How to Prepare Financial Projections for Funding Applications

Build credible forecasts, explain your assumptions and present a funding case that stands up to scrutiny.

A strong funding application is about much more than filling in a spreadsheet. Your financial projections need to demonstrate that you understand how your business will make money, manage cash, use the funding requested and deliver the outcomes outlined in your application.

This practical three-hour workshop will take the mystery out of preparing financial projections for a grant, loan or other funding application. Participants will learn how to turn their business plans into realistic financial assumptions, prepare and interpret profit and loss and cashflow forecasts, identify the amount and timing of funding required, and present the numbers in a way that supports the wider business case.

The workshop is particularly relevant to businesses preparing Local Enterprise Office funding applications, but the principles are equally applicable to business loans and other sources of finance.

During the workshop, participants will learn how to:

• Understand what a funder is really looking for when reviewing financial projections.
• Define a clear funding requirement — how much is needed, what it will be used for and what it will enable the business to achieve.
• Develop realistic assumptions around sales, pricing, costs, staffing, margins, payment terms and business growth.
• Prepare and interpret Profit & Loss forecasts and understand what they demonstrate about future profitability.
• Prepare cashflow projections and understand why profit and cash are not the same thing.
• Identify working-capital requirements and potential cash pressure points.
• Understand sources and uses of funding, including promoter contribution and match funding.
• Stress-test projections against slower sales, higher costs, delayed payments or other changes.
• Ensure the numbers are consistent with the written application, market plans, staffing projections and proposed expenditure.
• Avoid the common mistakes that can undermine the credibility of a funding application.
• Understand the supporting financial information and documentation that may be required as part of an application.

By the end of the workshop, participants should have a much clearer understanding of the financial projections required for a funding application, the assumptions that sit behind those projections and how to present a credible financial case to a funder.

No advanced financial knowledge is required. The workshop will use practical examples, demonstrations and exercises, with participants encouraged to apply the learning to their own business and proposed funding application.