SBFM: Overview of Small Business Financial Manager

• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel, version 1.0

SUMMARY

The Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel (SBFM) is a software package that gives small businesses access to financial modeling tools once used only by large corporations. The SBFM is designed to help small businesses use the powerful analysis capabilities of Microsoft Excel to understand how to be more profitable and make more sound financial decisions.

The SBFM links the most popular business accounting programs to Microsoft Excel for the Windows 95 operating system. It provides a set of easy-to-use tools that enable users to import data from accounting programs into Microsoft Excel, to create standard and customized reports, and to perform "what if" analyses easily -- even if the user has never used a spreadsheet before or has little formal financial training. With the SBFM, small- business owners can view their financial information from a number of perspectives, then manipulate financial variables to see the potential effects on their bottom line. For example, small-business owners might want to find out how increasing the production of a particular product line would affect their revenue or whether it is more profitable to lease, buy or finance the purchase of an asset.

MORE INFORMATION

The Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager allows you to put your accounting data to work by allowing you to generate flexible reports and scenarios that you can view, manipulate, and analyze to manage your company toward clear financial goals. How can you raise cash inflow by $1,000 a month? What's the net effect of a 10-percent increase in sales? Even with an excellent accounting system, these are not typically easy questions to answer: they require a program that gives you the flexibility to experiment with your data.

The Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel gives you this flexibility: it imports data directly from your accounting system; it creates reports to assess your financial position; then, it helps you experiment to fine-tune future performance. The Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager allows you to:

• View data from several sources.
• Manipulate your data to understand it better.
• Use you data to make predictions about the future.
• Make business forecasts.

View Data From Several Sources

The Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel imports data automatically from most popular accounting packages. So, even if your accounting system has changed over the years or you're an accounting professional with clients who use several systems, you can still integrate and view financial data from several sources with ease.

Once your data is imported, the Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel can create flexible standard financial reports instantly. For example, you can create balance sheets, income statements, trial balances, statements of change in retained earnings, and cash flow reports.

Manipulate Your Data to Understand it Better

Unlike most financial reports, these reports are dynamic. If you want to know where the summary numbers came from, click them for more detail. View data from the big picture down to individual journal entries.

In addition, you can monitor and understand business performance with reports that analyze sales, margin, and inventory results. You can drill down to determine exactly where each dollar is going.

Make Business Forecasts

Perhaps the most powerful use of the Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel is forecasting. Your data is now available for experimentation and what-if analysis of potential changes. This forecasting functionality allows you to identify variables you would like to change, see the effects of those changes, and steer your company toward a clear financial goal.

For finance-oriented professionals, the Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel can be a major time saver. For business owners who are unfamiliar with the details of financial management, it provides powerful insight into how your business really works. From short-term performance tuning to long-term strategic planning, the Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel helps you experiment, forecast accurately, and take your business to the next level.

To Get a Quick Look

• Import your data automatically from PC-based accounting systems into Microsoft Excel with the Import Wizard.
• Consolidate your data automatically into standard financial reports—such as income statements, balance sheets, trial balances, statements of change in retained earnings, and cash flow reports—for any financial need, such as five-year planning, loans, or taxes.
• View data in financial reports from the summary level down to individual accounts. The Reporting and Analysis Wizard shows where your money is going, so you can manage operations better and identify profitable new business strategies.

To Look Back

• Compare data across different years, businesses, or even different accounting systems to assess performance.
• Monitor financial position with dynamic reports that analyze sales, margin, and inventory results. Eliminate doubt about business performance over the period.

To Look Ahead

• Chart net income and watch it change for different scenarios, giving you instant financial feedback about operational decisions.
• Generate interactive what-if reports to forecast the effects of changes in product mix, product volume, gross profit margin, sales and marketing costs, working capital, and equipment investments. Know what to expect, so you can plan ahead.
• Determine the optimal sales strategy with the Sales Analysis Wizard. Also, Lease Analysis Wizard summarizes lease, buy, or borrow scenarios to help you reach the right financing decisions.

To Look Good

• Integration with the Microsoft Office family of programs helps you build custom reports, prepare your data for presentation, and establish the financial history necessary for attracting investors or major customers.

Supported Accounting Systems

Supported accounting systems include the following:

Computer Associates ACCPAC Plus for MS-DOS, version 6.1 Computer Associates Simply Accounting for Windows, version 3.0a DacEasy Accounting for MS-DOS, version 5.x Great Plains Accounting for MS-DOS, version 8.0 One-Write-Plus Accounting with Payroll for MS-DOS, version 4.03 Peachtree Complete Accounting for MS-DOS, version 8.0 Peachtree for Windows, version 3.0 Timeline MetaView, version 2.3

In addition, you can use the coupon in the package to order the software needed to use the following accounting systems:

BusinessWorks for MS-DOS and Windows, version 9.0 Intuit Quickbooks for Windows, version 3.1 M A S 90 Evolution/2 for MS-DOS, version 1.5 Platinum Series for MS-DOS and Windows, version 4.1

This coupon offer is valid within 30 days of acquiring Microsoft Small Business Financial Manager for Microsoft Excel. The software will be shipped free of charge.

NOTE: The Peachtree 3.5 for Windows filter is also available online. This file did not ship with the Additional Drivers disk.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q103005
   TITLE     : SBFM: Contents of the README.TXT Peachtree Additional Driver

REFERENCES

AppNote: WE1278.EXE: "Questions and Answers: Small Business Financial Manager"

The following file(s) are available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

 ~ WE1278.EXE

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services