predicting and managing your income and expenses. It helps you plan out how much money you will need to cover your business costs for the month or year ahead. With budgeting, you can track spending, identify areas where you may be overspending, and make adjustments as needed to stay within your budget.

Budgeting is essential for any business, as it allows you to plan ahead and ensure your organization is on the right track financially. Without a budget, setting goals and tracking progress can be challenging. A budget also helps you identify areas where costs are getting out of control so you can take corrective action before they become too costly.

When creating a budget template, it's essential to include all the categories and items relevant to your business. This includes revenue sources, fixed costs such as rent or utilities, variable expenses like advertising or travel, and any other relevant items. Once you have identified these categories, you can enter them into an Excel spreadsheet. It's important to remember that budgeting can be complex, and you should always consult a professional if you need help.

Once all the information has been entered into your template, it's time to begin tracking income and expenses. This will give you an accurate picture of how much money is coming in and going out each month. As the months progress, you can easily adjust your budget if it becomes necessary. This way, you'll always have an accurate picture of your financial situation and be able to adjust accordingly.

Using a free Excel business budget template, you can quickly and easily create a comprehensive budget that will help keep your finances in check. Once you're comfortable with the budget, you can modify it as needed to accommodate any changes in your business. With a bit of time and effort, you can have an adequate budget in place that will keep your business running smoothly.

Creating a monthly budget template is similar to creating a one-time budget. Start by identifying all the relevant categories and items to your business. Once you have all the information gathered, enter it into an Excel spreadsheet. You can then use this template to track your monthly expenses and income. As the months pass, adjust your budget based on new developments or changes in your business.

Using a template for budgeting provides several benefits. It allows you to quickly create accurate and up-to-date budgets, allowing you to make informed decisions about your finances. Additionally, templates make it easy to track expenses and income so you can adjust as needed. Finally, free Excel business budget templates can save time and money as you won't need to hire a professional to help with budgeting.

Using an Excel budget template is a great way to get started creating your business budget. All of the free templates provided here include a simple format that's easy to use and understand. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your Excel budget template:

• Start by entering all your income sources, such as sales revenue, interest income, and other sources of revenue.
• Next, enter your expenses, such as payroll, rent, supplies, and other operating costs.
• Make sure to include taxes and other overhead costs in your budget.
• Set up a timeline for budgeting so you can stick to it throughout the year.
• Run reports and analyze the data in your budget. This will help you identify areas where costs are getting out of control or where there may be opportunities to save money.

By taking the time to create an accurate and up-to-date business budget, you can ensure that your organization runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. With the help of free Excel business budget templates, you can quickly and easily create a budget that works for your organization.

A business case excel template helps businesses easily analyze and evaluate different scenarios to inform decision-making. This type of template includes pivoting tables, graphs, financial projections, and other valuable data that can help you make the best possible decisions for your organization. Business cases are often used to compare various investment or product opportunities to determine which one is the most profitable.

There are many benefits to using a business case excel template, such as:

• Streamlining the decision-making process by providing relevant data and insights that help inform decisions.
• Creating an organized structure for analyzing different scenarios and options.
• Consolidating data into one place to make it easier to analyze and compare.
• Generating various reports that can be used to track performance and make informed decisions.
• The ability to customize the template for specific needs or goals.

Creating a business case template in Excel can help you analyze data and make informed decisions that will benefit your organization.

Download the Business Case Excel Template for Free.

A Profit and Loss (P&L) statement Excel template is a spreadsheet that helps businesses analyze their financial performance and make informed decisions. This type of template includes tables and graphs that can be used to track income, expenses, and profits over a period of time. It also provides insight into cash flow and profitability.

Using a P&L statement Excel template provides several benefits, such as:

• Giving an overview of the business's financial performance over some time.
• Breaking down income and expenses into categories to make it easier to analyze.
• Being able to track profit margins, cash flow, and other vital metrics.
• Generating reports that can be used to inform decision-making.
• Analyzing different scenarios to identify areas for improvement.

By using a P&L statement Excel template, businesses can quickly and easily analyze their financial performance and make informed decisions that will benefit the organization.

Download the P&L Statement Excel Template for Free.

A revenue forecasting Excel template helps businesses predict future financial performance by analyzing historical trends and data. This type of template includes a variety of graphs, charts, and tables that can be used to analyze past performance and make projections for the future. Revenue forecasting is often used to set business goals and inform strategic plans.

Using a revenue forecasting Excel template has many benefits, such as:

• Allowing businesses to develop reliable projections and estimates based on past performance.
• Identifying trends and insights that can inform decision-making.
• Generating various reports and dashboards that can be used to track performance.
• Establishing goals and benchmarks that can be used to measure success.

Download the Revenue Forecasting Excel Template for Free.

The best picks for business budgeting software tools to monitor your financial performance and ensure your business is using its resources efficiently.

A balance sheet Excel template is a spreadsheet that helps businesses track financial transactions and analyze the organization's overall health. This template includes several sections, such as assets, liabilities, and equity. A balance sheet provides an overview of a company's finances, showing how much money it has in cash, investments, or debts.

Using a balance sheet excel template has many benefits, such as:

• Allowing businesses to analyze and compare financial data easily.
• Creating an organized structure for tracking assets and liabilities.
• Generating various reports that can be used to measure performance.

By creating a balance sheet excel template, businesses can quickly and efficiently track their financial data and make informed decisions about their organization's finances.

Download the Balance Sheet Excel Template for Free.

An income statement Excel template helps businesses analyze and track their financial performance. This template includes several sections, such as revenue, expenses, and net income. An income statement provides an overview of a company's profitability, showing how much money it has earned or lost over a given period.

Download the Income Statement Excel Template for Free.

A startup business budget Excel template helps businesses manage their finances and plan for the future. This template includes several sections: revenue projection, expenses, and cash flow. Companies can use a startup business budget template to analyze their financial performance accurately and determine the best course of action for their organization.

Download the Startup Business Budget Excel Template for Free.

Top Free Google Sheets Templates and Financial Statements to help you manage your business financials, monitor performance, and make informed decisions.

An expense-tracking Excel template or an expense-tracker Excel template helps businesses track and analyze their spending. This template includes several sections, including expenses by category, total costs, and monthly averages. By using an expense tracking template, businesses can quickly and easily identify areas of overspending or unnecessary expenses so they can make better decisions about their finances.

Download the Expense-Tracking Excel Template for Free.

A cash runway Excel template is a type of spreadsheet that helps businesses track their cash flow and analyze the short-term financial health of the organization. This template includes several sections, such as cash inflows, outflows, and balances. A cash runway provides an overview of a company's ability to pay its expenses and manage liquidity, showing how much cash is available to the organization at any given time.

Download the Cash Runway Excel Template for Free.

A unit economics Excel template is a spreadsheet that helps businesses analyze the profitability of individual products, services, or customer segments. This template includes several sections, such as revenue per unit, cost per unit, and operating profit per unit. Using a unit economics Excel template, businesses can accurately analyze the profitability of different product lines and identify potential areas for improvement.

