Driver-based Modeling Basics
The basics of driver based modeling
Getting Started
This article serves as an introduction to the template, guiding you through its various components and how to effectively utilize them.
Welcome to the Slidebean Financial Model Template, a comprehensive tool designed to assist you in financial planning and analysis for your business. This article serves as an introduction to the template, guiding you through its various components and how to effectively utilize them.
Overview of the Template
The Slidebean Financial Model Template is a structured, user-friendly tool that includes a variety of sheets, each serving a specific purpose in the financial modeling process.
Main Input Sheets
- Settings: This sheet is the foundation of your financial model. It includes general settings like the start date, currency, and taxes, which are pivotal for accurate financial projections.
- Staff: A dashboard to run team scaling projections, including salaries, annual salary adjustments, bonuses, and monthly/quarterly/annual scaling of roles.
- Assumptions: This sheet allows you to keep all variables in a single page of your model. By default, all models include some inputs for the CAPEX sheet.
Key Sections
- Revenue (Green): Detailed monthly revenue assumptions and projections.
- COGS (Magenta): Monthly Cost of Goods Sold assumptions and projections.
- SG&A (Cyan): Selling, General & Administrative expenses on a monthly basis.
- WK+CAPEX (Yellow): Monthly Working Capital and Capital Expenditures assumptions and projections.
KPI Sheets
- Cash Flow Charts: Provides a visual summary of Profit & Loss charts, capital requirements, and other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to the business.
- Revenue KPIs: Focuses on revenue growth metrics, essential for tracking business performance.
- Cap Table: A Capitalization table based on capital injections tracked in the FS-Month sheet, essential for understanding equity distribution.
- Exit Scenarios: Enables you to estimate the price paid per share in case of an exit, a vital tool for exit strategy planning.
- FS-Annual and FS-Month: Projected annual and monthly financial statements, respectively, forming the core of your financial forecasts.
- Taxes: Provides estimations for VAT, Sales, and Income Tax, important for financial compliance and planning.
Additionally, there are hidden sheets like 'Change Log', 'Model Map', 'Data for Charts', and 'Data Inputs' which play a supporting role in managing and interpreting your financial data.
Nomenclature
The model uses a color-coded system for easy identification of data types:
- Inputs/Assumptions (BLUE): These are your inputs or any hard-coded data like historical values and assumptions.
- Formulas/Results (Black): Represent formulas, calculations, or references derived from inputs.
- Historicals/Projections (Purple): A mix of historical (inputs) and projected data.
Relevant articles
The Staff Sheet
Organized into sections for various company roles, the Staff Sheet allows for detailed input and monitoring of staff-related costs, tailor roles and expenses, track salary increments, and plan for new hires.
The Settings Sheet
The Settings Sheet allows you to set company-specific parameters like start dates, currency, and tax rates, ensuring all other sheets align with your unique business context.
The Assumptions Sheet
The Assumptions Sheet lets users input key variables impacting business forecasts. It includes sections like Capital Expenditures and Loans, guiding the automatic estimation of costs like computer purchases and setting depreciation periods for various assets.
