Budgets often fail because they are built from last year's spend instead of from drivers, and because annual totals hide the months when cash runs short. This template starts with the planning assumptions, then walks through revenue, costs, headcount, capital spend, monthly phasing and risks, so a finance committee can approve a plan knowing what it rests on.

The sample follows Kestrelby Partners, a professional services firm, as it moves from a £56.0M forecast to a £60.5M revenue budget with a 10.7% operating margin. Replace the assumptions first, enter your own forecast as the base, rebuild each line from price, volume and headcount, then rephase the cash calendar for your seasonality.