Download the Unit Economics Excel Template for Free.

An operating budget Excel template helps businesses track and manage their expenses. This type of template includes several sections, such as fixed costs, variable costs, and capital investments. An operating budget provides an overview of a company's expected expenses over a given period of time, helping the organization make smart decisions about its finances.

Download the Operating Budget Excel Template for Free.

Using the top free Excel business budget templates is an effective way for businesses to create and maintain financial plans. From business cases to revenue forecasting and balance sheets, these templates help businesses stay organized and make informed decisions that benefit their organization.

Hady has a passion for tech, marketing, and spreadsheets. Besides his Computer Science degree, he has vast experience in developing, launching, and scaling content marketing processes at SaaS startups.

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5 Free Budgeting Templates & Excel Spreadsheets

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Tracking monthly expenses in a budget spreadsheet or template can make managing your money a little easier. Whether you want to use an Excel spreadsheet or a Google Sheet to define and track a budget — or a fully functional online calculator — the budgeting tools below are among our favorites.

Wherever you find a budget spreadsheet or template, do some research before downloading it. Checking online reviews and downloading budget templates from only websites you trust will help you avoid phishing viruses.

Microsoft Office Excel budget templates

How it works: Maintaining a spreadsheet requires discipline, and creating a spreadsheet from scratch takes time. Save yourself the hassle of setting up rows, columns and formulas by using a pre-made Excel template from Office. Templates include a household expense budget, holiday budget planner and event budget.

What we like: There’s a template for just about every budget situation, from simple to complex. Access Excel online and collaborate with others in the same document at the same time.

Where to get it: Visit templates.office.com and type “ Budgets ” in the search box to find an Excel file to download. Or sign in to Microsoft and edit in your desktop browser.

Google Sheets budget templates

How it works: Google Drive is a file storage service where users can create, upload and share files. Get 15GB of storage for free or upgrade if that's not enough. The Sheets app for Drive includes pre-made templates, such as an annual budget and monthly budget.

What we like: You can bring your budget with you by logging in to your Google Drive account from your smartphone, tablet or computer. You can also share access to a household budget with other members of your family.

Where to get it: Sign in at google.com/sheets , then browse the template gallery, which you can find at the top right of the page.

NerdWallet’s budget planner

How it works: The budget planner enables you to input your monthly income and expenses. With that information, the worksheet shows how your finances compare with the 50/30/20 budget breakdown, which recommends that 50% of your income goes toward needs, 30% toward wants and 20% toward savings and debt repayment. You can also download these worksheets in Excel.

What we like: This thorough planner prompts you to consider a wide range of expenses — from life insurance premiums to travel expenses to credit card payments — so you don’t miss anything. You can also see worksheets specific to your situation, whether you’re a college student, parent, homeowner, senior or none of those.

Where to get it: Learn more about the  free budget planner  and use it directly on NerdWallet. You can also  download the spreadsheet here .

Mint lifestyle templates

How it works: In addition to Mint's well-known app, the money manager offers budget templates, too. Choose your desired budget, then use the pre-made format to guide your categorization of spending.

What to know: There are demographic-specific options that fit a variety of life stages. Students will benefit from the college template, while parents of young kids will appreciate the day care template. However, owner Intuit has announced it will shut down Mint as of Jan. 1, 2024, so download soon if you'd like to use one of its offerings.

Where to get it: Download an Excel file from Mint .

The Federal Trade Commission’s budget worksheet

How it works: The Federal Trade Commission offers a website to educate consumers about money, including how to budget. To get started, consult its "Make a Budget" worksheet. Download the PDF and fill in the fields to see whether you’re making more than you spend or spending more than you make.

What we like: Numbers and formulas can make budgeting a turnoff, but this simple worksheet is the furthest thing from intimidating. It’s a great jumping-off point if you’ve never budgeted before.

Where to get it: On Consumer.gov, download the budget PDF from the "Toolbox" tab.

More ways to take charge of your budget

Researching budget spreadsheets and templates is already a solid start in managing your money. If the tools above aren’t a good fit, you’ve got other options — including signing up for a free NerdWallet account to view your cash flow and see how it matches the 50/30/20 budget guidelines .

Learn about the various monthly expenses you’ll want to track .

Try an app that tracks and categorizes your spending. Check out the best budget apps for 2023.

For an idea of how much of your monthly income to spend and save, try our budget calculator .

If you want to go offline, read one of these expert-recommended budgeting books .

Or, if you need to back up and learn more about budgeting, read how to make a budget .

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15+ Business Budget Examples in Excel [ Marketing, Annual, Monthly ]

Business Budget Examples In Excel

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How to Create a Business Budget, With Free Budget Template

Table of contents.

Creating a budget for your business may seem like a daunting task, but it’s a vital step in your business’s development. In fact, you’ll probably need one as part of your business plan. A business budget can take multiple forms. At its most basic level, it is a document that shows how much money you have coming in and what you need to spend money on. It also shows how much money you will need to make to continue making a profit and satisfy your expenses.

How do you create a startup business budget?

If your business is new or still in the planning stages, creating a budget is tricky – even with a template – because you don’t have actual numbers to plug in. Still, it’s something you need for your business plan.

This is especially important if you’re planning to apply for a small business loan to help you launch your business. Here are five steps to help you create a startup budget so you can start your business off on the right foot.

1. Set your budget goal.

Your budget goal is the total amount you are willing to spend on your business. This helps you establish clear parameters for your budget from the beginning and keep your spending in check.

To set your goal, consider the amount of money you currently have or can realistically obtain. How much makes sense for you to spend? Keep in mind that loans must be paid back, often with interest, and you must not deplete your personal savings. [Read related article: How to Decide Which Type of Business Loan Is Right for You ]

2. Categorize your expenses.

For this step, start by brainstorming all of your potential expenses on a budget worksheet. Begin with your startup costs, which are any one-time expenses related to starting your business.

This could include things like a building (if you’re buying, not renting), computers and photography equipment. Be specific and write down the exact costs of every item you will need to purchase and any associated costs. For example, to build a website, you will need to pay for a designer, host, domain name, plugins, stock photos, and security software.

Next, categorize each item as “essential,” “nonessential” or “later.” Essential items, as the name suggests, are purchases that are crucial to getting your business off the ground, such as a business license.

Nonessential items are things that will make your life easier but are not crucial to the operation of your business. This can be subjective, but try to look at your business as a whole and use your best judgment.

An example of a nonessential item would be a professionally designed logo or website.

Later items are things that you can put off for at least six months and are not required for the function of your business, like a fresh coat of paint for your building. Add up your essential and nonessential items to get your estimated startup costs.

3. Estimate your losses.

Your losses are how long you will go without turning a profit while accumulating overhead expenses. Losses are a result of a new business needing time to build a customer base, and your budget must reflect them.

Start by calculating your estimated monthly overhead costs . These are things you will need to pay for more than once that are not tied to your business’s product or services, such as subcontractors, payroll, software subscriptions, website fees, rent, and advertising fees. This will create your operating budget.

