How to make a financial business plan
Direct answer
To make a financial business plan, start from your offer and pricing, estimate your costs and charges (including payroll), then build three linked statements — income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet — over five years. Check cash flow month by month, test two or three scenarios, then export a clear dossier for your bank or investors.
What is a financial business plan?
A financial business plan is the numbers behind your project: it shows, year after year, what you earn, what you spend, what stays in the bank, and what the company is worth. Where the written business plan tells the strategy, the financial part proves it with figures.
It is the document your bank, investors, or accountant will read first. A good financial plan is not an impressive spreadsheet: it is a coherent model where every assumption (price, volume, payroll) flows automatically into the result and the cash position.
The components of a financial business plan
Four statements form the foundation. They are not independent: they feed into one another and must stay consistent.
Income statement
Revenue minus costs: it tells you whether the business is profitable. Show it by year, with gross margin and operating result.
Cash flow plan
The real money movements, month by month. You can be profitable yet run out of cash: this is the statement banks scrutinise most.
Balance sheet
A snapshot of the position at a given date: assets, debts, equity. It proves the financing covers the needs.
Valuation
What the company is worth based on your projections (DCF, multiples). Mainly useful for a fundraising round or a new partner.
The 6 steps to make a financial business plan
Follow this order: each step builds on the previous one. Allow half a day for a serious first version.
- 1
1. Define the offer and pricing
List your products or services, their selling price, and the expected volume. This is the starting block: all revenue flows from it. Be realistic about ramp-up — growth is never linear from the very first month.
- 2
2. Estimate the costs
Separate variable costs (which track sales: materials, commissions) from fixed costs (rent, subscriptions, insurance). This split gives your break-even point — the revenue level above which you start making money.
- 3
3. Add the team and payroll charges
For each role, start from the gross salary, then add employer social charges (AHV/IV/EO, unemployment, accident, occupational pension). In Switzerland, count roughly 15 to 20% of employer charges on top of the gross — a classic oversight that distorts the whole plan.
- 4
4. Build the 5-year projections
Link offer, costs, and salaries to produce the income statement over five financial years. Make the assumptions explicit: sales growth, cost inflation, hires. A five-year horizon is the standard expected by funders.
- 5
5. Check the cash flow
Convert the result into month-by-month cash flow, accounting for payment terms and VAT timing. Identify the low point: it determines how much financing you need to raise so you never run short.
- 6
6. Export the dossier
Assemble a readable document: summary, tables, charts, and comments. Tailor the level of detail to the reader — banks want collateral and cash, investors want growth and valuation.
Common mistakes to avoid
- ✕Forgetting employer social charges and underestimating the real cost of an employee.
- ✕Confusing profitability with cash: a positive result does not guarantee the bank balance keeps up.
- ✕Presenting a single scenario, with no conservative or optimistic case to frame the risk.
- ✕Ignoring VAT timing and customer payment terms, which drain cash flow.
- ✕Lining up suspiciously round numbers or perfectly linear growth: hardly credible to a funder.
Swiss specifics
A Swiss financial business plan has its own particularities. Overlooking them undermines the dossier in front of a local bank or investor.
Social charges
On top of the gross salary come employer contributions: AHV/IV/EO, unemployment insurance, accident (UVG), and occupational pension (BVG). The employer cost clearly exceeds the stated salary.
VAT
Liability starts above CHF 100,000 of annual revenue. VAT is not income: it passes through cash flow and must be neutralised in the figures.
Legal form: GmbH or AG
A GmbH requires CHF 20,000 of capital, an AG CHF 100,000 (of which 50,000 paid in). This starting capital appears on the balance sheet and shapes the initial financing plan.
How Cap automates your financial business plan
Cap turns your assumptions into a complete financial dossier, without a spreadsheet. You enter your offer, your costs, and your team; the statements compute and stay consistent with each other.
- Income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet linked and recalculated in real time.
- Swiss social charges and VAT built in by default, with no formula to write.
- 5-year projections and scenarios (conservative, base, optimistic) in a few clicks.
- Export of a dossier ready to present to a bank or investors.
Keep reading
All guides
Business plan for the bank, Swiss startup, and more.
About
Who is behind Cap
The Condere studio and our approach to the business plan.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to make a financial business plan?
With a clear method and a dedicated tool, allow half a day for a solid first version. The longest part is not the maths but gathering assumptions: prices, volumes, salaries, and fixed costs.
How many years should the projections cover?
Five years is the standard expected by banks and investors. The first two years are detailed (often monthly for cash flow), the following ones stay annual and more summary.
Do you need an accountant to make your business plan?
Not to build it: a structured tool is enough to produce coherent statements. An accountant can then validate your tax and social assumptions, but you keep control of the model and the scenarios.
What is the difference between a business plan and a financial plan?
The business plan describes the strategy, the market, and the team; the financial plan is its numerical translation (result, cash flow, balance sheet). The latter proves with figures what the former asserts with words.