Explore the model

5-year Profit & Loss

Cost-benefit summary (5-yr operating cash flow vs capex)

• ? Net Present Value @ 7% In plain English: how much is this project worth in today's dollars? We add up all the future profits, shrink each year's profit a little to reflect the fact that money earned later is worth less than money earned now, then subtract what you put in. Why 7%? 7% real is the central rate Australian Treasury and Infrastructure Australia use for business-case discounting. It's roughly the long-run real return on Australian equity (≈2.5% real risk-free plus a 4-5% equity risk premium). We also show 3% (low rate / soft funding) and 10% (private-equity hurdle) as sensitivities. How to read it: Positive = the project earns more than a 7% real return on your money. Bigger is better. Today's value of future profits (at 7%) -
• ? Internal Rate of Return In plain English: if your initial outlay went into a savings account paying X% per year, what would X have to be for that to break even with this venture? annual return rate is that X. How to read it: Compare to your hurdle rate (often 10-15%). Above hurdle = invest; below = don't. Caveat: annual return rate is a poor measure for service / advisory businesses where the upfront capex is small relative to ongoing profits. The denominator (your investment) is tiny, so the ratio inflates and stops being meaningful. We cap the screen display at >30% to flag this; use today's value and payback for low-capex ventures. Internal Rate of Return -
• ? Benefit-Cost Ratio In plain English: for every dollar you put in, how many dollars of value do you get out? A benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.0x means $2 back for every $1 in. Both sides are measured in today's dollars (discounted at 7%). How to read it: Above 1.0x = the benefits exceed the costs. Australian government business cases typically require ≥ 1.5x to proceed; private investors look for ≥ 2.0x. Caveat: Same as annual return rate. When capex is tiny relative to ongoing profits (typical for service businesses), the benefit-to-cost ratio denominator shrinks and the ratio explodes. We cap the screen at >10x and recommend reading today's value and payback instead. Benefit-cost ratio -
• ? Payback Period How long it takes for cumulative profits to cover your initial capex. No discounting - just the simple "when do I break even?" answer. How to read it: Shorter = lower risk. Most service businesses target under 24 months; capital-intensive ventures accept 36-60. Payback period -

Read the financial metrics with context. These industries are mostly people- and operations-driven, not heavy-capex. The headline return numbers are calculated from after-tax operating profit (a pragmatic cash-flow proxy) against the capex you enter above. With low capex, annual return rate can read very high and benefit-to-cost ratio very large - that's expected for service businesses where most "investment" is working-capital and salary, not equipment. The full Excel pack runs a richer cash-flow valuation with depreciation, working-capital, terminal value and three discount rates.

What-if testing · Year 3 risk band · 250 iterations · seed 42 Re-run with 1,000 iterations

Each input above varies independently around its current value (about 12% wobble either way, with extreme outliers capped so the simulation stays realistic). The simulation reads the values currently in the form - change a driver and the band rebuilds.

• Revenue (low · middle · high) -
• Operating profit (low · middle · high) -

Like what you see? Get the full plan pack with all inputs editable, 11-tab Excel, Word business plan and PowerPoint brief.