Next, estimate how many months you will go without revenue. It can be difficult to forecast your income when starting out, so begin with the number you will need to hit to break even, and then use that number to come up with an educated guess.

4. Build in a safety net.

Many small business owners exceed their budgets. It is easier to do than many think, given the unpredictable nature of starting a business. Build some financial padding into your budget to cover you in the event of unexpected costs. Think of this money like a vehicle’s airbags; they’re used only in a true emergency. To create your safety net, add 10% of each expense in your startup budget, and add 15% of your monthly operating costs.

5. Refine your budget.

Now that you have some rough numbers to work with, it’s time to tighten them up to make your budget more actionable.

Start by going through your nonessential startup items. Is there anything you can cut out or move to the “later” category? Can you reduce the cost of any items by, say, buying something secondhand or trading labor?

Next, look at your overhead costs. Determine if any of them are unnecessary, at least while you’re starting out, and can be cut.

You can also reevaluate your essential costs if you cannot get your budget to balance. Go through them with a trusted friend or colleague to determine if they are all truly essential to start your business.

Many of the best accounting software solutions can help with your business budgets. When choosing accounting software , see if it has that capability.

What is a business budget template, and how do you choose one?

The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to create a budget from scratch. There are a number of preexisting budget templates you can use. Budgets can be complicated, so you may want to download a template if this is your first time creating a business budget.

A small business budgeting template is a handy tool that gives you a place to record all your numbers in an organized way, making your budget easy to read and update.

As it can be complicated for first-time entrepreneurs to create a budget from scratch, it is nice to know there are a number of preexisting budget templates you can use. Even if you choose to create your own, it may be helpful to refer to templates or sample budgets to keep yourself on the right track.

If you decide to use a business budget template, download business.com’s easy-to-use template that is suitable for small businesses.

What does a business budget template include?

If you’ve never used a business budget template before, you may feel slightly confused. Our budget template comes with five tabs. To get started, rename the first tab with your business’s name.

Once you do that, it will automatically fill in the other pages. Let’s look at a breakdown of each of the other four main tabs:

Annual budget

The annual budget tab looks at how much money your business brings in each year. Use this tab to input your company’s yearly revenue and expenses. You want to be as specific and detailed as possible because this information is used throughout the budget template.

Monthly budget

The monthly budget tab looks at your monthly expenses. You’ll notice that since you already filled out the annual budget tab, that information has been prorated, so you have monthly estimates for each of your yearly totals.

Each month’s budget is weighted equally by default, but you can change this by updating the percentages in line 5. Just keep in mind that your percentages must add up to 100.

Monthly actuals

The monthly actuals tab is used to track your actual expenses and revenue as they come in each month. This lets you see how much money your business is bringing in.

Finally, the overview tab shows how your actual numbers compare to your budget. It gives an overview of your annual and monthly budgets. This information helps you to see where your business is doing well and to identify areas for improvement.

To see your finances for a particular month, you can select that month from the dropdown list in line 4.

Editor’s note: Looking for the right accounting software solution for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

Why do you need a business budget template?

A business budget template is vital to keep your expenses and financial goals up to date. A good template makes it easy for you to see how much money you have available, what you need to pay for, and how much money you have left after covering your necessary expenses.

It will show you if you can grow your business, give yourself or your employees raises, and purchase inventory and assets . If you don’t have sufficient money coming in, it will show you which bills you don’t have the funds to pay or if you are nearing bankruptcy.

If you need to apply for loans or grants, the applications may ask you for a monthly or annual budget, as well as an income statement or balance sheet, to give the lender an idea of where your business stands financially and how you manage your money.

For these reasons, it is in your best interest to have an up-to-date budget from the beginning.

Kiely Kuligowski contributed to the writing and research in this article.

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Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2023

Streamline your financial management with this spreadsheet-based solution.

Budgeting is an essential aspect of money management, whether it’s for personal or business-related purposes. And when it comes to planning, aggregating, and analyzing budgets, Excel is still the go-to tool for many people from different lifestyles and professions.

Having a budget template in Excel is a more accessible, affordable, and familiar option for many users. What’s more, you can easily customize your templates to suit your exact budgeting needs. Whether you need to budget for your new startup business, control annual department spending, or save up for your first car, there is a template out there for everyone.

So, if you’re an Excel fan, here are some of our favorite free Excel budget templates that you can customize to fit your own needs:

Free Excel budget templates for 2023

• Expense tracker by Sheetgo
• Monthly Budget Planner by Money Under 30
• Annual Budget Planner by Budget Templates
• Student Budget template by Microsoft
• Household Expense Budget template by Smartsheet
• Zero-based Budget Spreadsheet by Smartsheet
• Money Manager template by Smartsheet
• Small business budget template by Capterra

What are budget templates?

• Why use budget templates in Excel?

1. Expense tracker by Sheetgo

This Sheetgo Expense tracker template is ideal for small businesses and project teams — or anyone looking for a simple way to monitor expenses and automate financial management in their company. You could even use it at home with your family, to track how much each person is spending!

The Expense tracker workflow is not only easy to use, but it also gives you a better understanding of where your expenses come from. Share the individual expense tracker spreadsheets with each user so that they can track their spending. These individual sheets are then connected to the expenses master sheet, where all budgeting data is combined for an entire overview of group spending.

Add as many individual tracker spreadsheets as you need for your members. Make the most of the visual dashboards to receive actionable insights from your raw data to help make important future budgeting decisions.

2. Monthly Budget Planner by Money Under 30

This budget planner by Money Under 30 takes monthly money management to a new level with a dedicated page for every month of the year. Each page is divided into sections that you can customize to the different areas of your spending. Simply input your purchases in the corresponding category, and you can easily track how much money you’ve spent in that month, and how much of your budget is left over.

And as if that’s not enough to keep your finances in check, the template also has a summary page where you can find snapshots of your debts and savings.

3. Annual Budget Planner by Budget Templates

Budget Templates offers a detailed yearly personal budget planner that gives you an overview of your yearly budget to help you keep your finances aligned. The spreadsheet can hold a year’s worth of detailed budgeting information in just a single tab. Each worksheet has customizable sections where you can input additional income and investments, so you have everything in one place.

This is a great option for those who need an effective overview of their financial spending over multiple years. It could be a great option for regular, long-term spending such as mortgages, loans, and annual vacations.

4. Student Budget template by Microsoft

Managing finances can be a challenge for students, especially for those who’ve just started college and are experiencing the huge responsibility of living on your own.

Microsoft ’s Student Budget template is the perfect budgeting tool for those who want to track and control their allowance and part-time job incomes. Add your college-related spending into one tab, and your personal spending in the other. The template will calculate the budget of your personal spending so you never have to worry about going over your income.

The best thing is that you can use this template both as a downloadable file, but also as an online version, so you can access it on any computer or mobile device.

5. Household Expense Budget by Smartsheet

This financial management tool is made for budget-conscious families. With the Household Expense Budget planner by Smartsheet , you track the income and spending of your entire household.

