What does the financial modelling service include?
BrndTst's financial modelling service covers a model with a linked profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow statement, built on assumptions you can see and change; scenarios and sensitivities; a funding pack for lenders or investors; and checks on any funder you're talking to. It's a fixed-fee project, and the model is yours.
What will your business receive?
You receive the financial model in a spreadsheet you own, with an assumptions sheet, three linked statements, scenarios and a short user guide. If the project includes fundraising preparation, you also receive the funding pack and a written check of any lender or investor in scope. We walk your team through everything at the handover.
How long does a financial model take to build?
A financial model usually takes three to six weeks. The range depends on how much trading history the model has to reconcile, how many scenarios you need and whether a funding pack is included. A check on a single lender or investor can run alongside the model and usually takes a few working days.
If a funder has given you a deadline, tell us in your first email so we can plan the work around it.
When does a business need a financial model?
A business needs a proper financial model before it asks a bank, lender or investor for money, and whenever a big decision rests on numbers only one person understands. It also helps when a funder has asked for projections, or has approached you with an offer you want checked before going further.
- You're preparing to approach a bank, lender or investors.
- A funder has asked for projections or a model you don't yet have.
- Your current model lives in one person's head, or in one fragile spreadsheet.
- Someone has offered funding and you want both the offer and the funder checked.
What do lenders and investors look for in a model?
Lenders and investors look for a model they can follow and test. That means assumptions on one sheet, drivers tied to things that really happen in the business, figures that agree with past accounts, a clear cash runway, and scenarios that show what happens if sales are slower or costs higher than planned.
- Traceable assumptions: every key number starts on one assumptions sheet, with a note on where it came from.
- Real drivers: revenue built from customers, prices and volumes, not a growth percentage typed into a cell.
- Three linked statements that balance, so a change in one place flows through everything.
- Agreement with history: the first forecast year should make sense next to the last set of accounts.
- Cash and covenants: the lowest cash point, and for a loan, headroom against the lender's tests.
- Downside cases: what happens if things go worse than planned, and what you would do about it.
Our guide on what lenders and investors look for in a financial model covers this in more depth, including the most common mistakes.
How do we build the model?
We build the model in stages, with your team checking each one. First we learn how the business makes and spends money. Then we agree the assumptions, build the three statements from them, add scenarios and sensitivities, and review the whole model together before the handover. You can follow every number back to its source.
Understand the business
How you win customers, price, deliver and get paid, and what drives each cost.
Agree the assumptions
One sheet of inputs, each with its source and an owner on your side who signs it off.
Build the statements
Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow, linked and checked so they always balance.
Test the plan
Base, downside and upside scenarios, plus sensitivities on the few numbers that matter most.
Review and hand over
A walkthrough of the model with your team, and a short guide to updating it.
What goes into a funding pack?
A funding pack gives a lender or investor what they need to decide quickly: a short summary of the business, the amount sought and what it's for, the financial model and its assumptions, recent accounts reconciled to the model, and a cash forecast showing how the money will be used and, for a loan, repaid.
- A short summary of the business, the amount sought and the purpose.
- Historic accounts and recent management accounts, reconciled to the model.
- The model itself, with the assumptions sheet and scenarios.
- A cash flow forecast showing how the money will be used and, for a loan, repaid.
- Prepared answers to the questions funders usually ask.
How do you know a lender or investor is genuine?
A genuine lender or investor doesn't ask you for money before it lends or invests. Be wary of upfront 'arrangement', 'insurance' or 'due diligence' fees paid to unfamiliar accounts, guaranteed approval, pressure to sign quickly and contact details you can't verify. Check the firm on its regulator's register and call back on the registered number.
- Funding is promised before anyone has seen your numbers.
- You're asked to pay a fee before the money arrives, often to a personal or overseas account.
- The offer comes from a cold call, a social media message or a free email address.
- The firm's name looks like a well-known one, but its website or phone number differs from the register.
- You're told to keep the offer confidential, even from your bank or accountant.
If you're unsure about an offer, we can check it as part of the project. See investment fraud red flags and how to check an investment firm.
What's outside this service?
We don't raise money for you, introduce you to investors for a fee, take a success fee or a share of what's raised, or act as a broker. We don't give legal or tax advice on how a deal is structured. We prepare you to talk to funders and help you check them; you decide who to work with.
If the model shows a cash gap you'd rather close without new funding, our cash flow and treasury service looks at collections, payment timing and stock first.