How to Prepare a Business Plan with Excel

Abstract

A business plan is a formal accounting statement which numerically describes a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the strategic plan and managerial steps for reaching those goals. Hypotheses and visionary ideas of game changers have to be transformed into numbers and need to be backed by reasonable and verifiable assumptions about future events and milestones.

Microsoft Excel© stands out as the most popular spreadsheet software and for that reason the whole paper will move around Excel applications, even if other more sophisticated software programs may be conveniently used, considering also that data are typically importable from or exportable to Excel sources. Numbers are a mental discipline of ideas and Excel is the instrument to play with figures.

Even if this topic is not original or innovative, and has already been extensively investigated, as it appears from many sources, even freely available from the Web, it seems however potentially useful to go through it again, providing some further tips to both students and practitioners, especially to visionaries and challengers.

Note: A link to a free Excel file connects this explanatory PDF file to a more practical device. You-Tube tutorial videos accompany this paper and the Excel model. This Excel file derives from a joint work, coordinated by the author and anybody is welcome to freely copy/download/modify this open source file; the only condition kindly asked is to report any improvement, sending the amended file, together with a list of the modifications to [e-mail]. Enjoy our creative intervention and contribute to upgrade the model, making it “viral” on the Web!

Keywords: learning platforms; Business Plan, economic forecasts; cash flow statement; Excel; interdisciplinary MBA topics; Big data; networks; SWOT; PEST; social media / YouTube