Each sheet in the template is dedicated to a single month of the year, giving you a more detailed insight into your family’s monthly cash flow. Track continuous outgoings such as the mortgage, utility bills, and internet. Then, track one-off expenses such as restaurant bills, cinema tickets, and airfare. With this template, you can even create an emergency fund budget and assign income to your savings account, for a more reliable and secure budgeting solution.

6. Zero-based Budget Spreadsheet by Smartsheet

The idea behind this Excel sheet budget template is to allocate every dollar of your income to a part or aspect of your budget, so the difference between both equals zero.

The Zero-based budget Spreadsheet has two sections – one side for your monthly income and another for your expenses. Once you finish filling out both areas, the difference should be zero. If not, you should adjust either side. This method allows you to track and easily trace where your money is going.

7. Money Manager template by Smartsheet

Looking for a budgeting tool that will let you manage your budget and keep an eye on your expenses in a single location?

If so, the Money Manager template is a great option to consider. It’s an all-in-one budgeting solution that records and tracks all your financial transactions, and even balances your checkbook.

8 Small business budget template by Capterra

Starting to dabble in the world of business, the Small Business Budget template will be an interest to you.

Capterra has developed a versatile and user-friendly budgeting spreadsheet that startup owners can use for both long-term and short-term budget planning. The template also features an overview sheet. This sheet provides analytical insight into the efficiency of your business budgeting strategy.

Simply add your operational and non-operation income, then input your fixed and variable costs. This template will then calculate your gross profit, with an in-depth breakdown and analysis of where your money is going.

Budgeting templates are a pre-built structure you can use inside a spreadsheet to organize, manage and monitor your budgeting needs. They can save you a lot of time and manual effort by organizing and calculating your finances for you.

Although budgeting templates can differ with various features, the general idea is the same. Note down and keep track of all the various outgoing payments on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. These templates will help you have a clear overview of how much you’re spending and on what you’re spending it on, as well as your total gross income.

You can use budgeting templates both in professional and personal circumstances. Here are just a few examples:

• Startup business annual budgeting
• Monthly department budgeting
• Student budgeting
• Family household budgeting
• Event budgeting
• Personal budgeting (to save for a vacation or new car)

Why use a budget template in Excel?

As the most widely used spreadsheet tool, Excel is a popular choice for data management. Using a budgeting template in an already familiar tool is perhaps the simplest option for keeping track of your finances.

Using a budgeting template inside Excel has a range of benefits, including:

• Accessibility: Almost everyone has access to Excel. What’s more, you can open Excel online, so you can collaborate with other users or update your template from any device.
• Personalization: Adding your templates in Excel means that it’s easy for you to customize the templates to your exact needs. You can add or remove various cells or columns, or tailor the content to your specific situation.
• Optimization: By having your budgeting template in Excel, you can access Microsoft’s range of analytical features and functionalities. Create graphs and charts to visualize your data, or use different formulas to calculate new insights.
• Affordability: Spreadsheet templates are (for the most part) free, unlike complex finance software. Simply download your copy and get budgeting! No large upfront costs needed.

Free Excel budget templates

And there you have it! Excel is a versatile and valuable budgeting tool that has definitely proven its worth. But as with most things, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all money management tool. You’ll need a specific template for a particular budgeting task.

There are a variety of budgeting templates available on the market, depending on your needs. Although all of the above templates are simple and easy to download for an immediate solution, the Sheetgo Expense tracker takes budgeting to the next level. Read our article to learn more about the Automated Expense tracker template in Excel .

Looking for an all-in-one solution to control your finances? Check out our spreadsheet-based solution to automate your financial management and track all your business transactions.

Editor’s note : This is a revised version of a previous post that has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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How-To Geek

How to make a simple budget in microsoft excel.

If you already use Excel for work, why not use it for money management too?

Quick Links

Use an excel budget template, use a third-party budget template, create a budget from scratch.

Keeping track of your budget, whether for yourself or your entire household, is key to money management . If you already use Microsoft Excel, you can create a budget easily using a template or making one from scratch.

You can get a jumpstart on your budget by using a template . Microsoft offers several budget templates already in Excel or via the Office Template website.

Related: How To Create Custom Templates in Excel

To see the budget templates in Excel, open the application and select "More Templates" in the Home section.

Enter the word "budget" into the search box and you'll see many options.

Choose the template you want to use to see more details and click "Create" to open the template.

You're then on your way to budgeting your money with premade sections and built-in formulas. For more options, visit the Budget section of Microsoft's Office Template site . You can then pick a template to download and use in Excel, or open it online and use it in Excel for the web.

If you've browsed Microsoft's budget templates and don't see one you like, you can choose a third-party template. Sites like Vertext42 and Spreadsheet123 offer nice collections of budget templates.

One benefit of using a template is that it lists common expenses for you so that you don't forget anything.

This option from Vertex42 is ideal for managing your own finances. It's a personal monthly budget template with spots for all income you receive, and the expenses are grouped by category. At the top, you'll see a wrap-up section of moneys in and out along with the net amount, totals, and averages.

The template from Spreadsheet123 is a good option for a family monthly budget. Similar to the personal budget template above, you have places for income and expenses but also with estimated and actual amounts. The top section shows you your estimated and actual totals with the differences per month.

If you can't find a template to fit your needs or just want something simple, or if you have unique circumstances and needs, you can create a budget from scratch with helpful Excel budget functions. For the purpose of this tutorial, we'll make a basic monthly budget.

Related: How to Create Expense and Income Spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel

Open a new workbook, select the sheet, and give your budget a title at the top of the sheet. Then, create sections for income and expenses labeled however you like.

If you have more than one source of income such as more than one earner, multiple jobs, or dividends from investments, you can list those separately in your income section.

Then, list all of your expenses. Be sure to include all bills, loans, and miscellaneous expenses.

Next, head back to the top and enter the months across the second row, starting in the second column. If you prefer a weekly budget, you can enter the week numbers or for a daily budget, enter the days of the week.

You can enter the first two or three months, week numbers, or days and then use the fill handle to enter the rest.

You can then start adding the amounts for income and expenses starting with your current month. If you want to insert these amounts for previous time periods, that'll be helpful for an overall picture of the year.

To format the amounts as currency , select the cells containing the amounts. Then go to the Home tab and pick "Currency" in the Number drop-down box.

Because you want a clear picture of money coming in and going out, you should add totals to your income and expense sections. This will also let you easily see how much money you have remaining at the end of the month.

Go to the first cell below all income for the first month. Select the Sum button in the Editing section of the Home tab and pick "Sum" from the list. Confirm the cell range and press Enter or Return. Then, do the same for your expenses.

You can then copy both total formulas across the rows for the remaining months. Select the cell with the formula, use the fill handle to drag to the remaining columns, and release. Although some months display $0, you'll have the formulas ready to go when you add the amounts later.

Next, you can include a money remaining section at the bottom as mentioned above. You can do this easily by subtracting the cell containing your total expenses from the one containing your total income.

