Math is hard, Financial Projections are Easy .. eznumbers that is.
Although the new year is well along it’s way, it’s still not too early to dial in your business plans. So I thought I‘d share a great application I came across the middle of last year while in the midst of evaluating an acquisition, it’s called EZ Numbers. EZ Numbers is built for startups so they can create pro forma financial projections when seeking funding but I’ve found it far more useful than just for startups or acquisitions.
By using EZ Numbers any existing company that take their P&L from their accounting software (that’s quickbooks, for most small businesses I’m sure) and input their expenses, sales, labor costs, etc. Then they can perform what if scenarios like “What if sales increases by X%” or “What if I deploy new equipment and increase my marketing expenses, how will that affect my profitability”. “My EBITDA is only 25% what do I need to do to get it at 26%, what if I change XYZ what’ happens?”
EZ Numbers will allow you to create 3 or 5 year projections and really understand your business’s financial status based on projected growth and expenses. Although the website is good, it really doesn’t do the product justice. I’ve found it to be an invaluable tool in planning our acquisition as well as planning our sales forecast and associated budget for FY13 and beyond. We have a pretty aggressive growth plan for the company over the next 3 years and by using EZ Numbers I was able to generate extremely accurate projections quickly. An MBA is not required, Excel however is required (it’s an excel spreadsheet actually). Oh and the author of the program, Paul is a really awesome guy and I can only imagine how much time and effort went into their application.
Oh and the screenshot, is from the website, in case you were wondering if I was sharing my numbers (I’m not).
