You must use our template. Microsoft Excel is recommended.

Submit all your financial data, which includes:

• 12 months of financial history (month by month)
• 12 months of financial forecast (month by month)
• Assumptions/narrative to accompany your forecast
• If you have them, please also upload your most recent full accounts

Please note that we cannot progress your application unless we have all this information. If you think you might need support to provide this data, you can get in touch with us via the Awards page of our website.

Historical financial data

Start by providing us with your venture's historical data.

Click on the “Last 12 months” tab.

When you see instructions in italics (like this), complete the relevant task using the template provided. Sometimes, you will also need to use a calculator and a notebook or the notes app on your computer.

Tabs are found at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

Collect your historical data by using your records to determine the income you have received and the costs you have incurred.

Use your receipts and bank statements for an accurate record of your income and expenditures for each of the last 12 months.

List each expenditure separately and break down your income into different sources (such as grants and donations) as well as the different types of products and services you sell.

Create more spreadsheet rows if you need them for all the different types of income sources or expenditures. Right-click on the last row, move your cursor over “Insert” on the pop-up menu, and click on “Sheet Rows”.

The amount in the field “Total Income - Expenditure” for the most recent month should match the current figure in your bank account.

If these figures do not match, you will need to check your income and expenditure figures to find the error. You may have forgotten to include an item.

After completing your historical data, you are ready to make a forecast of your venture's financial future.

What is a financial forecast (and why does it matter)?

A financial forecast is a plan that sets out two things:

• how you expect your venture to gain income, and
• what you expect your venture to spend money on (called “expenditures”).

Preparing a financial forecast gives you an opportunity to consider the future of the venture.

List your financial assumptions

Start your forecast by listing assumptions about the future performance of your venture in the tab labelled “Assumptions”.

Use your business plan to generate a list of expected income and expenditures in the provided tables.

Assumptions about your income and expenditures should be detailed and realistic. Tell us what your assumptions are based on (for example, the previous performance of your venture, market research, or data insights).

Income

Describe the income source and the amount you expect it to generate. Income may come from sales of products and services, as well as grants and donations.

Expenditures

Also called “costs”. Describe the type and amount of expenditures you expect your venture to involve. Expenditures may include rent, salaries, equipment, material, and legal costs.

Now that you have a list of assumptions about your venture's income sources and costs, you can use them to produce a financial forecast.

Use the tab labelled “Next 12 months”.

Sales budget

Start your forecast by using a sales budget to calculate the income you will generate from sales of products and services.

A sales budget lists every type of product or service you offer.

It then calculates how much income you can expect by multiplying the number of items of each type by the price you will charge for each item.

Sales budget formula:

Number of items you expect to sell
X Price you will charge for each item
= Income you will generate from that item

For example, if your venture offers group training sessions for £120, and you expect to sell 6 group training sessions in Month 1, then your income from all training sessions for that month will total £720.

Start with an item you will sell and write its name in the income section of the financial forecast.

Next, use a piece of paper or a notes app to write down the price you will charge for each item and the number of items you expect to sell next month.

After that, use a calculator to multiply the price per unit by the number of units you expect to sell.

Record your total for each item type in the appropriate field.

Costs

Next, calculate the costs your venture will involve.

There are a few different types of costs to consider:

• Variable costs
• Fixed costs
• One-time costs

Variable costs

Variable costs are costs that increase with the amount of sales. They include things like materials or ingredients.

Fixed costs

Fixed costs remain the same no matter how much your venture sells. They include things like rent and insurance.

Simply record the cost in the column of the month you expect to incur it.

You can copy and paste the amount of a fixed cost from one month to the next, as long as you do not expect it to change.

One-time costs

One-time costs are costs that do not occur regularly. They include things like computers, machinery, or tools.

Record each one-time cost in the appropriate field for the month during which you expect to incur it.

Finishing

Check that you have:

• filled in your assumptions tab
• provided your historical data
• completed your financial forecast

Then you are ready to upload the spreadsheet to your portal account.