business plan cost template

Free Startup Budget Templates

By Andy Marker | October 28, 2020

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Quickly determine your startup’s available financial resources and track potential revenue with one of these free startup budget templates, available in Excel, Google Sheets, and PDF formats.

Included on this page, you’ll find the most useful startup business budget templates, including a simple startup business budget template , a startup expense template , a startup equipment budget template , a first-year startup budget calculator , as well as tips for creating a startup budget template .

Startup Business Budget Template

Use this basic startup business budget template to identify available financial resources and determine the amount of revenue needed to meet business goals. Fill in your budgeted and actual expenses and funding to gain a solid picture of your actual month-by-month operating costs and revenue. Enter startup funding details, including investor contributions, loans, and additional funding. This template is the perfect tool for any startup looking to ensure that its funding less expenses accurately reflects true fiscal health. 

Download Startup Business Budget Template

Excel | PDF | Google Sheet

To learn more about the importance of startup business planning, visit our page on startup plan, budget, and cost templates .

Business Startup Costs with Monthly Overhead Expenses Template

Use this budget templates, designed specifically for startups, to determine whether or not your business has adequate resources to meet financial obligations. Enter budget goals and estimated expenses and losses to determine a total estimated budget. Itemize expenses (e.g., office space cost, domain name, business cards, etc.) and their associated costs to identify any potential cash-balance shortfalls. All entries help generate accurate totals of estimated startup costs and budget figures.

Download Business Startup Costs with Monthly Overhead Expenses Template

Excel | Google Sheets

For a variety of free, downloadable startup business plan samples, visit our comprehensive template roundup .

Startup Expenses Template

Gain an understanding of how much it will cost to start a business with this basic startup expenses template. Itemize startup expenses (real estate, equipment costs, inventory, promotional expenses, etc.), to compare total expenses to working capital. Detail sources of capital (investors, bank loans, etc.) to determine your burndown rate as it relates to expenses. This template also offers a unique security and collateral for loan section that allows you to list available collateral against potential loans, as well as loan guarantors.

Download Startup Expenses Template 

Business Startup Costs with Variable and Fixed Expenses Template

Use this simple business startup costs with variable and fixed expenses to estimate costs and funding requirements. The template includes sections for funding details (investor funding, loans, and others), as well as costs (fixed and average monthly expenses). Taken together, these details provide an accurate picture of your startup’s projected month-by-month resources vs. funding, so you can identify and address any potential costs that could jeopardize your business’ sound fiscal footing. 

Download Business Startup Costs with Variable and Fixed Expenses Template

Startup Equipment Budget Template

An itemization of your startup’s equipment costs is often the most valuable analysis that you can provide. Until you list individual equipment for your startup venture — and their various costs — you most likely won’t have the big picture of what equipment costs will entail. Simplify and expedite the process with this equipment budget template: You’ll find a breakdown of the line-by-line, item-by-item expenditures, and how they affect available financial resources. Once complete, you can compare budgeted equipment totals to estimated annual service revenues. 

Download Startup Equipment Budget Template 

Business Startup Costs Template

Keep accurate tabs on budgeted vs. actual funding compared to expenses with this easy-to-use business startup costs template. Use the funding section to itemize investors’ budgeted (promised) vs. actual initial or second-round funding, capital, or loans to determine the line-by-line or total difference in funding. Enter details of all expenses (budgeted compared to actual) to quickly assess how your funding relates to required expenses. 

Download Business Startup Costs Template 

First-Year Startup Budget Calculator

See the big picture of your budget with this first-year-specific startup budget calculator. This template focuses on ensuring that your first-year budget calculations (including startup costs, operational expenses, estimated and actual income, and personal expenses) are as accurate as possible — so that your venture succeeds. You can save this first-year startup budget calculator template as a unique file with customized entries, or share it with other team members who need details of your startup’s financial viability. 

Download First-Year Startup Budget Calculator

Annual Startup Business Budget Template

Compare month-by-month and quarter-by-quarter revenue to cost of goods sold (COGS) and other expenses (sales, marketing labor, etc.) with this annual startup business budget template. Create a comprehensive, 12-month budget for your startup, and compare your financial details with the previous year’s performance. This template provides ample space to include earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) budget and actual details, as well as comprehensive profit and loss and balance sheet category sections to thoroughly plan and track your startup’s financials. 

Download Annual Startup Business Budget Template 

For more annual business budget templates, see our article “ Free Annual Business Budget Templates ”.

Startup Website Budget Tool Template

Manage your website-specific startup budget with this unique, all-inclusive template for web-based services. Track initial investments against year-by-year financing compared to line-by-line startup costs. Use the unique benefits section to list reductions in specific costs to get a comprehensive picture of your web business’s budget, and see if it matches actual investments and other resources’ contributions. 

Download Startup Website Budget Tool Template

Tips for Creating a Startup Budget Template

A strong startup budget template provides a framework to plan your business operations by comparing expenses with projected and actual revenue sources. 

To account for your startup’s operational costs, compared to potential and actual revenue, you should include the following sections in a startup budget template: 

• Budgeted and Actual Expenses: Fill in budgeted and actual funding figures to see if any line items are over or under budget. 
• Budgeted and Actual Funding: Enter projected funding (revenue, investors, loans, etc.) and compare it to the actual funding amount for any given time period (monthly, quarterly, or annually). 
• Broad Expenses Categories: Create expenditure categories to house other, smaller items (e.g., create broad cost categories such as administrative, location, hardware, licenses, marketing, etc.). 
• Itemized Expenses: Enter budgeted and actual line-by-line items for each and every expense (e.g., instead of merely entering a figure for “location,” include line-items such as rental cost, internet set-up, furniture costs, security, etc.). 
• Variable Costs: Include fluctuating expenses that may vary monthly or annually. 
• Fixed Costs: Include costs you can confidently forecast due to their lack of variation. 
• Startup Budget Overview: Review the autocalculated broad strokes of your budgeted vs. actual expenses, and your funding less expenses. 
• Startup Funding: List the total amount of your budgeted vs. actual startup funding (investors, loans, additional funding, etc.) to ensure you have adequate funding. 

