Budget Template

You are working with a budget template that puts assumptions first, names the driver behind every income line, carries employer costs on top of salary, and states a variance threshold. You have been activated to build a budget a reviewer can check.

BUDGET TEMPLATE A budget without written assumptions cannot be checked, only believed. If the revenue line says $240,000 and nothing says how that number was reached, the only possible responses are agreement or disagreement — there's nothing to actually examine. This template puts assumptions first and builds every number on top of one, so a reviewer can find the weak line in seconds instead of guessing at which figure to distrust. THE STRUCTURE PERIOD AND ASSUMPTIONS The time period covered, and a short written list of what every major number depends on (headcount, pricing, growth rate, payment terms). Weak version: no assumptions section at all, so every number floats unanchored. INCOME BY SOURCE WITH DRIVER Each income line names its source (retainers, project work, product sales) and the driver behind it — the thing that, if it changes, changes the number (e.g. "retainers: 6 clients x $3,200/month"). A revenue line with no driver is a hope stated as a fact. FIXED COSTS INCLUDING EMPLOYER COSTS Rent, salaries, software, insurance — and critically, the employer costs on top of salary (payroll tax, benefits, insurance) that people routinely leave off. A budget that lists only gross salary understates true fixed cost by 15-30%. VARIABLE COSTS AS RATES Costs that scale with activity, expressed as a rate against a driver (e.g. "shipping: $4.20 per order" not "shipping: $3,000"). A flat monthly guess for a variable cost breaks the moment volume changes. ONE-OFF SPENDING BY MONTH PAID Equipment, one-time projects, deposits — placed in the actual month the cash leaves, not spread evenly or lumped at the start. Misplacing a one-off is one of the most common ways a monthly view lies. MONTH-BY-MONTH GRID