10 Excel Templates That Every Small Business Needs

Excel’s templates help to handle small business performance and operations. It’s hard to maintain paid tools and it’s not that useful for small businesses. Small businesses struggle to track inventory, finances, expenses, budget, etc. Excel templates can significantly streamline operations, manage finances, and track performance. In this article, we will list 10 Excel templates that every small business needs.

1. Invoice Template

An invoice template helps to maintain the billing process. It helps to streamline billing processes by automating calculations and ensuring a professional appearance. Invoice accelerates the payments as well as helps to track payments.

Key Features:

• Company logo, contact information, and details.
• Invoice number and date.
• Item descriptions, quantities, unit prices, and totals.
• Payment terms and methods.
• Automatic tax calculations.
• Grand total calculations.
• Due date.

Download Invoice Template: Fully Automatic Invoice Template

MS Office Template: Invoice Design Templates

2. Expense Tracker Template

It’s necessary to track the expenses of the business. You can use an expense tracker to organize and categorize business expenses for financial management.

Key Components:

• Date and description fields.
• Category classification (e.g., utilities, marketing, salaries).
• Payment method.
• Receipt tracking.
• Tax deductible flags.
• Reimbursement status.
• Summary dashboard for total and categorized expenses.

Download Expense Tracker: Small Business Expenses Tracker

MS Office: Expense Tracker Template

3. Budget vs. Actual Template

You need to track your budget to compare the business’s financial performance against planned budgets.

Key Components:

• Monthly budget allocations.
• Actual spending/expense tracking.
• Variance and automated calculations for net profit or loss.
• Insert visual charts to compare planned vs. actual performance.
• Category-wise breakdown.

Download Budget vs. Actual Template: Budget vs. Actual Template

MS Office Template: Business Budget Template

4. Sales Pipeline Template

A sales pipeline is used to monitor sales opportunities and track conversion rates.

Key Components:

• Lead information.
• Deal values.
• Probability estimates.
• Stage tracking.
• Follow-up dates.
• Sales rep assignments.
• Summary tables for monthly or quarterly sales.

Download Sales Pipeline Template: Sales Pipeline Template

MS Office Template: Sales Pipeline

5. Employee Schedule Template

To ensure efficient workforce management you must use an employee schedule template. This template manages staff scheduling and working hours.

Key Components:

• List all employee names and roles.
• Weekly or monthly shifts and work hours.
• Use color code for different shifts.
• Total hours calculation
• Highlighted fields for overtime and holidays.

Download Employee Schedule Template: Employee Schedule Template

MS Office: Employee Schedule Template

6. Inventory Management Template

In small businesses, you can keep stock levels under control with an Excel inventory template.

Key Components:

• Product details such as ID, name, and category.
• Fields for quantity in stock, reorder levels, and supplier info.
• Minimum reorder points.
• Lead times.
• Cost per unit.
• Storage location.
• Supplier information.
• Conditional formatting for low-stock alerts.

Download the Inventory Management Template: Inventory Management Template

MS Office: Inventory Management Template

7. Cash Flow Forecast Template

By using a cash flow forecast template you can track your business’s financial health by comparing cash inflows and outflows. This template helps to make informed decisions about expenses and investments.

Key Components:

• Sections for operating, investing, and financing activities.
• Starting cash balance.
• Expected incoming payments (accounts receivable)
• Projected expenses (accounts payable)
• Monthly cash flow projections
• Running balance calculations

Download Cash Flow Forecast Template: Cash Flow Forecast Template

MS Office: Small Business Cash Flow Forecast Template

8. Project Timeline Template

The project timeline template tracks project milestones, deadlines, and resource allocation. This template helps to plan and monitor projects effectively.

Key Components:

• Task descriptions, start, and end dates.
• Resource allocations.
• Status tracking for each task (e.g., In Progress, Completed).
• Dependencies.
• Status indicators.
• Summary of overall project progress.

Download Project Timeline Template: Project Timeline Template

MS Office: Project Timeline Template

9. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

To run a business, it is mandatory to maintain detailed customer information and interaction history. This template helps to maintain a database of customer interactions to enhance relationships. Include:

Key Components:

• Contact details, purchase history, and follow-up dates.
• Communication log, important dates.
• Preference tracking.
• Columns for customer segmentation (e.g., VIP, regular).
• Filters for easy data retrieval.

Download CRM Template: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Template

MS Office: Customer List Template

10. Financial Dashboard

To project overall business growth, you need to use a financial dashboard. It visualizes key business metrics in a single view.

Key Components:

• Revenue tracking (e.g., Loss or Profit).
• Profit margins.
• Expense breakdown.
• Cash position.
• Key performance indicators.
• Trend analysis.

Download Financial Dashboard: Financial Statement Dashboard

MS Office: Financial Dashboard

How to Use These Templates

Click on the links provided to download the template you need. Once downloaded, open the template in Microsoft Excel. Modify the template by entering your data and customize formats if necessary.

• Customization: Update each template based on your business’s specific needs.
• Automation: Use Excel dynamic formulas and conditional formatting to automate calculations and highlight key data.
• Cloud Access: Try to store templates on cloud services like OneDrive or Google Drive for team collaboration.
• Regular Updates: Update templates with recent data to make informed decisions.

Conclusion

These Excel templates are efficient and useful for operating small businesses. Implement these templates for your small business to track business overall performance which will help to make informed decisions. These templates will save time while reducing error and inconsistency. Remember to regularly update and review templates to ensure your business needs.