Go to the bottom of the column for the first month, below expenses. Enter the subtraction formula for the two total cells. For instance, our income total is in cell B6, and expense total is in cell B19, so we'd use this formula:

Press Enter or Return and you'll see your remaining money at the end of the month. Remember, you can use the fill feature to copy the formula to the rest of the months. Optionally, you can label this amount in the first column as well as the income and expense totals if you like.

Once you have this basic budget built, you can use Excel's formatting features to spruce up the sheet if you like. Here, we simply increased the font size for the title and added font colors and bold for income expenses, totals, and months. Visit the Font section of the Home tab for options like these.

If you want to create a more detailed budget, take a look at our list of Excel budget functions to see if any interest you. 

Here are just a few examples:

• Use the COUNT function to count the number of expenses you have.
• Use the MAX function to see your most costly expense.
• Use the TODAY function to always see the current date when you open your sheet.

With these easy ways to create a budget in Excel, you can stay on top of your incoming and outgoing money. It's also a great option if you're a Money in Excel user and looking for a replacement for the vanishing service .

Related: 7 Essential Microsoft Excel Functions for Budgeting

Free Business Budget Templates for Any Company

By Andy Marker | February 23, 2017

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Creating a budget is always a good idea, but it’s even more crucial when you run a business. Failure to properly budget can seriously impact your bottom line, and even jeopardize the success of your enterprise. By making and following a budget, you can better control costs, avoid overspending, and plan to meet financial goals. 

Of course, you’ll also need to document and track your budget. Using business budgeting worksheets for this purpose can help you: 

• Set and achieve profit goals
• Track revenue, expenses, and cash flow
• Cut unnecessary spending
• Properly allocate revenue to other areas of the business
• Prepare for busy seasons and slowdowns
• Plan for required purchases, such as equipment and materials
• Gauge the positive impact of budget changes
• Secure funding from current and potential investors or financial institutions
• Keep colleagues and coworkers informed on the financial health of the business
• Project startup costs, monthly operational expenses, and revenue needed to break even

To help you get started, we’ve created a variety of business budget templates for Excel that you can use for any organization - from startup companies to established enterprises. Download the template that best fits your needs, and start planning for financial success.

Business Budget Template

‌   Download Excel Template

Try Smartsheet Template   ‌

Use this basic business budgeting template to track monthly income and expenses for companies of any size. This template has separate sheets to create budgets for either services- or goods-based businesses. Income and expenses are also broken down by category to provide a closer look at where company funds are made and spent.

12-Month Business Budget Template

For a more detailed view of your company’s financials over time, use this business budgeting spreadsheet. Enter your revenue and expense estimations for each month and the entire year. Then, add your actual income and expenditures month by month to see how closely you’re meeting your budget (the accuracy of your estimates). Income and expense categories are broken out, so you can clearly see where funds are going to and coming from.

Department Budget

To make sure your department is staying within its allotted budget, use this Excel business budget template. It allows you to plot yearly income and expenses for a company or academic department, and compare the percentage change year over year. View revenue and expense subtotals by category to see where you can make cuts, and identify any surpluses.

Detailed Financial Projections Spreadsheet

For larger, more complex businesses, you need more comprehensive business budget plans. This detailed spreadsheet tracks all the information you need to make important financial decisions — from startup costs to sales and operating expense forecasts. Estimate and track payroll costs, accounts payable and receivable, the cost of goods sold, lines of credit, and monthly fixed costs. You can also compare year-end totals against one another.

First-Year Budget Calculator

If you’re getting ready to launch a startup, a small business budget template can be a useful tool. This basic calculator can help you quickly gauge costs for your new venture and estimate your first-year business income. It also includes a column for plotting monthly personal expenses, along with available cash from savings and other sources. This way, you can estimate the amount you’ll need to get your new business off the ground.

Professional Business Budget Template

Download Professional Business Budget Template

Excel | Smartsheet

This comprehensive budget template is ideal for larger, more established businesses: it offers one sheet for estimated expenditures (labor costs, office expenses, marketing spending, travel fees, etc.), and another sheet to plot expenses that accrue. It also allows you to track expense variances and offers charts for analyzing how closely your business is adhering to its budget.

Project Budget Template

‌ ‌   Download Excel Template

Need to create a specific, detailed budget for a particular job? This business budget worksheet can help you track income and expenses at the individual project level. Calculate labor, materials, and fixed costs for individual tasks across different categories, and compare estimated against actual expenses and revenues. Keep per-project spending under control with this business budget spreadsheet.

Small Business Budget Template

If you run a small business or are self-employed, use this small business budget template to track and manage your finances. This basic budget planner has one sheet for tracking income sources, one for expense types, and another for cash transactions. Easily track monthly income and expenses and calculate total profits.

Start-up Budget Template

Download Start-up Budget Template

Are you opening a new business? Using small business budgeting templates can help you manage finances properly from day one. If you plan effectively, you’ll lay a strong economic foundation for your company as it grows. This small business budget template allows you to track estimated versus actual funding sources and amounts, determine pre-opening costs, and calculate ongoing expenses so you’ll know how much income you need to come out ahead.

What’s in a Business Budget?

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), a business budget should contain the following information:

• Expected sales and revenues
• Fixed costs (those that don’t depend on sales, such as rent and business license expenses)
• Variable costs (items related to sales, such as materials and production expenses)
• Semi-variable costs (those that may or may not change depending on sales, such as wages and marketing fees)
• Profits (expected sales and income minus costs)

You may also choose to include additional information in your budget, depending on your business size and the level of financial information you want to track. For example, if you run a startup, you may want to include data on the total cost of getting your business up and running, as well as the amounts and sources of investor funding. If you have a large enterprise with multiple branch offices, you may want to create separate sheets for each location, as well as for the company’s overall budget. 

How to Create a Business Budget Plan

When creating your initial budget, you can use a business budget template to help calculate revenues, expenses, and profits. You may also choose to purchase business budget software to create a more detailed plan. Whatever method you choose, follow these basic steps when forming a budget:

• Gather historical information: If you have an established business, collect historical data on operating expenses, salaries, sales, and revenues over time. If you’re starting a new business, look for financial information on a business similar to yours (in size and type) and use it as a benchmark.
• Estimate sales and set profit goals: Calculate the sales you expect to make during different times of the year, factoring in holidays, office or plant closures, and seasonal booms and lulls. Set profit goals, and make realistic revenue projections for the year and into the future.
• Determine fixed and variable costs: Calculate all the fixed costs involved in operating your business such as rent, insurance, and business licenses. Also determine estimates for your variable costs, including materials and equipment, labor, salaries for company executives, employee benefits, and training and travel expenditures. 
• Calculate your profit margin: To determine how much profit you expect the business to make, subtract your expenses from estimated sales and revenues. Include the total cost of goods sold (the total amount it costs to produce your product or service), and factor in other costs like shipping, equipment, and materials for your office or production facility. 
• Adjust your budget over time: Continually update your budget over time to see how your estimates compare with actual sales and expenses. If you’re not making a profit, try adjusting your budget to increase revenues and decrease overhead costs. 