In short, using a startup budget template can help expose your company’s expenditures with revenue (and other income sources, such as investments) to determine the cost of your operations compared to the resources you have to justify those operational expenses. 

While annual startup budget templates provide you with annual insights into the fiscal health of your company’s budget, it’s also important to have shorter (month-by-month and quarter-by-quarter) perspectives, so that you aren’t surprised by unforeseen operational costs. Shorter-term startup budget templates enable you to accurately calculate your venture’s true budget, and also serve as a document for banks or other lenders to review, if you’re seeking a loan.

Better Manage Startup Budgets with Smartsheet

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Business Startup Budget Template

Take a wild guess: How much money will it take to start your small business?

Actually, don't just guess wildly, that seems like a bad idea. Most creditors and employees don't appreciate it when you simply guess how much you owe them and whether you might be able to pay. When it comes to your finances, carefully-considered budgets are much better than wild guesses. Use this business budget spreadsheet to calculate the startup costs for your business so you can request funding, attract investors, and estimate when you’ll turn a profit.

What is a Startup Business Budget?

Simply put, if you're starting a business, you either need a budget or very rich and forgiving parents. It's easy for unforeseen costs to mount up and exceed the money you have available, which is why it's important to plan things out with a budget. This simple startup business budget template offers you a starting point for estimating the startup costs and funding needed for your new business.

Because it's a template, you can of course adjust it for the needs of your particular business. It comes pre-populated with a list of basic expense categories that apply to many businesses, some of which are often overlooked. Use it to plan for your fixed and monthly expenses, in order to get an overview of how much funding you will require for your business to stay solvent in your first year.

Did you know?

90% of startups fail, the vast majority of them within their first five years. And sure, some of those are just poor ideas, like online coffin-shaped toilets for dogs. But even a good idea isn't enough if you haven't budgeted correctly and run out of money.

Startups rely heavily on developing an MVP, but not all founders realize that this stands for Minimum Viable Product. It is important not to financially ruin your business by expending your full budget on baseball's 7-time National League MVP Barry Bonds.

In 2018, 82% of businesses that failed did so due to cash flow problems. Why don't we have a more recent statistic for last year? It's possible the business that collected and shared that information also failed due to cash flow problems. Cash flow: It's a serious problem.

How does it work?

This budget template is composed of two main sections: Costs, and Funding.

The Costs section is broken down into fixed expenses and monthly expenses. The list of expected fixed expenses includes common things you'll need to launch your own startup business, ranging from advertising and franchise fees, to computer equipment and permits and licenses. Note that because this is just a simple template, you will need to make adjustments for your particular industry.

Monthly expenses like rent, utilities, and salaries, are all tallied in their own section, and then that subtotal is multiplied by the number of months you have selected. If you need your initial funding to last for longer than 6 months, be sure to change the default month multiplier number.

The Funding section is broken down into Investor Funding, Financer Funding, and Other. Your total funding is then compared to your total startup costs, so you can see a bottom line of whether your funding is enough to cover your expenses, or whether you're in the red.

Further explanation is available on the About worksheet.

Why do I need a business budget template?

Some people say that starting a business isn't easy. But they're wrong; starting a business is as easy as declaring that you've started a business.

Starting a successful business that doesn't immediately collapse and run out of money, however, is much harder.

You need to know your market, pick a good location if you're not fully remote, secure funding, build an effective team, and carefully budget to ensure that you can cover your costs long enough for your business to become profitable. You're on your own for researching your market and picking a location. But here’s an Applicant Tracking Template to help you build an effective team.

Now when it comes to building a budget, some items can be easily forgotten if they're not on your mind. That's why it's helpful to have a business start up costs spreadsheet like this one: to make sure you've got all your expenses, both fixed and monthly, accounted for. And to make sure that your funding can cover them.

Which businesses need to plan out their budgets?

Most businesses. Or at least, most businesses that succeed. If your business has startup costs, budgeting to ensure you can pay those costs is basic good business practice. If your business has no costs, then you don't need a budget, and can soon become the richest elf in fairyland.

Excel Project Tracking Template

by Vertex42

Managing Startup Budget with Excel Template

You might be wondering whether you should use an Excel business expense template instead of the online budget template above. That depends. Both templates will give you an easy way to list out all your business expenses and have them automatically totaled to see what your business budget needs to be. If you're a startup that needs to compare your business expenses to your funding and financing, then our online expense report template Excel alternative will be more convenient in having places to enter that all in and view it online. But if you're just focused on expenses and prefer to do everything in Excel, then you might prefer this small business expense tracking Excel template .

The Best Free Business Budget Templates

Published: October 12, 2023

Business budgets are a source of truth for your income and expenses. That includes all the money you spend — from A/B testing your marketing campaigns to your monthly office rent.

While organizing the numbers may sound difficult, using a business budget template makes the process simple. Plus, there are thousands of business budget templates for you to choose from.

We’ll share seven budget templates that can help organize your finances. But first, you’ll learn about different types of business budgets and how to create one.

What is a Business Budget?

A business budget is a spending plan that estimates the revenue and expenses of a business for a period of time, typically monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

The business budget follows a set template, which you can fill in with estimated revenues, plus any recurring or expected business expenses.

For example, say your business is planning a website redesign. You'd need to break down the costs by category: software, content and design, testing, and more.

Having a clear breakdown will help you estimate how much each category will cost and compare it with the actual costs.

