Because cash flow is so important to the business world, it may be the part of the business plan that your reader turns to first. No matter how lofty your goals are, and no matter how qualified your personnel are, if you don't have a way to make money (and most importantly, to pay back your creditors), it is unlikely anyone will invest in your business.

There are four kinds of financial papers that should be included in your plan:

"Information about sources of funds" can be written in paragraph form, rather than as spreadsheets. These are most important if you are seeking to borrow money. Such statements can include a summary of your financial needs and a statement detailing how you would allocate money that is borrowed.

"Pro forma" statements are projections about income and cash flow. These need to be as realistic as possible. They might include a cash flow statement or budget, a multi-year projection of income, and a break-even analysis, which shows the point at which the company's sales match its costs. This will require predictions about fixed and variable costs, as well as projections about total sales.

"Actual performance statements" are the records that show how your business has performed in the past. Naturally, if the business plan is for a new business, you won't have these statements until later. However, an established business would provide a balance sheet, a snapshot of its assets, liabilities, and net worth as of a specific date. The established business would also include a profit and loss statement, financial activity over a certain period, often the tax year. It would include income and expenses for the period. Loan applications, if any, would also be included here.

The "analysis of financial statements" shows the relationship between income and balance sheet. You might analyze liquidity, which is your company's ability to meet financial obligations. A profitability analysis would show the ratio between sales and profit or income.

The actual documents you include in your plan may vary, depending on whether yours is a new or an existing business and whether you are seeking outside sources of funding, such as an investor or a bank loan.