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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Discover why over 90% of Fortune 100 companies trust Smartsheet to get work done.

Manage your household budget in Excel

Creating a budgeting plan for your household can feel overwhelming and hard, but Excel can help you get organized and on track with a variety of free and premium budgeting templates .

Get a lay of the land

The purpose of a household budget is to summarize what you earn against what you spend to help you plan for long and short-term goals. Using a budgeting spreadsheet can help make your financial health a priority by keeping spending in check and savings on the rise!

DIY with the Personal budget template

Prefer to do things yourself? This Excel template can help you track your monthly budget by income and expenses. Input your costs and income, and any difference is calculated automatically so you can avoid shortfalls or make plans for any projected surpluses. Compare projected costs with actual costs to hone your budgeting skills over time.

> Get this personal budget template

Tip:  Track monthly expenses Utilities, credit cards, and insurance are billed monthly, so the easiest way to keep an eye on expenses is to determine how much you spend on a monthly basis.

Tip:  Pay attention to variable expenses While gas and phone bills generally don't vary in amount month over month, other expenses, such as dining out or clothes shopping, can vary wildly.

Categorize expenses

Now that you have an overall idea of monthly expenses, it's time to categorize them so you can review your fixed, variable, and discretionary expenses.

Tip:  Variable expenses You can't do without variable expenses, but they can fluctuate from month to month. Such expenses include groceries, car maintenance, electricity, and water usage.

Set your goals

Once you have a good idea of how much money is coming in versus what you're spending, you can start prioritizing for your short and long term goals.

Tip:  Keep your wedding options open Consistent review of your finances helps you figure out if you've saved enough to purchase an item that's essential or just "nice to have." Do you need that rose archway for your wedding procession or just really want one? Either way, be sure to track this against your goals. > Floral wedding budget

Financial management templates

LinkedIn Learning: Create a simple budget in Excel

Food Budget Template

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Financial management

Keeping your finances in check is easy to start-and maintain- when you use an excel budget planning template in your financial management routine. customize an excel template to suit your unique financial management needs, whether you're balancing the books of a small business or keeping track of your household budget..

Budget your personal and business finances using these templates

Manage your finances using Excel templates. Stay on track for your personal and business goals by evaluating your income and expenses. Use these templates to add in pie charts and bar graphs so that you can visualize how your finances change over time. Create infographics that show what categories are included in your budget and the types of factors that incorporate each category. Download your financial management template so that you can access it and edit it as you need.

The Best Free Business Budget Templates

Published: October 12, 2023

Business budgets are a source of truth for your income and expenses. That includes all the money you spend — from A/B testing your marketing campaigns to your monthly office rent.

While organizing the numbers may sound difficult, using a business budget template makes the process simple. Plus, there are thousands of business budget templates for you to choose from.

We’ll share seven budget templates that can help organize your finances. But first, you’ll learn about different types of business budgets and how to create one.

What is a Business Budget?

A business budget is a spending plan that estimates the revenue and expenses of a business for a period of time, typically monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

The business budget follows a set template, which you can fill in with estimated revenues, plus any recurring or expected business expenses.

For example, say your business is planning a website redesign. You'd need to break down the costs by category: software, content and design, testing, and more.

Having a clear breakdown will help you estimate how much each category will cost and compare it with the actual costs.

Image Source

Types of Budgets for a Business

Master budget, operating budget, cash budget, static budget, departmental budget, capital budget, labor budget, project budget.

Business budgets aren’t one size fits all. In fact, there are many different types of budgets that serve various purposes. Let’s dive into some commonly used budgets:

Think of a master budget as the superhero of budgets — it brings together all the individual budgets from different parts of your company into one big, consolidated plan. It covers everything from sales and production to marketing and finances.

It includes details like projected revenues, expenses, and profitability for each department or business unit. It also considers important financial aspects like cash flow, capital expenditures, and even creates a budgeted balance sheet to show the organization's financial position.

The master budget acts as a guide for decision-making, helps with strategic planning, and gives a clear picture of the overall financial health and performance of your company. It's like the master plan that ties everything together and helps the organization move in the right direction.

Your operating budget helps your company figure out how much money it expects to make and spend during a specific period, usually a year. It not only predicts the revenue your business will bring in, but also outlines expenses it will need to cover, like salaries, rent, bills, and other operational costs.

By comparing your actual expenses and revenue to the budgeted amounts, your company can see how it's performing and make adjustments if needed. It helps keep things in check, allowing your business to make wise financial decisions and stay on track with its goals.

A cash budget estimates the cash inflows and outflows of your business over a specific period, typically a month, quarter, or year. It provides a detailed projection of cash sources and uses, including revenue, expenses, and financing activities.

The cash budget helps you effectively manage your cash flow, plan for cash shortages or surpluses, evaluate the need for external financing, and make informed decisions about resource allocation.

By utilizing a cash budget, your business can ensure it has enough cash on hand to meet its financial obligations, navigate fluctuations, and seize growth opportunities.

A static budget is a financial plan that remains unchanged, regardless of actual sales or production volumes.

It’s typically created at the beginning of a budget period and doesn’t account for any fluctuations or changes in business conditions. It also assumes that all variables, such as sales, expenses, and production levels, will remain the same throughout the budget period.

While a static budget provides a baseline for comparison, it may not be realistic for businesses with fluctuating sales volumes or variable expenses.

A departmental budget focuses on the financial aspects of a specific department within your company, such as sales, marketing or human resources.

When creating a departmental budget, you may look at revenue sources like departmental sales, grants, and other sources of income. On the expense side, you consider costs such as salaries, supplies, equipment, and any other expenses unique to that department.

The goal of a departmental budget is to help the department manage its finances wisely. It acts as a guide for making decisions and allocating resources effectively. By comparing the actual numbers to the budgeted amounts, department heads can see if they're on track or if adjustments need to be made.

A capital budget is all about planning for big investments in the long term. It focuses on deciding where to spend money on things like upgrading equipment, maintaining facilities, developing new products, and hiring new employees.

The budget looks at the costs of buying new stuff, upgrading existing things, and even considers depreciation, which is when something loses value over time. It also considers the return on investment, like how much money these investments might bring in or how they could save costs in the future.

The budget also looks at different ways to finance these investments, whether it's through loans, leases, or other options. It's all about making smart decisions for the future, evaluating cash flow, and choosing investments that will help the company grow and succeed.

A labor budget helps you plan and manage the costs related to your employees. It involves figuring out how much your business will spend on wages, salaries, benefits, and other labor-related expenses.

To create a labor budget, you'll need to consider factors like how much work needs to be done, how many folks you'll need to get it done, and how much it'll all cost. This can help your business forecast and control labor-related expenses and ensure adequate staffing levels.

By having a labor budget in place, your business can monitor and analyze your labor costs to make informed decisions and optimize your resources effectively.

A project budget is the financial plan for a specific project.