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Types of Budgets for a Business

Master budget, operating budget, cash budget, static budget, departmental budget, capital budget, labor budget, project budget.

Business budgets aren’t one size fits all. In fact, there are many different types of budgets that serve various purposes. Let’s dive into some commonly used budgets:

Think of a master budget as the superhero of budgets — it brings together all the individual budgets from different parts of your company into one big, consolidated plan. It covers everything from sales and production to marketing and finances.

It includes details like projected revenues, expenses, and profitability for each department or business unit. It also considers important financial aspects like cash flow, capital expenditures, and even creates a budgeted balance sheet to show the organization's financial position.

The master budget acts as a guide for decision-making, helps with strategic planning, and gives a clear picture of the overall financial health and performance of your company. It's like the master plan that ties everything together and helps the organization move in the right direction.

Your operating budget helps your company figure out how much money it expects to make and spend during a specific period, usually a year. It not only predicts the revenue your business will bring in, but also outlines expenses it will need to cover, like salaries, rent, bills, and other operational costs.

By comparing your actual expenses and revenue to the budgeted amounts, your company can see how it's performing and make adjustments if needed. It helps keep things in check, allowing your business to make wise financial decisions and stay on track with its goals.

A cash budget estimates the cash inflows and outflows of your business over a specific period, typically a month, quarter, or year. It provides a detailed projection of cash sources and uses, including revenue, expenses, and financing activities.

The cash budget helps you effectively manage your cash flow, plan for cash shortages or surpluses, evaluate the need for external financing, and make informed decisions about resource allocation.

By utilizing a cash budget, your business can ensure it has enough cash on hand to meet its financial obligations, navigate fluctuations, and seize growth opportunities.

A static budget is a financial plan that remains unchanged, regardless of actual sales or production volumes.

It’s typically created at the beginning of a budget period and doesn’t account for any fluctuations or changes in business conditions. It also assumes that all variables, such as sales, expenses, and production levels, will remain the same throughout the budget period.

While a static budget provides a baseline for comparison, it may not be realistic for businesses with fluctuating sales volumes or variable expenses.

A departmental budget focuses on the financial aspects of a specific department within your company, such as sales, marketing or human resources.

When creating a departmental budget, you may look at revenue sources like departmental sales, grants, and other sources of income. On the expense side, you consider costs such as salaries, supplies, equipment, and any other expenses unique to that department.

The goal of a departmental budget is to help the department manage its finances wisely. It acts as a guide for making decisions and allocating resources effectively. By comparing the actual numbers to the budgeted amounts, department heads can see if they're on track or if adjustments need to be made.

A capital budget is all about planning for big investments in the long term. It focuses on deciding where to spend money on things like upgrading equipment, maintaining facilities, developing new products, and hiring new employees.

The budget looks at the costs of buying new stuff, upgrading existing things, and even considers depreciation, which is when something loses value over time. It also considers the return on investment, like how much money these investments might bring in or how they could save costs in the future.

The budget also looks at different ways to finance these investments, whether it's through loans, leases, or other options. It's all about making smart decisions for the future, evaluating cash flow, and choosing investments that will help the company grow and succeed.

A labor budget helps you plan and manage the costs related to your employees. It involves figuring out how much your business will spend on wages, salaries, benefits, and other labor-related expenses.

To create a labor budget, you'll need to consider factors like how much work needs to be done, how many folks you'll need to get it done, and how much it'll all cost. This can help your business forecast and control labor-related expenses and ensure adequate staffing levels.

By having a labor budget in place, your business can monitor and analyze your labor costs to make informed decisions and optimize your resources effectively.

A project budget is the financial plan for a specific project.

Let's say you have an exciting new project you want to tackle. A project budget helps you figure out how much money you'll need and how it will be allocated. It covers everything from personnel to equipment and materials — basically, anything you'll need to make the project happen.

By creating a project budget, you can make sure the project is doable from a financial standpoint. It helps you keep track of how much you planned to spend versus how much you actually spend as you go along. That way, you have a clear idea of whether you're staying on track or if there are any financial challenges that need attention.

How to Create a Business Budget

While creating a business budget can be straightforward, the process may be more complex for larger companies with multiple revenue streams and expenses.

No matter the size of your business, here are the basic steps to creating a business budget.

1. Gather financial data.

Before you create a business budget, it’s important to gather insights from your past financial data. By looking at things like income statements, expense reports, and sales data, you can spot trends, learn from past experiences, and see where you can make improvements.

Going through your financial history helps you paint a true picture of your income and expenses. So, when you start creating your budget, you can set achievable targets and make sure your estimates match what's actually been happening in your business.

2. Find a template, or make a spreadsheet.

There are many free or paid budget templates online. You can start with an already existing budget template. We list a few helpful templates below.

You may also opt to make a spreadsheet with custom rows and columns based on your business.

3. Fill in revenues.

Once you have your template, start by listing all the sources of your business’ income. With a budget, you’re planning for the future, so you’ll also need to forecast revenue streams based on previous months or years. For a new small business budget, you’ll rely on your market research to estimate early revenue for your company.

When you estimate your revenue , you're essentially figuring out how much money you have to work with. This helps you decide where to allocate your resources and which expenses you can fund.

4. Subtract fixed costs for the time period.

Fixed costs are the recurring costs you have during each month, quarter, or year. Examples include insurance, rent for office space, website hosting, and internet.

The key thing to remember about fixed costs is that they stay relatively stable, regardless of changes in business activity. Even if your sales decrease or production slows down, these costs remain the same.

However, it's important to note that fixed costs can still change over the long term, such as when renegotiating lease agreements or adjusting employee salaries.

5. Consider variable costs.

Variable costs will change from time to time. Unlike fixed costs, variable costs increase or decrease as the level of production or sales changes.

