Smart Budgets & Financial Models
Agile “what if” tools you can use to create smarter budgets & inform business decisions
Your new budget will also act as a “smart” template you can reuse year after year to better forecast your monthly revenue, expenses, and profit.
Meh, that doesn’t look so special!
WHAT MAKES IT A “SMART” BUDGET?
In the end, your P&L summary won’t look much different from what you’re used to. But it’s how we’ll model out the individual components and turn your previously-static budget into a powerful “what if” tool that makes it so smart and agile! Here’s what I mean…
REVENUE FORECASTING
Do you charge a flat fee for some cases and hourly for others? Are some of your clients on retainer + hourly, while others are capped? How do you budget for that?
I’ll create a reusable model that lets you pull different levers (so to speak) to see how changes to your fee structure, marketing spend, hiring plan, etc. could affect your monthly billings.
FILING FEES & COURT COSTS
You pay different filing fees and court costs depending on what type of case you’re working on, right? I’ll weave these expenses (oh, so cleanly) into the above revenue model so that when you play around with your client fee schedule, you can see how your NET revenue will change (not just your GROSS revenue).
EXPENSE FORECASTING
Budgeting for known operating expenses such as your rent and utilities, software, supplies, and bar association fees is pretty easy. We’ll have a simple tab for that. But what about your HR expenses?
For example, do you plan to bring on a new partner, hire a paralegal, or find a new assistant? I’ll create a streamlined model that helps you to easily budget your full-time vs. part-time, employee vs. consultant, wage vs. salary, and start/end dates for existing staff and planned hires.
SUMMARY DASHBOARDS
Now that we’ve mapped out your revenue and expenses, we’ll create a P&L forecast that you can use to prepare for and drive growth. I’ll also put together some clean graphs and charts (using spreadsheets or your accounting software) so you can see how you’re trending against various goals, as well as previous reporting periods.
SERVICES I DO NOT PROVIDE
Please note that I am an operational consultant, hard-core analyst, and spreadsheet magician (if I must say so) with a B.S. degree and strong background in Finance. However, I am not a bookkeeper or accountant.
As such, I DO NOT:
- Manage accounting software
- Bill your clients or collect unpaid invoices
- Record monthly financial transactions
- Run payroll
- Plan or prepare taxes
