Budgeting

1. Sales Budget

The sales budget sets out your expected turnover for each month of the next year.

Base your sales budget on the expected volume of sales of each product and the prices you intend to charge. If you are registering for VAT straight away, you should use prices excluding VAT in all your calculations.

1.1 If you have previous experience of this industry, what was the month-by-month pattern of sales figures in past years?

• Will the sales pattern be the same in your new business?

1.2 What sales are you confident of achieving?

• Do you have any firm orders? Will there be regular customers you can rely on?

1.3 Do you have the capacity to meet increasing demand as your business grows?

1.4 What impact will your marketing have?

1.5 What effect will any price changes have on sales volumes?

1.6 What is your competition doing?

• Are you expecting to take customers from your competitors?

1.7 How is the economic climate changing?

• How will your core customers be affected?

1.8 Do you expect any special circumstances to have an effect on your sales?

For example, local events or a change in the VAT charged on your products.

1.9 at does the completed sales budget show?

• Do the monthly figures look realistic?