📌 Stage 1 · Plan Architecture · Workbook tour · plan architecture · 30–40 min

What a twelve-month budget answers, and how ten sheets answer it together

Learning goals

  • Explain the difference between a profit plan (the P&L) and a bank-balance plan (cash flow), and why a studio needs both
  • Name the ten sheets of the workbook and the order the model flows through them
  • Locate the scenario switch, the opening cash, and the minimum cash covenant on the Assumptions sheet
  • State the canvas conventions: title in B2, headers on row 4, data from row 5, months in columns C to N, FY total in column O

Concepts

The planning question

Harbor Creative Studio LLC has four people today and wants five: Maya Okafor (owner), Luis Herrera, Priya Nair, and Dana Whitfield, plus a planned junior designer in July. Before the studio commits to the hire, the February build-out, and a new camera kit, Maya needs answers to four questions:

  • Can we pay ourselves and the team every month and still respect the lender's minimum cash covenant?

  • When does cash get tight, and by how much?

  • What happens if one retainer client leaves, or if clients pay slower than NET 30?

  • How will we know, mid-year, whether the plan is still true?

A budget and cash flow forecast answers all four in one linked workbook. This course builds that workbook from scratch, one sheet at a time, and every number in it comes from the case of one realistic studio.

💡 Tips:

  • A forecast is a decision tool, not a prediction contest. The value is in the levers it exposes, not in hitting the number exactly.

Two views of the same year

The workbook keeps two views of calendar 2026 in sync:

  • The Monthly P&L is the accrual view: revenue when it is earned, costs when they are incurred. It answers “are we profitable?”

  • The Cash Flow sheet is the direct-method cash view: money when it actually hits or leaves the bank. It answers “can we pay the bills?”

The two views share every input but disagree on timing. Billings of $690,000.00 for the year produce collections of $689,156.25, because receivables do not sit still. A studio can be profitable and still miss payroll if the timing is wrong — that is exactly what Lessons 12 to 14 make visible.

💡 Tips:

  • Profit is an opinion about a period; cash is a fact about a bank balance. Plan both.

The ten-sheet map

The workbook has ten sheets, in the order the model flows:

  1. Read Me — what the file is, the model flow, the timing rules, and the sales-tax note.

  2. Assumptions — the scenario switch (cell C5) and every planning driver with Best, Base, and Worst columns and an Active column.

  3. Staff & Payroll — the roster with monthly salary, employer taxes, health premium, fully loaded cost, and months in the plan year.

  4. Revenue Plan — the seasonal index, retainer and project billings, and the receivables roll-forward with the collection curve.

  5. Operating Expenses — the non-payroll cost grid: one variable formula row plus five typed rows, and a vendor-invoices memo.

  6. CapEx & Loan — the asset plan with in-service dates and straight-line depreciation, plus the 36-payment equipment loan schedule.

  7. Monthly P&L — the accrual assembly: revenue, delivery cost, operating expenses, EBITDA, depreciation, interest, net profit.

  8. Cash Flow — the direct-method re-cut: collections, loan proceeds, and every payment line with its timing lag.

  9. Cash Roll-Forward — opening to closing cash each month against the minimum cash covenant, with cushion and status flags.

  10. Plan vs Actual — Q1 2026 actuals typed from the bookkeeping close against live plan formulas, with monthly and quarterly variances.

Canvas and conventions

Every sheet uses the same canvas so formulas stay portable: the sheet title sits in cell B2 (merged across the table), the column headers sit on row 4, and data starts on row 5. Monthly grids run January through December in columns C to N, with the FY 2026 total in column O. Month headers are real date values displayed as “Jan 2026”, so formulas can use EOMONTH(C$4,0) and SUMIFS date windows.

Two colors matter: white cells are typed inputs you can change; pale-green cells are formulas you should not overwrite. Amounts are US dollars and exclude sales tax — Texas generally does not tax purely graphic design services, but tangible deliverables and combined contracts can be taxable, so confirm the treatment for your state with your state Department of Revenue or your CPA before invoicing. Client invoices in this model carry NET 30 terms. This workbook intentionally contains no macros or VBA.

💡 Tips:

  • If you ever need automation, save a copy as .xlsm and add macros there — keep the teaching file macro-free.

Practice

Fixed case: Harbor Creative Studio LLC, a four-person design studio in Austin, Texas, planning calendar year 2026. Cached numbers are the Base scenario. Pale-green cells are formulas; white cells are typed inputs. The exercise opens on the sheet this lesson teaches. This lesson is a tour: no cell to retype, only things to find.

  1. Open the Read Me sheet — The exercise opens on Read Me. Read the nine topic rows top to bottom: what the file is, how the model flows, the scenario switch, cash timing rules, entry rules, the sales-tax note, the payroll note, capacity, and boundaries.
  2. Walk the tabs — Click through the ten sheet tabs at the bottom in order: Read Me, Assumptions, Staff & Payroll, Revenue Plan, Operating Expenses, CapEx & Loan, Monthly P&L, Cash Flow, Cash Roll-Forward, Plan vs Actual. On each one, note the B2 title, the row 4 headers, and where the data begins.
  3. Find the three key cells on Assumptions — Open Assumptions. Cell C5 shows the active scenario (Base, from a dropdown). Cell C6 shows opening cash of $38,000.00 on Jan 1, 2026. Cell C7 shows the minimum cash covenant of $30,000.00. Read the Notes column beside each.
  4. Check the canvas — Open Revenue Plan. Row 4 holds the month headers as real dates (Jan 2026 through Dec 2026) plus “FY 2026” in O4. Data starts on row 5. Pale-green cells are formulas; white cells (like the seasonal index row) are typed.
  5. Confirm what is cached — The file opens on the Base scenario: every cached number you see is the Base answer. Lesson 15 switches it. If you change anything by accident, choose Reset Data in the exercise toolbar.

Online exercise

The spreadsheet below is editable — follow the practice steps right on this page. Steps that need ribbon menus should be done in your own Excel with the downloadable practice file.

表格加载中…

Checklist

Work through each item; when every box passes, this lesson is done:

  • ☐ Walked the ten sheets in tab order and can state the model flow from memory
  • ☐ Found Assumptions C5 (scenario), C6 (opening cash $38,000.00), and C7 (covenant $30,000.00)
  • ☐ Can point to the B2 title, row 4 headers, and row 5 data start on any sheet
  • ☐ Can explain in one sentence why the studio needs both a P&L and a cash flow view