A financial model is a powerful tool for your business – it can help you make better decisions, identify opportunities, and maximize profits.

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What is a financial model? 

A financial model provides a baseline from which to assess the future outcome of your business. It’s a set of calculations based on assumptions. These assumptions can be thought of as the "rules" that the model uses to make its predictions or estimates. For example, if you're building a model for your own business and you assume your sales will increase by 10% next year, then your financial projections should include this assumption.

You can use a financial model to:

  • Forecast your company's future cash flows, profit margins, and costs.
  • Validate assumptions in your plan.
  • Determine how much money you need to raise to make your business idea work.

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Why is having a financial model important?

  1. ‍A model provides business owners with the ability to test what-if scenarios and evaluate the impact of different decisions on their businesses. For example, say you're considering hiring an additional employee. With a model you can see how much money you will have to pay for that employee and how much more revenue they will bring in. You can also see what happens if you don't have enough revenue coming in and have to lay them off earlier than planned.
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  2. It creates three-way linkages between operational, financial, and strategic planning through its ability to forecast cash flows based on assumptions. The financial model is a tool that helps you create a plan and make decisions. It links the three main areas of business planning: operations, finance, and strategy. With it, you can forecast cash flows based on assumptions about your strategies and operations. You also can use it to answer questions about how different decisions will impact your business or what happens if you change something in your plan.
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  3. ‍Models can help determine the right pricing strategy that will improve margins while keeping customers happy. Pricing strategy is important because it determines how much a company can charge for its products and services. You should determine the right pricing strategy by using a financial model. A good pricing strategy would improve margins while keeping customers happy.
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  4. ‍Financial models enable decision-makers to focus on key elements that can drive certain outcomes in their businesses. Let’s say you are trying to figure out how much money you need to invest in your company. You could use the financial model to determine what your true costs are and then calculate whether having more capital reduces them or not. Let’s say that based on your current sales forecast, it looks like you need $10 million dollars in investment capital. The financial model will tell you if investing another dollar into your business will increase its value by more than what it costs (based on its true cost).
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  5. ‍A sound financial model facilitates various types of analysis, assuring greater accuracy and thoroughness when making decisions and planning for the future. For example, a model can be used to forecast cash flows based on assumptions. The forecasted numbers can then be analyzed against benchmarks or other company data to determine if there are opportunities for improvement in areas such as revenue growth or cost reduction. In addition to providing this type of information, models can also be used to determine the right pricing strategy or capital structure (the mix of equity vs debt).

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