Let's say you have an exciting new project you want to tackle. A project budget helps you figure out how much money you'll need and how it will be allocated. It covers everything from personnel to equipment and materials — basically, anything you'll need to make the project happen.

By creating a project budget, you can make sure the project is doable from a financial standpoint. It helps you keep track of how much you planned to spend versus how much you actually spend as you go along. That way, you have a clear idea of whether you're staying on track or if there are any financial challenges that need attention.

How to Create a Business Budget

While creating a business budget can be straightforward, the process may be more complex for larger companies with multiple revenue streams and expenses.

No matter the size of your business, here are the basic steps to creating a business budget.

1. Gather financial data.

Before you create a business budget, it’s important to gather insights from your past financial data. By looking at things like income statements, expense reports, and sales data, you can spot trends, learn from past experiences, and see where you can make improvements.

Going through your financial history helps you paint a true picture of your income and expenses. So, when you start creating your budget, you can set achievable targets and make sure your estimates match what's actually been happening in your business.

2. Find a template, or make a spreadsheet.

There are many free or paid budget templates online. You can start with an already existing budget template. We list a few helpful templates below.

You may also opt to make a spreadsheet with custom rows and columns based on your business.

3. Fill in revenues.

Once you have your template, start by listing all the sources of your business’ income. With a budget, you’re planning for the future, so you’ll also need to forecast revenue streams based on previous months or years. For a new small business budget, you’ll rely on your market research to estimate early revenue for your company.

When you estimate your revenue , you're essentially figuring out how much money you have to work with. This helps you decide where to allocate your resources and which expenses you can fund.

4. Subtract fixed costs for the time period.

Fixed costs are the recurring costs you have during each month, quarter, or year. Examples include insurance, rent for office space, website hosting, and internet.

The key thing to remember about fixed costs is that they stay relatively stable, regardless of changes in business activity. Even if your sales decrease or production slows down, these costs remain the same.

However, it's important to note that fixed costs can still change over the long term, such as when renegotiating lease agreements or adjusting employee salaries.

5. Consider variable costs.

Variable costs will change from time to time. Unlike fixed costs, variable costs increase or decrease as the level of production or sales changes.

Examples include raw materials needed to manufacture your products, packaging and shipping costs, utility bills, advertising costs, office supplies, and new software or technology.

You may always need to pay some variable costs, like utility bills. However, you can shift how much you spend toward other expenses, like advertising costs, when you have a lower-than-average estimated income.

6. Set aside time for business budget planning.

Unexpected expenses might come up, or you might want to save to expand your business. Either way, review your budget after including all expenses, fixed costs, and variable costs. Once completed, you can determine how much money you can save. It’s wise to create multiple savings accounts. One should be used for emergencies. The other holds money that can be spent on the business to drive growth.

Free Business Budget Templates

Manage your business, personal, and program spend on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis.

• Personal Budget Template
• Annual Budget Template
• Program Budget Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Fill out the form to get the free templates.

How to manage a business budget.

There are a few key components to managing a healthy business budget.

Budget Preparation

The process all starts with properly preparing and planning the budget at the beginning of each month, quarter, or year. You can also create multiple budgets, some short-term and some long-term. During this stage, you will also set spending limits and create a system to regularly monitor the budget.

Budget Monitoring

In larger businesses, you might delegate budget tracking to multiple supervisors. But even if you’re a one-person show, keep a close eye on your budget. That means setting a time in your schedule each day or week to review the budget and track actual income and expenses. Be sure to compare the actual numbers to the estimates.

Budget Forecasting

With regular budget tracking, you always know how your business is doing. Check in regularly to determine how you are doing in terms of revenue and where you have losses. Find where you can minimize expenses and how you can move more money into savings.

Why is a Budget Important for a Business?

A budget is crucial for businesses. Without one, you could easily be drowning in expenses or unexpected costs.

The business budget helps with several operations. You can use a business budget to keep track of your finances, save money to help you grow the business or pay bonuses in the future, and prepare for unexpected expenses or emergencies.

You can also review your budget to determine when to take the next leap for your business. For example, you might be dreaming of a larger office building or the latest software, but you want to make sure you have a healthy net revenue before you make the purchase.

Best Free Business Budget Templates

1. marketing budget template.

Knowing how to manage a marketing budget can be a challenge, but with helpful free templates like this marketing budget template bundle , you can track everything from advertising expenses to events and more.

This free bundle includes eight different templates, so you can create multiple budgets to help you determine how much money to put toward marketing, plus the return on your investment.

2. Small Business Budget Template

For small businesses, it can be hard to find the time to draw up a budget, but it’s crucial to help keep the business in good health.

Capterra offers a budget template specifically for small businesses. Plus, this template works with Excel. Start by inputting projections for the year. Then, the spreadsheet will project the month-to-month budget. You can input your actual revenue and expenses to compare, making profits and losses easy to spot.

3. Startup Budget Template

What if you don’t have any previous numbers to rely on to create profit and expense estimates? If you are a startup, this Gusto budget template will help you draw up a budget before your business is officially in the market. This will help you track all the expenses you need to get your business up and running, estimate your first revenues, and determine where to pinch pennies.

4. Free Business Budget Template

You might be familiar with Intuit. Many companies, big and small, rely on Intuit’s services like Quickbooks and TurboTax. Even if you don’t use the company’s paid financial services, you can take advantage of Intuit’s free budget template , which works in Google Sheets or Excel.

It features multiple spreadsheet tabs and simple instructions. You enter your revenue in one specific tab and expenses in another. You can also add additional tabs as needed. Then, like magic, the spreadsheet uses the data in the income and expense tabs to summarize the information. This template can even determine net savings and the ending balance.

5. Department Budget Sheet

A mid- to large-size company will have multiple departments, all with different budgetary needs. These budgets will all be consolidated into a massive, company-wide budget sheet. Having a specific template for each department can help teams keep track of spending and plan for growth.

This free template from Template.net works in either document or spreadsheet formats. This budget template can help different departments keep track of their income and spending.

6. Project Budget Template

Every new project comes with expenses. This free budget template from Monday will help your team estimate costs before undertaking a project. You can easily spot if you're going over budget midway through a project so you can adjust.

This template is especially useful for small companies that are reporting budgets to clients and for in-house teams getting buy-in for complex projects.

7. Company Budget Template

Want to keep track of every penny? Use this template from TemplateLab to draw up a detailed budget. The list of expenses includes fixed costs, employee costs, and variable costs. This business template can be especially useful for small businesses that want to keep track of expenses in one, comprehensive document.

Create a Business Budget to Help Your Company Grow

Making your first business budget can be daunting, especially if you have several revenue streams and expenses. Using a budget template can make getting started easy. And, once you get it set up, these templates are simple to replicate.

With little planning and regular monitoring, you can plan for the future of your business.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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6 templates to manage your business, personal, and program spend on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis.

