Budgeting & Forecast Build
A plan for the year ahead — built to be used, not filed away
A collaborative build of your annual budget and rolling forecast, with clear assumptions you understand and can revisit as circumstances change throughout the year.
For businesses that want a grounded financial plan — one that helps them make decisions, not just satisfy a reporting requirement.
What this delivers
A budget you understand and a forecast you can trust
The goal isn't to produce a spreadsheet that lives in a drawer. It's to build something you can return to each month — adjusting as reality diverges from the plan, and using it to weigh decisions as they arise.
We work through it with you rather than handing you a finished document. The assumptions get discussed openly, scenarios get explored calmly, and the result is a plan you have confidence in because you understand how it was built.
A clear annual budget
Revenue targets and cost expectations laid out month by month, with the logic behind each line explained so you can revisit it when conditions shift.
A rolling 12-month forecast
A living document that updates as the year progresses — so your forward view is always based on what's actually happening, not on January's best guess.
Scenarios presented calmly
What does the year look like if revenue comes in 15% below plan? What if a key cost rises? Scenarios give you a considered response to uncertainty, rather than a surprised one.
A gap many growing businesses reach
Operating on instinct works for a while — then it stops being enough
No forward view to make decisions from
Without a forecast, every significant decision — a hire, a capital spend, a pricing change — is made without any projected view of its impact on the business over the next six to twelve months.
A budget that doesn't match how the business works
Many owner-managed businesses have a budget — but it was built quickly, relies on assumptions nobody can fully explain, and ends up being ignored once the year gets underway.
Surprises that could have been anticipated
Cash shortfalls, margin pressure, a cost spike — many of these aren't truly surprising when you have a forecast. They're flagged weeks or months in advance, which changes how you respond to them.
The approach
Built with you — not handed to you
The build process starts with your actual numbers — recent trading history, known costs, upcoming commitments — rather than generic templates or industry averages. The assumptions are based on your business, and they get documented so you can update them yourself.
We work through the revenue model first: what drives your income, how it's expected to behave across the year, and where the main variables sit. Then costs, then cash — making sure the picture is complete, not just the P&L summary.
Scenarios are built in from the start — a base case, a conservative case, and where useful, an upside. This isn't pessimism; it's useful preparation for a year that will inevitably include some things you didn't expect.
What's included in the build
- Annual budget with monthly phasing
- Rolling 12-month cash flow forecast
- Documented assumptions you can update
- Base, conservative, and upside scenarios
- Walk-through session on completion
- 30-day follow-up for questions or adjustments
How the build unfolds
A structured process over three to four weeks
Discovery session
We spend 60–90 minutes on your business model — how revenue is generated, the main cost drivers, and what the year ahead is expected to look like from your perspective.
Draft build
We build the first version of the budget and forecast, documenting the assumptions as we go. This typically takes one to two weeks depending on data availability.
Review and refine
A working session to go through the draft, adjust assumptions that don't feel right, and build out the scenarios. Most changes come from this conversation — not the initial build.
Final handover
The completed model is handed over with a walk-through. You receive a clean version you can maintain yourself, plus 30 days of follow-up support for any questions.
The investment
A one-off engagement with a fixed, transparent fee
The fee covers the full build — discovery, drafting, refinement, scenarios, walk-through, and follow-up. There are no variable hours or scope surprises.
Budgeting & Forecast Build
$1,950 one-off
Included in the build
- Discovery and scoping session
- Annual budget with monthly phasing
- Rolling 12-month cash flow forecast
- Three scenarios modelled
Additionally
- Documented assumptions log
- Walk-through session on completion
- 30-day follow-up support
- Model you can maintain independently
What a good forecast changes
How a budget and forecast shifts the way you run the year
At the start of the year
A starting point everyone understands
The budget becomes the reference point for decisions — what you expected to spend, what you expected to earn, and what the underlying assumptions were. This matters most when the year diverges from the plan, which it almost always does.
Mid-year
Decisions made with context
When you're weighing a mid-year hire or a new spend, the forecast lets you see the impact on cash and margin across the remainder of the year — not just as an abstract consideration.
When things shift
A calm response rather than a reactive one
Because the model has scenarios, a revenue miss or a cost surprise can be absorbed into the forecast and assessed clearly — what it means for the year, and what the options are — rather than triggering an unstructured response.
Realistic expectations
What a forecast does and doesn't do
A forecast is not a prediction. It's a considered view of the most likely path, built on clearly stated assumptions. Its value is in the thinking it forces and the reference point it creates — not in being right.
Beginning without obligation
The first conversation is exploratory — nothing more
We start with a short call to understand your business and what you're hoping a budget and forecast would give you. There's no charge for that call, and no expectation that it leads to an engagement.
The build is a fixed-fee engagement — so once agreed, the scope is clear and there are no variable hours to track. The 30-day follow-up is included because most useful questions come once you start using the model, not immediately after the walk-through.
Getting started
What happens after you reach out
Send a note
Use the form below or email [email protected]. A brief description of where your business is and what you want a forecast for is enough to get started.
Scoping call
A 30-minute conversation to understand your business, your accounting data, and what you need from the budget and forecast. We'll confirm the scope and timeline on that call.
Build begins
Once agreed, we move into the discovery session and begin the build. The full process typically completes within three to four weeks from the first working session.
Ready to plan the year ahead?
A short conversation is the right place to start
If you'd like a budget and forecast that you can actually use throughout the year, we'd be glad to hear from you.
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