Examples include raw materials needed to manufacture your products, packaging and shipping costs, utility bills, advertising costs, office supplies, and new software or technology.

You may always need to pay some variable costs, like utility bills. However, you can shift how much you spend toward other expenses, like advertising costs, when you have a lower-than-average estimated income.

6. Set aside time for business budget planning.

Unexpected expenses might come up, or you might want to save to expand your business. Either way, review your budget after including all expenses, fixed costs, and variable costs. Once completed, you can determine how much money you can save. It’s wise to create multiple savings accounts. One should be used for emergencies. The other holds money that can be spent on the business to drive growth.

Free Business Budget Templates

Manage your business, personal, and program spend on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis.

• Personal Budget Template
• Annual Budget Template
• Program Budget Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Fill out the form to get the free templates.

How to manage a business budget.

There are a few key components to managing a healthy business budget.

Budget Preparation

The process all starts with properly preparing and planning the budget at the beginning of each month, quarter, or year. You can also create multiple budgets, some short-term and some long-term. During this stage, you will also set spending limits and create a system to regularly monitor the budget.

Budget Monitoring

In larger businesses, you might delegate budget tracking to multiple supervisors. But even if you’re a one-person show, keep a close eye on your budget. That means setting a time in your schedule each day or week to review the budget and track actual income and expenses. Be sure to compare the actual numbers to the estimates.

Budget Forecasting

With regular budget tracking, you always know how your business is doing. Check in regularly to determine how you are doing in terms of revenue and where you have losses. Find where you can minimize expenses and how you can move more money into savings.

Why is a Budget Important for a Business?

A budget is crucial for businesses. Without one, you could easily be drowning in expenses or unexpected costs.

The business budget helps with several operations. You can use a business budget to keep track of your finances, save money to help you grow the business or pay bonuses in the future, and prepare for unexpected expenses or emergencies.

You can also review your budget to determine when to take the next leap for your business. For example, you might be dreaming of a larger office building or the latest software, but you want to make sure you have a healthy net revenue before you make the purchase.

Best Free Business Budget Templates

1. marketing budget template.

Knowing how to manage a marketing budget can be a challenge, but with helpful free templates like this marketing budget template bundle , you can track everything from advertising expenses to events and more.

This free bundle includes eight different templates, so you can create multiple budgets to help you determine how much money to put toward marketing, plus the return on your investment.

2. Small Business Budget Template

For small businesses, it can be hard to find the time to draw up a budget, but it’s crucial to help keep the business in good health.

Capterra offers a budget template specifically for small businesses. Plus, this template works with Excel. Start by inputting projections for the year. Then, the spreadsheet will project the month-to-month budget. You can input your actual revenue and expenses to compare, making profits and losses easy to spot.

3. Startup Budget Template

What if you don’t have any previous numbers to rely on to create profit and expense estimates? If you are a startup, this Gusto budget template will help you draw up a budget before your business is officially in the market. This will help you track all the expenses you need to get your business up and running, estimate your first revenues, and determine where to pinch pennies.

4. Free Business Budget Template

You might be familiar with Intuit. Many companies, big and small, rely on Intuit’s services like Quickbooks and TurboTax. Even if you don’t use the company’s paid financial services, you can take advantage of Intuit’s free budget template , which works in Google Sheets or Excel.

It features multiple spreadsheet tabs and simple instructions. You enter your revenue in one specific tab and expenses in another. You can also add additional tabs as needed. Then, like magic, the spreadsheet uses the data in the income and expense tabs to summarize the information. This template can even determine net savings and the ending balance.

5. Department Budget Sheet

A mid- to large-size company will have multiple departments, all with different budgetary needs. These budgets will all be consolidated into a massive, company-wide budget sheet. Having a specific template for each department can help teams keep track of spending and plan for growth.

This free template from Template.net works in either document or spreadsheet formats. This budget template can help different departments keep track of their income and spending.

6. Project Budget Template

Every new project comes with expenses. This free budget template from Monday will help your team estimate costs before undertaking a project. You can easily spot if you're going over budget midway through a project so you can adjust.

This template is especially useful for small companies that are reporting budgets to clients and for in-house teams getting buy-in for complex projects.

7. Company Budget Template

Want to keep track of every penny? Use this template from TemplateLab to draw up a detailed budget. The list of expenses includes fixed costs, employee costs, and variable costs. This business template can be especially useful for small businesses that want to keep track of expenses in one, comprehensive document.

Create a Business Budget to Help Your Company Grow

Making your first business budget can be daunting, especially if you have several revenue streams and expenses. Using a budget template can make getting started easy. And, once you get it set up, these templates are simple to replicate.

With little planning and regular monitoring, you can plan for the future of your business.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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The Best Free Business Budget Worksheets

6 templates to manage your business, personal, and program spend on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis.

Small Business Start Up Costs

No matter what kind of business you intend on owning, it is a good idea to estimate your business startup expenses prior to jumping in. Whether you plan on starting a small business or a larger franchise, you may be surprised at the total start up cost. Nearly all new business owners underestimate the cost of starting their business, leaving it exposed to the risks of being underfunded. To help you avoid this common mistake, use our Free Business Start Up Costs Template to help you determine how much money you need to get your start up business up and running safely. See below for additional information, tips and resources.

Calculating business start up costs should be a part of starting any business. An entrepreneur is usually required to put these costs together as part of a business plan , loan or grant application. They are also helpful when putting together proforma financial statements.

Business Start Up Costs Template

Other versions.

License : Private Use (not for distribution or resale)

"No installation, no macros - just a simple spreadsheet" - by Jon Wittwer

Description

This Excel workbook will help you put together an estimate of costs and funding required to start your business. It is pre-populated with expense categories common to many small businesses and home-based businesses, so it can be very useful in helping you identify all of your start up costs, including many you may not have considered.

