Free Operating Budget Templates

By Andy Marker | October 11, 2020

We’ve compiled the most useful free operating budget templates, including those for small businesses, schools, nonprofits, restaurants, and startups. You’ll also learn what to include in each component of an operating budget. 

Included on this page, you'll find a small business operating budget template, an annual operating budget template, and an operating budget template for schools.

Operating Budget Excel Template

Operating Budget Template

Use this basic operating budget template to gain insight into your company’s expenditures and revenue. Fill in your information for volume and price per unit of the month-by-month cost of goods sold (COGS) to determine your month-by-month revenue. Enter less variable costs and less fixed costs details, as well as depreciation and amortization figures and other expenses, to arrive at the net income figure that reflects the true fiscal health of your company’s budgeted operations. 

Download Operating Budget Template 

Excel | Google Sheets

​​Small Business Operating Budget Template

Small Business Operating Budget Template

Track your small business’s profitability strategy with this basic template. You’ll find budgeted line-by-line product or service units sold, and the resulting month-by-month revenue totals, listed as COGS details, expenses, unexpected, and total expenses. The unique budget summary section displays your net income, so you can track your business’s revenue goals. 

 

Download Small Business Operating Budget Template

Excel | Google Sheets | PDF

To find more, please refer to our collection of free small business budget templates.

Simple Operating Budget Template

Simple Operating Budget Template

This operating budget template for personal use is perfect for determining whether you have adequate resources to meet financial obligations. Enter projected vs. actual income, savings, home expenses, and daily living expenses to identify where you need to cut costs or have surplus funds for additional savings or investments. Get an accurate picture of your personal and household finances with this fully customizable template. 

 

Download Simple Operating Budget Template

Excel | Google Sheets

Annual Operating Budget Template

Annual Operating Budget Template

Get year-over-year insight into expenditures and revenue with this template. Sections include total income, total expenses, and total savings, resulting in month-by-month net income. Enter salary/wages, interest income (if applicable), any refunds/reimbursements, and miscellaneous costs to identify operating budget shortfalls. 

Download Annual Operating Budget Template

Excel | Google Sheets

For more annual business budget templates, see our article “Free Annual Business Budget Templates”.

School Operating Budget Template

School Operating Budget Template

Use this school operating budget template to avoid financial shortfalls by comparing funding with expenditures. Enter school summary information (number of students, teachers, and instructional aides, as well as average salaries) to factor in your school’s total expenditures. Complete the picture by adding revenue details (base state and local aid, grants and fundraising, and fee receivables). 

Download School Operating Budget Template

Excel | Google Sheets

Nonprofit Operating Budget Template

Nonprofit Operating Budget Template

Nonprofits can keep tabs on annual revenue vs. expenses with this easy-to-use operating budget template. Enter revenues — including government grant and contracts figures from foundations, corporations, or religious institutions, as well as individual contributions, fundraising income, or membership and program income — to see your organization’s current budget compared to year-to-date (YTD) revenue actuals. Add expenses, such as staff salary and wages, supplies, insurance, and fundraising fees, to see total expenses vs. actual revenue. 

Download Nonprofit Operating Budget Template

Excel | Google Sheets

If you are looking for budget templates for nonprofits, check out this article for a vast variety of budget templates suitable for any nonprofit organization. 

Monthly Operating Budget Template

Monthly Operating Budget Template

Gain insight into your finances with this month-by-month operating budget template. Easily see the differences between monthly budget amounts and actuals, and enter income (wages, bonuses, etc.) and income tax withheld (federal, state, Social Security, and Medicare). Track expenditures by adding home, utilities, food, health, and medical costs. This customizable template allows you to plug in any financial factors and provides monthly details of your budgeted vs. actual spend. The template is a useful tool for determining the accuracy of your operating budget. 

 

Download Monthly Operating Budget Template

Excel | Word | Google Sheets

Restaurant Operating Budget Template

Restaurant Operating Budget Template

Designed specifically for restaurants and catering events, this operating budget template allows you to compare estimated costs against actual spend. View estimated costs alongside the actual amount spent on expenses (facility fees, bar services, labor, audiovisual, design and decor, etc.). Gain insight into overhead and improve the accuracy of your operating budget with the line-by-line, food service-specific details included in this template.  

 

Download Restaurant Operating Budget Template

Excel | Word | Google Sheets

Startup Operating Budget Template

Startup Operating Budget Template

Startup companies need an accurate method to account for all costs and expenses in order to determine the total funds required to operate. This template features sections for total one-time startup costs, total monthly expenses, and total startup funds required. Ensure you’ve accounted for every cost and expense so you can get up and operating while keeping an eye on the big picture forecast. 

Download Startup Operating Budget Template

Excel | Google Sheets

To find more, please refer to our collection of free startup budget templates.

What Is an Operating Budget Template?

An operating budget template allows you to compare expenditures, such as cost of goods sold , with revenue or other income sources in order to determine the viability of a business’s operations. 

The preset criteria in an operating budget template can help take the guesswork out of assessing your financial health. A template also allows you to determine the overhead and administrative costs related to manufacturing products or providing services, in order to determine how close you are to meeting your projected budget. Operating budgets typically provide a way to evaluate expenditures vs. revenue on a quarterly basis, but you can also assess feasibility via week-by-week, month-by-month, or year-by-year periods.

Components of an Operating Budget

An operating budget allows you to compare and contrast expenditures with revenue and other income sources. In order to account for all operational costs — potential and actual revenue — an operating budget should include the following sections: 

  • Volume: The number of products or services you intend to provide, or have provided, for any given period 
  • Price: The price per unit or service you budget for clients 
  • Revenue: Project and actual revenue generated by the number of products and services provided, and their associated costs 
  • Total Revenue: The auto-tallied volume of products or services, multiplied by their price 
  • Variable Costs: Fluctuating expenditures that vary monthly or annually 
  • Fixed Costs: Set costs that you can confidently forecast due to their lack of monthly or annual variation 
  • Net Income: The money your business has available to spend, minus any taxes, etc. 

Keep in mind that while many expenditures are recurring, you need to simultaneously consider one-time costs. Seasonal expenses will also impact an operating budget, as will any promotional events for which you plan to spend more on advertising or marketing. 

Annual operating budget data (projected vs. actuals) offers a long-term picture of a company’s continued operations. However, it’s often the month-by-month insights provided by an operating budget that exposes how unexpected costs affect the bottom line. Having short-term insight into initial projections can protect you from the surprise of unaccounted-for operating costs. Monthly comparisons of expenditures vs. revenue provide a surgical perspective that, once incorporated, informs the successive progress of your future operating budget considerations.

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