Financial projections for your clients, built and checked

Clients ask their accountant for projections at predictable moments: a loan application, a lease, a new site, an investor meeting. For a small firm, building each one from scratch takes hours that are hard to bill, and adapting an old file risks carrying someone else's assumptions into a new client's numbers. StartupModel builds a three-statement Excel model from the client's numbers, with a low / base / high switch and a Checks sheet, verified before delivery. A pack of 5 Full models costs $1,250, or $250 per client.

The problem with client forecasts

Anyone who has built forecasts for small-business clients knows the pattern:

• The request arrives with a deadline. The bank wants projections by Friday.
• The scope is small but the work isn't. Even a simple business needs revenue logic, payroll, working capital, a loan schedule, a cash flow and a balance sheet that balances.
• The fee is capped. Clients compare the price with the loan they're applying for, not with the hours it takes.
• Reuse is risky. Last year's file for a different client carries different drivers, hidden overrides and links nobody remembers.

The work is worth doing well, because the projection carries your firm's name to the lender.

What you get for each client

Full model, per client:

• Inputs sheet: every assumption in its own labelled cell, with low, base and high values side by side.
• Monthly or annual detail for 1, 3 or 5 years: revenue build, costs, payroll by role, working capital (receivable, inventory and payable days), depreciation, the loan and the owner's equity.
• Annual P&L, cash flow statement and balance sheet.
• Headcount sheet: roles, FTEs, salaries, payroll taxes and benefits, wage growth.
• Dashboard with the scenario selector.
• Checks sheet: live formulas confirm the balance sheet balances in every period, closing cash reconciles, annual totals tie to period detail, EBITDA reconciles and the scenario inputs are ordered the right way.

Formatting follows the conventions most reviewers expect: blue inputs, black formulas, green cross-sheet links, and the same formula across every period. Only long-established Excel functions are used, so the file opens cleanly in older versions of Excel.

How each model is verified

1. Your client's answers become a structured brief of drivers with low, base and high values, validated against sensible limits.
2. A tested template, the same code for every customer, writes the workbook. AI does not write formulas into the file.
3. The workbook is recalculated, and every scenario and year is recomputed independently in plain Python. The two must match within $1.
4. The Checks sheet must not show a FAIL.
5. A model that fails any of this is not delivered.

You still review the assumptions with the client; that's where your judgement matters. What you don't need to do is audit the arithmetic from scratch.

A typical engagement

1. Intake. You or the client answer the questionnaire: business type, goal, stage, horizon, monthly or annual detail, and the key numbers. Anything left blank gets a sensible default that stays editable.
2. First review. Open the model with the client. Walk through the Inputs sheet line by line and replace defaults with real figures: the lease, supplier quotes, the staffing plan, the loan offer.
3. Stress test. Flip the scenario switch on the Dashboard. If the low case runs out of cash, that's the conversation to have before the bank has it.
4. Hand-off. Send the Excel file with the loan pack. The Checks sheet travels with it, so the lender can see the statements tie.
5. Updates. When terms change, edit the inputs; the five years recalculate without a rebuild.

Where it fits in your service

• Loan packs. Add the projection to the client's loan application, with the downside case ready. See SBA loan financial projections.
• New site or expansion. Test whether a second location carries its own costs.
• Visa business plans. Five-year projections for E-2 plans. See E-2 business plan projections.
• Annual planning. Give an existing client a forward model to plan against, then compare actuals as the year goes on.

Pricing

Pack credits stay valid for 12 months from purchase.

Which client businesses are covered

Templates today cover restaurants and cafés, SaaS and software, retail and e-commerce, professional services, rental real estate, fitness studios and gyms, and home services and trades. The questionnaire lists only what can be ordered, so you'll know before you buy whether a client's business is covered.

Sample

Download a sample Full model (.xlsx). Check it the way you'd check a junior's work: click into the revenue, look along the rows, flip the scenario and open the Checks sheet.

Questions

Can I edit the model for the client? Yes. It's a standard .xlsx with live formulas. Change any blue input and every sheet follows.

Is there StartupModel branding in the file, and can we add our own? Delivered models carry no StartupModel name or logo. Add your firm's name or logo yourself if you want to; it's a normal Excel file.

Who enters the numbers, us or the client? Either. The questionnaire is short and in plain language, with defaults for anything left blank.

Is this financial advice or an audit? No. It's a modelling tool. The assumptions, and the advice built on them, remain yours and your client's.

Refunds? If a model doesn't fit the client's business, write to us within 7 days for a full refund.

Buy a 5-model pack — $1,250 · Order a single model — $349 · All custom financial models