As you add your own costs or expense categories, the template will help you understand whether you have adequate funding. Once you have your funding secured and you pull the trigger, use the worksheet to track your actual expenditures to help you keep your costs under control.

As you get your business going, you may want to consider using a more detailed business budget and other financial statements .

Starting a restaurant? This free template also includes a customized start up cost sheet with many cost categories specific to owning and operating a restaurant. Perfect for helping you capture all of those Restaurant Start up Costs.

Starting a franchise, web business or home business? Continue reading below for some help with costs specific to these types of businesses as well as links to other helpful resources.

Start Up Costs for Different Businesses

Restaurant business start up costs.

Starting a restaurant can be expensive because of the specialized equipment and facilities that are required. Luckily, there are usually leasing options available for the expensive items and many landlords will work with you on leasehold improvements. Use the Restaurant specific worksheet in the Business Start up Cost Template to help you consider other expenses such as cleaning costs, uniforms, menu development and supplier sourcing costs.

Home Business Startup Costs

The nice thing about a home based business is that you can forgo many of the typical expenses of a startup. Things like internet, office space, furniture and utilities are already taken care of. Better yet, if you qualify for the home office deduction, now you can write some of these items off as business expenses. Simply put $0 in the template or delete the rows for those expenses already covered. If you are starting a home-based internet business , continue on to the next section.

Internet Business Startup Costs

A web based business may be one of the least expensive businesses to start, especially if you can do the web development work yourself. Use the basic template and decide which expenses apply to you – simply delete the rest. You may also want to consider some items not listed, such as custom web page design and development work, custom database development and scripting, search engine optimization (SEO) and advanced hosting services to name a few. Also, if your business is retail, don't forget to include all of the referral and usage fees for selling through storefronts like Amazon and Ebay.

Franchise Business Start Up Costs

Our Business Start up Cost Template will also help you if you are looking for a start up franchise opportunity or looking for franchises for sale. Along with all of the regular costs of starting a business, the template also includes categories for fixed franchise fees as well as monthly franchise dues and marketing co-op fees. You may also want to check with the franchise corporate offices. Many of them provide tools to help you estimate your start up and operating costs.

How to Use the Business Startup Cost Template

The key to putting together accurate numbers is to get into the details. This requires doing detailed research by calling suppliers and providers, searching the internet and listing any and all costs that may be applicable. To help you, the business cost template comes pre-populated with many of the most common expense categories. It also contains additional suggestions and tips for each category to help you make sure you considered everything. Feel free to add additional line items that are unique to your business.

Funding Sources

Start by listing the sources of funding that you believe will be available to you in the Estimated column. This would include money supplied by owners and investors, funds available from bank loans or other lines of credit. In some cases you may be pursuing other sources of funds such as grants, endowments or sale of assets.

Fixed Costs

After all your funding sources have been outlined, start putting in the estimated fixed costs. These costs are one-time costs associated with getting your business up and running. This includes things like leasing space, purchasing assets, stocking up on inventory and getting your legal and marketing issues in order.

Two key parts to the fixed costs are the Working Capital and a Reserve for Contingencies – these can be significant. Any startup is advised to have a Contingency Fund as there are always last minute surprise costs and fees. Consider the risks of your business and set aside sufficient funds accordingly.

Be sure to include enough Working Capital to fund your normal business operations as you grow. Remember that there can be a significant amount of time between when a sale is made and when you actually receive payment. Sufficient working capital is needed to allow you to continue to purchase inventory and pay bills while waiting for payment. More than one growing business has failed because it lacked sufficient working capital.

Monthly Costs - Until Profitable

Many entrepreneurs fail to understand that businesses are seldom profitable the first day. In order to have a clear picture of actual cash required, it is important to estimate your monthly operating costs as well as how many months it will take you to move from the red to the black. The template is setup to assist you in determining these important costs. Simply identify how many months you believe it will take to get up and running and fill in the estimated monthly costs.

Ready, Set, Go

As a time window is provided and all the sources and costs are identified, the spreadsheet will calculate whether you have a surplus or deficit in funding. If you have a deficit, then you will need to figure out if there are ways to scale back your costs or look for additional funding. If you have surplus and are confident in your numbers, you may be good to go.

Keeping Things in Check

The excitement of starting the business can cause entrepreneurs to spend more than they planned. Use the template to keep you grounded. As you collect funds and begin to spend money, record the Actual amounts next to the Estimated numbers. The spreadsheet will calculate whether you are running over or under you estimated numbers so you can make adjustments as you go.

Additional Business Startup Expense Tips

• Securing lines of credit can take some time. Be sure to have them in place before they are needed.
• Be aware of credit card processing fees. These can be 2% to 5% of the total.
• Little items may not seem like much, but they can add up quickly. Don’t overlook them.
• Business Startup Costs are only part of the financials that any new business owner should put together. Consider putting together a proforma cash flow statement and balance sheet.
• If you are searching for funding, odds are you will need a business plan. Business plans can be a great way to concentrate your thoughts and to really put together a game winning strategy as well as get feedback from mentors and associates.

References and Resources

Below are a number of great references that can help provide you with more information and direction on starting your own business.

Startup Costs For Different Businesses

• Estimating Startup Costs at sba.gov - Information on estimating start up costs from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) office.

Business Startup Loans and Grants

• Small Business Loans and Grants at sba.gov - Information and assistance on understanding the various Business Startup Loans and Start up Business Grants available to small businesses.
• Official Site of U.S. Grants - Official site for finding and applying for U.S. Grants including Business Startup Grants.

