Business spreadsheet guides

Six sums a small business runs over and over, each worked through completely and for free: what a marketplace actually takes from a sale, whether next month's bank balance survives, what an hour of delivery time costs, what a business is worth, what an enquiry is worth, and what a month of posting costs in hours.

• How much does Etsy take from a sale?

  Etsy's own fee list applied to a real order: 6.5% transaction, payment processing, listing and ads fees, with the arithmetic for a $100 US sale.

• How to build a cash flow forecast

  How to build a cash flow forecast in a spreadsheet, with a worked three-month example, the opening-plus-receipts-minus-payments formula and VAT timing.

• Agency utilisation rate: the formula, and the denominator that decides it

  Utilisation rate = billable hours ÷ available hours. The formula, an honest denominator, and what a ten-point drop costs an agency, with worked numbers.

• SDE vs EBITDA: which one values a small business?

  SDE adds back the owner's whole package; EBITDA does not. Both formulas on one set of accounts, and why a multiple means nothing without its metric.

• How to track leads in Excel

  The nine columns a lead tracker needs, the COUNTIFS behind stage conversion, and a worked example turning 120 enquiries into a value per enquiry.

• How to build a social media content calendar

  What a content calendar must contain, the hours a month of posting really costs, and a batching schedule that cuts it, with a worked month planned out.

Arithmetic and general information only — not financial, tax, legal or investment advice.