Tap budgeting basics with financial software

The three main elements of any business budget are sales revenues, expenditures and profits. To create your budget, you'll need to anticipate a dollar amount for each elements. Existing businesses can look to past figures for guidance; new businesses must make an educated guess.

I recommend: For help getting started, try software such as QuickBooks or Prophix, which can walk you through the budgeting process.

Estimate your revenues

It's better to be cautious with your revenue estimates. If you fall short of projections, you could end up without enough money to cover expenses. It's also important to map out when revenues will arrive. For example, in a cyclical business like retail, you need to budget your cash so you'll be able to pay your bills during slow periods while you wait for the bustling holiday season to arrive.

I recommend: Get help forecasting sales with Forecast Pro software, which uses proven statistical methods to calculate your projections, or download revenue and sales forecasting templates from Microsoft Office.

Estimate your expenses

Calculate when and how much you'll have to pay for business expenses, including things like cost of goods sold, office supplies, rent, utilities, auto expenses, travel, advertising, professional services, loan repayment and taxes. Companies with employees have additional expenses, including salaries, benefits, employee business expense reimbursements and bonuses.

I recommend: BusinessOwnersIdeaCafe.com provides a first-year budget worksheet for startups that includes a list of common business expenditures. To build your expense forecast, try one of the Microsoft Office expense estimate templates.

Put it all together

Once you have all your numbers in place, you can begin to see where your money comes from and where it goes, which helps you direct your attention to areas that need improvement.

I recommend: Computer spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel, are the simplest way to build and work with your budget. You can also try plugging your numbers into a profit and loss forecast template from SCORE or into a cash flow template.