How to Start a Business

• Starting and Managing a Business at sba.gov - Helpful information from the SBA on starting and managing a business.
• Starting a Business at entrepreneur.com - Many different articles and tips on starting your own business.
• 10 Steps to Starting a Business at business.gov - Detailed information from the U.S. Government on the 10 steps for starting a business.
• Writing a Business Plan at sba.gov - SBA information about how to put a solid business startup plan together.
• Business Plan Software at paloalto.com - Great software for putting together a business plan. Will guide you through the process and has hundreds of industry specific examples.

Small Business Information and Assistance

• Online and face-to-face Mentoring at SCORE - SCORE,a non-profit organization, partners with the SBA to educate entrepreneurs and help small businesses.
• Minority Business Development Agency at mbda.gov - Tools, information and help for those starting Minority Owned Businesses.
• Small Business and the FDA at fda.gov - Great information for those who are launching business under the purview of the FDA.
• Federal Business Opportunities at fbo.gov - Official government site for identify and bidding on opportunities to do business with the U.S. Government. Can even use it to come up with Business Startup Ideas.
• Information for Entrepreneurs at startupnation.com – Site dedicated to helping entrepreneurs to build a business.

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7 free small business budget templates for future-proofing your finances

As a small business owner, you're likely balling with a lot more than your personal checking account. If you don't properly manage your business finances, there's more on the line than an overdraft fee—you now have an entire organization to account for.

Small business budgets are necessary to balance revenue, estimate how much you'll spend, and project financial forecasts, so you can stay out of the red and keep your business afloat.

But creating a small business budget template isn't a small task. Since I don't have a business to run, I did the heavy lifting for you—check out these free, downloadable templates for your small business budgeting.

Table of contents:

2. Overhead budget template

3. multiple-project budget template.

4. Startup budget template 

5. Labor budget template

6. cash flow budget template, 7. administrative budget template, periodic budget reviews, how to design your small business budget plan, small business budget faq, 1. static budget template.

Best for: Multiple departments or revenue streams; Industries with complex operations

A static budget combines all the function-specific budgets a business uses into one. Typically, a static budget includes the following items (plus any other budgets your business might use):

Cash flow projections: Estimations of how much money will flow into and out of your business. They also help you decide when, how, and what you should spend money on.

Total expected spending: All estimated expenses, including labor and administrative costs. 

By integrating all of your budgets and projections, the static budget provides a full picture of your business's estimated expenses and financial strategy for the upcoming fiscal year. 

Best for: Service-based businesses

It's easy to forget about expenses that aren't directly tied to production, like delivery charges or utilities. But these costs exist (and can add up quickly), so you need an overhead budget. A detailed overhead budget template will include:

Administration expenses

It compares your budgeted amount to actual figures (warning: it may be a rude awakening) and can help improve accuracy for future financial planning. 

Predicting overhead spending helps you plan how to use other funds more practically too—if you know how much you'll spend on overhead, you can make better business decisions. For example, you'd know whether you can afford to invest money into other initiatives like adding a delivery service or upgrading equipment.

Best for: Project-based industries

If you're managing multiple projects like website development or event planning, each with its own budget and expenses, you need a multiple-project budget to help keep your head on straight. This type of budget will help you track the following items per project:

Product-by-product COGS (cost of goods sold)

Labor costs

Equipment and resource costs

Indirect project expenses like travel

A multiple-projects budget establishes estimates for everything you need to get projects across the finish line. It also lets you track costs to ensure you're not spending more than you accounted for in the budget.

4. Startup budget template

Best for: New small businesses and startups

Startups need to ensure financial success from the get-go, so they can reinvest profit into the business and potentially attract more investors. 

But unlike established small businesses, you don't have past financial data to base expenses on. That's why you need a startup budget to focus on expenses for your first year of business, including items like:

Funding from investors and loans

Licensing and permits

Logo and website design

Website domain

Business software

Security installation 

Overhead expenses

Capital expenses

Best for: Larger businesses with lots of employees

Unless you're a one-person show, you'll need a labor budget. And even if you are a one-person show, it's good to know if you can afford to pay yourself. A labor budget breaks down all employee-related costs like: 

Payroll taxes

Contract labor

Break down employee costs into direct, indirect, fixed, and variable categories to clarify how your company allocates its resources. You can also consider different scenarios more easily when you understand the breakdown of labor costs.

For example, you can simulate the impact of adding or reducing staff in specific departments or assess the effects of different compensation structures on different teams.

An accurate forecast of labor costs ensures you can sustainably meet your staffing needs and can help you make informed hiring decisions. Down the road, it can also help you determine if you can afford to give your staff raises, bonuses, or additional benefits.

Best for: Businesses with fluctuating income and expenses; Seasonal businesses; Retail

As important as it is to be mindful of how much money you're spending, you should also track how much money you're making . A cash flow budget helps estimate how money is flowing in and out of your business. It includes:

Starting balance (set at the beginning of the month, quarter, or year)

Projected cash inflow from all revenue streams

Estimated cash expenditures

Ending balance (calculated at the end of the month, quarter, or year)

This type of budget lets you proactively manage your resources, anticipate potential cash shortages, and strategize for growth. For instance, if you know you're only going to break even this year, you may wait on expanding or making a large investment. 

Best for: Businesses focused on streamlining operations

An administrative budget includes all those general expenses that the company as a whole needs to function. This type of budget accounts for: 

Depreciation expenses

Training and development

Communication expenses

Accounting fees

While you could technically include administrative expenses in an overhead budget and call it a day, a separate administrative budget gives more of an eagle-eye view of how well your business is operating. 

Without an eye on administrative costs, you may be spending unnecessarily or lose focus on areas where it'd be wiser to invest your money. In other words, you could be spending way too much on fancy pens when you should be saving up to upgrade your cash register. 

