Forecasting Revenue Expenses Direct Costs Personnel
Entering expenses
If your company is just getting started, you can include any one-time or short-term start-up expenses in the early months as you get up and running. If you need help with what to add, the LivePlan Assistant can suggest Expense entries based on your company description.
There are quite a few special expenses covered elsewhere in the forecast, so you want to avoid adding any of those to the Expenses page.
The table below indicates where to enter the most common special expenses:
(For more, see What is the difference between direct costs and expenses?)
Adding & Editing Expenses
Changing an expense to a direct cost
If you have created a line entry for an expense and need to move it to the direct cost category, you can move the line item from one page in the Forecast to another using the Change Item option.
Click the Forecast tab in the left sidebar, then click Expenses:
Click the box of the line entry that you’d like to move. This brings up the actions menu above the forecast table. Select Change Item, then Confirm:
You’ll see that the line entry is now on the Direct cost page of your forecast and can be edited and adjusted there.
Deleting an expense
Forecast items can be deleted from two different places: from the forecast table or list, or from within the editor overlay when viewing a single forecast item.
In the forecast:
Click the action menu (three vertical dots) to the right of a forecast item and select Delete:
In the editor:
Located in the top-right of the forecast editor, click the trash can icon to delete an entry.
Where does this entry appear in the financial statements?
Profit & Loss Statement
Your expense entries appear in an itemized list in the Profit and Loss table as Operating Expenses:
Balance Sheet
The expenses are calculated in the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow table but not explicitly. Instead, your expenses are used to calculate your available cash, which appears in the Assets portion of the Balance Sheet:
Cash Flow Statement
In the Cash Flow, your expense entries are calculated into the lines shown below:
