#spreadsheet template

What is a business model? A business model is generally a conceptual framework that supports the feasibility of a business which also includes the objective of the business and how to achieve it. Basically, deciding on your business model and building a working plan to go along with it are critical factors that will serve as representations of the business’ viability to be presented to the investors or interested parties.

As time passed by, there have been many developing different business models that sprouted in different industries to move the economy, trend, market, competition, and many more factors that brought about the continuous change and advancement of business models. Of course, ultimately, the sole reason and goal for the changes are to gain more profit or increase the returns. It only makes sense that successful business models are usually unique on their own and have their own niche in attracting the market. It’s really all a matter of choosing and combining, which type of business models to pursue that fits what kind of business one can envision.

As an example what business models are commonly used by entrepreneurs, here are a couple of business models examples.

• Manufacturer – makes finished products from raw materials then sells either directly to the public or through a middleman. E.g. Beverage Manufacturing

• Distributor – buys products from manufacturers and resells to the retailers or to the public. E.g. Car Dealerships

• Retailer – purchases products from a distributor or wholesaler then sell directly to the public E.g. Amazon, eBay

• Franchise – can act the same as a manufacturer, distributor, or a retailer, where the franchisee makes use of the brand of the mother company and earn through royalties. E.g. Fast food joints like Dunkin Donuts, Jollibee

• Subscription – keeps customers in a long-term contract and get recurring revenues through repeat subscription. E.g. SaaS businesses

• Freemium – the platform is online which offer basic services for free while charging only for premium extra add-ons. E.g. Freemium online businesses

Maintaining financial flow records is an important task for any size of business. The process of financial modeling creates an ease in having a quick look at the margin of profits and other important financial parameters such as expenses on purchases and for various facilitations for the staff members.

Technical ability to prepare financial models using available software applications and packages is a big asset in terms of required skill set for various positions in the field of finance in most of the corporate companies. Big sized companies would have dedicated staff for preparing new financial models according to the sequence of operations in their particular business.

Smaller companies cannot afford to employ dedicated person for designing financial models. However a great news for these companies is that there are online services that offer Financial Projections Template Excel. Microsoft Excel is a package that is extensively used in various industries for maintaining financial records and for making financial reports periodically or project-wise. These online services provide ready to use MS Excel templates that can be directly downloaded from their subsequent websites. They charge reasonable fees for these readymade excel templates. Companies would have easy control on the flow of finances and they can make reports instantly, segregating the data entered on daily basis.

The format and requirements of a construction company would be different from a hospital. These businesses refer to different industries and their operations for serving their customers would be entirely different.

Construction companies would procure raw material, deploy supervision staff and workers for constructing buildings or structures. Their financial flow would be related to expenses on procurement of material, hiring, leasing or buying equipment for the process of construction, salary management of various employees on various levels and regarding billing of the project, subsequent payments from the customers.

Whereas Hospitals need to maintain record of appointments and treatment history of the patients, their subsequent payments for treatments including surgeries, medication, dressing, injections, glucose saline bottles etc. There are bigger hospitals that host number of specialized surgeries and treatments for number of patients every day. Financial model for their particular operation would be specific and different from other businesses. Hospitals would engage professional staff of doctors, nurses, ward boys, cleaners etc. They need to procure surgical equipment, diagnosis related testing machinery, consumables in operation theatres, safety clothing, uniforms and salaries of all the employees is another concern. They follow rigorous practices regarding payment of the bills and need to maintain details of all the transactions precisely.

There are some businesses that provide software as a Service (SaaS). To maintain their financial records precisely, online services provide ready to use SaaS Financial Model that would be designed exclusively for financial operations of such companies. These companies can use these ready to use templates for effective financial modeling.