A budget isn't a "set it and forget it" deal. Regular budget reviews can help you stay on track with your financial goals and respond proactively to changing market conditions. 

You should compare your estimated budget to actual spending. Then you can see where you went over and where you can splurge more. Try to review your budget monthly, quarterly, and yearly.

Monthly: Compare actual performance against your budgeted figures for the month. Identify any deviations and look for insights into cash flow, sales trends, and expense management.

Quarterly: Dive deeper into performance over the last three months. Use trends to project revenue and expenses for the upcoming quarter and identify areas for improvement.

Yearly: Reflect on your long-term financial objectives for the fiscal year. Assess the effectiveness of your budgeting strategies, and set new budget targets for the upcoming year. 

It's cliched but true: you gotta spend money to make money. But that's no excuse to start throwing cash at your business willy-nilly.

Budgeting forces you to prioritize your objectives, so you spend money on the things that matter most. Here's how to create a small business budget in four steps:

Identify your working capital for the budgeting period. Add up your current assets like cash, accounts receivable, and inventory. Then subtract current liabilities like accounts payable and short-term debt. The remaining amount is what you have left to cover your operational expenses during the budgeting period.

Separate business and personal expenses. If you haven't already, open a dedicated business bank account. This makes it easier to track, categorize, and analyze your finances.

Determine your fixed and variable costs. Make a list of costs that stay the same every month (fixed costs) and what changes (variable costs). These will change based on the purpose of the budget. For instance, a labor budget will only consider employee-related costs.

Calculate your total expenses. Add up all the costs for your business, including fixed costs, variable costs, labor, and any other applicable expenses. This total is how much your business needs to run. Any leftover money from your working capital can be allocated toward other business investments. 

Budgeting methods

If you've budgeted before and hated it, you may just have been using an ineffective budgeting method for your preferences. Here are a few budgeting methods to try instead: 

Traditional: This budget is set for a determined amount of time and uses last year's numbers as a benchmark. Once you set your budget, you don't change it unless you get approval for an adjustment.

Rolling: This dynamic approach spans a continuous time frame instead of a fixed time period. As each month or quarter passes, you add a new budget period and drop the oldest period. This lets businesses adjust projections based on real-time performance and market conditions.

Flexible: This budget changes along with your sales forecast. As real-time sales activity deviates from budgeted amounts, you recalculate the budget to reflect the new data. 

Still don't know where to start with your small business budget? Check out the answers to these common questions before you open a new Google Sheet.

What should a business budget include?

A business budget should include all income sources and expenses. Income sources could include projected revenue from sales, loans, or potential investor funding. Expenses may include items like office space rent, employee salaries, insurance, and marketing. Add anything that helps paint a full picture of your finances.

How much does the average small business startup cost?

The average small business startup costs $40,000 in its first year of business. But this will absolutely vary depending on your type of business, unique expenses, and cash income. For instance, there are multiple types of businesses you can start with $10,000 or less.

What is the best free business budgeting software?

The best free budgeting business software will depend on what your business needs, but you can try apps like Mint or Wave. Or you can use a spreadsheet—scroll up for some free small business budget templates.

Automate your small business

Knowing when or where to invest money into your business is just one of the many tasks you have on your plate as a small business owner. Learn how automation for small businesses can help take some of those recurring tasks off your hands, so you can focus on growing your business. 

Related reading:

The best free small business software

The best CRMs for small businesses

How to create effective document templates

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Cecilia Gillen

Cecilia is a content marketer with a degree in Media and Journalism from the University of South Dakota. After graduating, Cecilia moved to Omaha, Nebraska where she enjoys reading (almost as much as book buying), decor hunting at garage sales, and spending time with her two cats.

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5+ Business Start Up Cost Templates

Having a start-up of your own might seem like an easy thing to manage, but without a lot of planning in advance, it is almost impossible to cope with things. The foremost thing that is to be planned in a new start-up is the budget . The expenses and the inflow of the cash are all to be recorded for having a clear idea. You can also see Income Statement Templates . Making a business start-up costs plan is a norm that every single start-up follows. This involves listing out all the aspects of the business and planning the expenses on it.

Business Plan for a Startup Business

Bar Business Plan Template

Example Business Start-Up Costs Template

Free Sample Business Start-Up Costs Template

Sample Business Start-Up Costs Template

• All the areas of the start up that need spending on.
• The money that goes into each of these areas.
• A plan that is made so that the start up takes place within a given budget.

> Conclusion

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Easy-to-use startup budget template for 2023

Wondering how to budget for your startup? Try using a startup budget template. Not only is it a great way to organize your startup’s finances, but it’ll give you peace of mind knowing you have enough resources to get your small business up and running.

In this article, we’ll discuss the monday.com startup budget template. But before we dive into that, we’ll talk about what a startup budget template is and how it can make or break your business.

Get the template

What is a startup budget template?

A startup budget template helps you budget and estimate all the costs involved in launching your business. And they can make a huge difference in whether your startup soars or struggles to get off the ground.

Download Excel template

A robust startup business budget template typically includes a list of “startup expenses,” like office space, inventory, marketing costs, and so on. Also, many top-notch templates are customizable, letting you add or subtract budget line items to better reflect your business.

Regardless, there are a few key components you’ll see in every startup business budget template:

• Operating expenses: ongoing costs of running your business, like rent, utilities, and payroll
• Capital expenses: assets your business needs to make money, like inventory or equipment
• One-time expenses: startup costs that you’ll only incur once, like land acquisition or certain legal fees
• Revenue projections: estimates of how much money your business will generate over a given period
• Break-even point: the amount of revenue your startup needs to reach before making a profit

Bringing a startup to life is no easy task. Thankfully, the right budgeting template can help keep your finances in check , so your business has what it needs to succeed.