• Business Templates

FREE 10+ Budget Samples in Excel | PDF | MS Word

You can rely on simple Budget Templates to create a simple yet an effective budget. You can use the budget for daily, monthly or weekly purchase plans. The act of building a simple budget generally entails listing your incomes on one side and the expected expenses on the other side. This is done before you even have the incomes. This means that by the time you are getting the money, you already have the use for that money.

Simple Budget Template

Sample business budget - 9+ documents in pdf, excel, sample non profit budget template - 6+ free document download ..., sample sales budget – 5+ example, format, budget template printable.

The budget template printable provides you with a worksheet which helps you in keeping the record of your expenditure in a particular month which further helps you to plan the budget for the next month. It clearly depicts all the information needed like your income, expenses this month and budget for next month.

Simple Personal Budget Template

The simple personal budget template features a simple budget worksheet in which you can yourself add your own categories or directly write all the expenses without categorising them. It has two different columns for writing the description and amount of the expense.

Simple Monthly Budget Template

As the name suggests, the monthly budget worksheet template free is specially designed for preparing the monthly budget. It showcases a table for writing the information in it like monthly budget, monthly actual, difference and notes in front of the categories provided to you.

Simple Wedding Budget Template

The simple wedding budget template is specially designed for preparing the wedding budget. It features a spreadsheet which helps you in maintaining the record of all your upcoming expenses for the wedding and ultimately prepares a budget for it. The expenses are categorised as stationery, attire, rings, rehearsal dinner and ceremony.

Simple Business Budget Template

Simple Household Budget Template Free

Simple Budget Template Excel

Simple Monthly  Budget Template

Simple Budget Template for Kids

Simple Budget Template Printable

Simple Family Budget Template

Budget Planner Template

General Budget Format

Why is the Simple Budget Template Needed?

The simple budget template is needed for preparing an effective budget. These templates provide you with various types of worksheets in which you can keep the record of present months expenses which will make it easy for you to draft the budget. Considering expenses made by you whole month, it becomes really easy to prepare the budget of the upcoming month. This budget making is needed as it helps you in saving money by stopping your unnecessary money spending habits, it will make you more organised by keeping the record of all expenses, it will help you in minimising your expenses by making you notice all the expenses and for many more reasons like this.

When is the Simple Budget Template Needed?

The simple budget template is needed when you need to prepare the budget which can be for variety of reasons like if you wish to reduce your expenses incurred, if you want to control your profligate spending, if you want to save money for a purpose or if you just want to keep the record of your expenses. This template is also needed to overview the expenses of going on month so that it becomes easy for you to prepare the budget for the next month. The template is also needed when you do not have much time to draft the whole budget on your own as with the help of these templates, you can easily download, print and use these templates.

Benefits of the Simple Budget Template

The simple budget template has several benefits like it helps in preparing an effective budget within no time and without much effort as all information is provided in the template already and you just need to fill them up. It also helps in minimising your expenses which you are not able to keep your own as this template helps you in enlisting all types of expenses and have an exact picture of expenses being made by you. These templates are also beneficial in helping you save the money which becomes a really tough job, especially for spendthrifts.You can also see Budget Estimate Templates .

The simple budget templates are ready to use templates which are easily available on the internet. You can download these templates with just a click which also saves your time. There are as many as fifteen different options available for in it which helps you in choosing the most suitable.

Formulating a budget is very easy but sticking to the plan is the hard part. A budget will not guarantee you the end of your debts but it will be a forward step in building the financial stability you need.

A simple budget is one that has realistic goals; you should use the budget to;

• Cater for your basic necessities
• Prevent debts or minimizing them
• Generate savings
• Stop anxiety for money
• Pay the bills on time
• Have an early retirement in the long run

Why it’s Important

A sample Home Budget plan is very important when you are starting. The simple balancing of the expected income with your projected expenses prevents you from getting into debts. You will be able to limit your expenditures as per the incomes you are getting.

A Budget Templates when done right gives you a sense of worthiness. You are able to track where your money is going and you can increase your savings. By doing this, you increase your net worth and also your credit worthiness.

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Business Budget Templates

Create a Monthly Financial Plan for Your Small Business with Template.net With its Free Printable Sample Business Budget Templates. Plan for this Year’s Budget Expense and More with these Template Designs in Different File Formats like a Spreadsheet. Browse Around for the Right Template. What are You Waiting For?

Get Access to All Business Budget Templates

Are you searching for an effective Business Budget Templates for your business yet you can't find one? Search no more for we provide you a professionally written, high-quality, and easily editable business template that lets you achieve your business's financial goals and track its expenses easier and conveniently. Our template is made by our professional writers that will help you manage the budget plan of your business—from its income, losses, and expenses needed for the smooth development of your business. These templates let you fully customize it based on your needs. Be quick! Download the templates and subscribe to our site for more premium templates suitable for you. 

How to Create a Business Budget?

A business budget estimate  is a plan outline of business' financial and operational goals. A budget helps to assign resources, evaluate a business's performance, and formulate plans. When you start up a business, it is a regular assignment of the owner to budget monthly or annually. It lets the owner match the expenses and revenue of the business to determine whether they have enough money to fund their operations, expand the business, and generate income for themselves. Without it, you may not know your business's performance. 

A business budget can be an assurance of long-term success. Business Budgeting is one of the most powerful financial tools accessible to any small business owner. Without it, there is a big risk of spending more and earning less or reversely, not spending enough money on the development of the business. It can be intimidating especially for starters, but the process on how to create a business budget is not that difficult if you follow these steps thoroughly.  

1. Examine Your Revenue

Start with the main goal of you having a business: revenue or income. Add all the income sources to find out how much money you produce in a month. When you calculate your income, calculate for your revenue, and not profit. Profit is what remains if you deduct the overall expenses used in your business. Repeat it monthly and eventually, you can distinguish your annual income. Expect that there is a season that your business will flop, but always have your backup plan.

2. Subtract Your Income

After the first step, add your fixed costs. Cost is a financial aspect that is needed for the operation of the business. The fixed cost can be varied daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. Once you have calculated your overall fix cost, subtract it from your income.

3. Determine Expenses

Variable expenses are those materials needed for the business that changes depending on the volume of use. It is determined through your sales budget. The utility is one of the best examples of it. There is also a type of expense that can increase the profitability of your business. It is called a discretionary expense. During lean months, you can lower your discretionary expense to keep up with the marketing plan. Spend most to the variable expenses that have long benefits for your business.

4. Set Aside a Contingency Fund

A contingency fund will be served as a backup project for unexpected happenings that may affect your business. For instance, you need to travel for deliveries and your car is broken or a calamity strikes your home and business and you need a relocation, a proposal for a contingency fund would be recommended to avoid these dilemmas. 

5. Include the Profit and Loss Statement

Calculate your overall income and expenses and add it all up. If it turns out to be positive, then congratulations! you gain some profit. If not, it's okay. There are ups and downs especially in business because it is not profitable every time, especially if you are still starting. 

6. Outline Your Next Budget

It is a smart move if you plan your budget earlier. Refer your future budget to your profit and loss statement and learn from your mistakes. Make a landscape plan of your corporate budget and surely, your business will last long.