Business Plan Application: How To Fill In The ‘Expenses’ Tab?

To obtain a financial forecast or a business plan using Le Coin Des Entrepreneurs‘ free software, you must provide a certain amount of information. After having indicated your forecast turnover, you must, in particular, enter your forecast expenditure. Here is the work you will have to do on this page of our digital business creation support application.

Forecast expenditure: what is it?

Here, the forecast expenses correspond to the overheads that your company will bear throughout the operation of the activity. They are called, in accounting parlance, external charges. They include in particular:

• Small equipment and materials of low value (less than € 500 excluding taxes),
• Administrative supplies (reams of paper, postal envelopes, toners, ink cartridges, etc.),
• Energy expenditure (water, electricity, gas, fuel oil),
• Rents furniture (lease of property or software) and real estate (commercial, headquarters)
• Maintenance costs of the equipment and the operating room,
• Professional insurance (civil liability, ten-year insurance, fleet insurance, multi-risk, etc.),
• Telephone subscriptions and provision of Internet access (ADSL, fibre, etc.),
• Advisory fees (chartered accountant, auditor, lawyer, etc.),
• Fees banking, fresh advertising and costs of travel, mission and reception.

Attention, do not indicate here:

• The procurement of goods, raw materials and supplies when they have already been taken into account in calculating your margin rate (in the tab “Sales”);
• The investments in the long term, that is to say, goods worth more than € 500, essential to exercise the activity, and the company that will be used for at least one year (they must be included in “Investments”);
• And the personnel costs, that is to say, the salaries of managers and employees, and the corresponding social charges (you will enter them further down in the application, in the “Salaries” tab).

The stake is twofold at this level. You must, first of all, be sure to list exhaustively all the costs that you will encounter within the framework of your project. Then you need to assess each position accurately. To do this, use the Internet, find out about the price lists of several providers. Then, if necessary, request quotes from different suppliers.

How to add expenses to our application?

To add overheads to our application, click on the “Add expense” button. A new page appears on the screen. It includes all the information needed to build the financial side of your business plan. Here’s how to fill it out:

• Category of expense: select the nature of your expense, among those proposed,
• Name of the expense: give a name to your expense (“Accounting fees” for example),
• Annual amount excluding taxes in year 1: indicate the total amount of the expenses paid for the 1st year,
• Annual amount excluding taxes in year 2: indicate the total amount of the expenses paid for the second year,
• Annual amount excluding taxes in year 3: indicate the total amount of the expenses paid for the 3rd year,
• Breakdown of the expenditure over the year: select the breakdown of the payment over the year among the proposals,
• The VAT rate on the expense: select the VAT rate applicable to the transaction (from 0% to 20%).

The choice that you will make at the level of the “distribution of the expenditure over the year” is essential. Do not neglect it because it can have a significant impact on your cash flow statement.

Do not forget to record your expense after having fulfilled all of its characteristics. At any time, you can modify a recorded expense. To do this, you have to click on the “pencil” icon of the expenditure concerned. You can even delete it by clicking on the “trash can” icon next to it.

What should I do after completing the “Expenses” tab?

You must, after completing the “Expenses” you go to the page “Wages” if you plan to hire employees or if you plan to pay compensation to the company’s CEO. Otherwise, you can go to the next step, entitled “Investments”, to enter your future fixed assets (durable goods necessary for the activity, with a value greater than € 500).

Also Read: Business Plan Application: How To Fill In The ‘Salaries’ Tab?