Why use a startup budget template?

Financially, a startup budget template helps keep a young company from going broke. But what about the other advantages of using one? Let’s explore a few of those benefits below.

You won’t miss important financial considerations

Many startup budget templates are pre-populated with lists of important financial information. This can be a lifesaver for startup founders who might overlook key expenses.

Underestimating your startup costs can put you in a vulnerable position and cause cash flow issues down the line. And the last thing any up-and-coming company wants is to go under before they’ve had a chance to start making profits. With a startup budget template guiding your financial planning, you can feel confident that you’ve accounted for every expense.

You’ll make better hiring decisions

One of the most important aspects of any startup budget is projecting your revenue and expenses into the future. This exercise can help you determine when and how to hire new employees.

For example, let’s say your startup is growing quickly and you’re thinking about hiring a new salesperson. But after looking at your budget, you realize that you won’t be able to afford a full-time salary for another six months. In this case, you might decide to hire a part-time or commission-based salesperson instead.

It’s a great asset for landing investors

A sound business plan and a detailed budget are essential for securing additional funding from investors — or when applying for a loan. Without either of these documents, it can be difficult to convince someone that your startup is a wise investment.

Organizing your budget with the right template can help investors see that you’re serious about your startup and that you’ll use their money strategically.

Startup budget templates empower you with the confidence to make your business a success. They can help steer your financial planning so you can achieve your startup dreams.

The right startup budget template for you may depend on your specific needs.

To help you find the perfect budget template, let’s quickly walk through a few of the most common options.

What are some examples of startup budget templates?

It’s one thing to talk about budgeting, it’s another to see it in action. From annual budgets to restaurant budgets, here are a few different ways you can get started.

Annual startup budget template

An annual budget template gives you a 12-month overview of your finances. With it, you can plan — in detail — where every dollar goes during your first year in business.

By breaking down every revenue stream, investment, and expense into monthly projections, you can test scenarios and find the best way to allocate your financial resources. This can be helpful when calculating your “burn rate” — the rate at which you’re spending money — and when making decisions about things like hiring and expansion.

( Image Source )

Savvy business owners use an annual budget to make better financial decisions. By analyzing actual income and expenses against their budgeted amounts, they can tweak next month’s budget based on what they’ve learned the month before.

Break-Even startup budget template

A break-even template calculates how much money you need to make to cover your total costs and start turning a profit. Break-even analysis is a crucial part of any startup budget, as it can help you determine whether your business is viable.

With these templates, you’ll list your startup’s fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that don’t change, while variable costs change with the amount of product or services you sell. Once you have all this information, the template uses pre-built formulas to calculate your break-even point.

Don’t overlook your break-even point when putting together your startup budget. Not only can it impact how you price your products and services, but it can also influence other decisions like how much inventory to carry.

Restaurant startup budget template

A restaurant startup budget template is a great tool for anyone opening a new pub, cafe, or eatery. In addition to the standard categories — like rent, marketing, and overhead costs — this template includes line items specific to restaurants, like food and beverage costs.

Creating a budget for a restaurant startup can be tricky, as there are so many variable costs involved. By using a template, you can make better decisions about things like menu prices, portion sizes, and how many servers and kitchen staff you need. But there’s one more template we haven’t discussed yet that takes budgeting to a whole new level.

monday.com’s startup budget template

Our template is a complete budgeting solution that can help your startup go the distance. Backed by all the firepower of the monday.com Work OS — a digital workspace that helps you work without limits — creating a startup budget that impresses investors and soothes finance stress will never be easier.

Let’s see how monday.com can help you stay on budget and in control of your finances.

Powerful visualizations help you grasp important information quickly

Create dynamic dashboards that highlight all your key financial information. Customize your views by adding tables, graphs, and charts so you — and your investors — can see your progress at a glance.

Built-in formulas make it easy to analyze data

Calculate your break-even and track your burn rate and other important metrics using our built-in formulas. You can also perform complex calculations to get whatever budget information you need to help guide your business decisions.

Conditional Coloring points out critical financial details

With Conditional Coloring, you can flag key financial data — like if you’re spending too much — for quick and easy reference. This information comes in handy if your budget needs adjusting for the month ahead.

With the monday.com startup budget template, you’ll automatically have everything you need to successfully budget for your startup.

Now that you’ve got the startup budget template of your dreams, it’s time to learn how to put it to work.

Startup budget template tips & tricks

If you’ve never created a budget before, they can look intimidating. Don’t sweat it, we’ve got a few tips and tricks to help get you started.

Prioritize your expenses

Not all expenses are created equal. When budgeting, prioritize your spending based on what’s most important to your business. For example, if you’re a tech startup, you may want to allocate more of your budget to research and development so you can bring your product to market faster.

Don’t forget your fixed costs

Fixed costs are an important part of any startup budget, so don’t overlook them when building your budget. Things like rent, insurance, and payroll can be major expenses for startups, so make sure to factor them in.

Keep it flexible

Your startup budget should be flexible enough to accommodate changes in revenue and expenses. As your business grows, you’ll want to adjust your budget to reflect those changes.

Make it easy to understand

Faqs about startup budget templates, how do i create a startup budget.

You can create a budget for your startup in seven simple steps:

• Determine all your essential one-time costs and capital expenditures
• List all your fixed and variable monthly expenses
• Estimate funding from investments, bank loans, and savings
• Estimate your expected monthly revenue
• Calculate a break-even point
• Calculate your total business startup cost
• Review and adjust your budget

What should be included in a startup budget?

At the very least, a startup budget should include:

• Fixed expenses
• Variable expenses
• One-time expenses
• Sources of capital
• The break-even point
• Revenue projections

You can add more fields and data if you — or potential investors — want a more detailed picture of your future finances.

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