Financial Projection Software
for Applications to
Employment Subsidy Scheme

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1. Introduction to Employment Subsidy Scheme

On 6th August 2009, the Irish Government launched an Employment Subsidy Scheme to support the retention of jobs in viable exporting manufacturing and trading enterprises. The closing date for applications is 4th September 2009. If you have any specific queries about the operation of the scheme, criteria or application procedure, contact Enterprise Ireland.

Applications to the scheme are required, inter alia, to supply annual projections for sales, exports, profits and employment as well as quarterly cashflow projections. Our purpose in setting up this page is to introduce some of our software tools which will help applicants prepare these projections.

We are based in Dublin and has been supplying financial projection software for over ten years to users located in over a hundred counties.

The remainder of this page introduces the Exl-Plan financial planner; explains the purchase procedure; and provides guidance on using Exl-Plan to generate projections for an subsidy application.

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2. Introducing Exl-Plan for Financial Projections

Exl-Plan comprises a range of business planning software for preparing comprehensive financial projections for almost any size and type of business. It runs as a powerful, easy-to-use template with Excel (5, 7, 8, 95, 97, 2000, XP, 2003 or 2007) using Windows (95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista).

Exl-Plan saves users time and money and contributes substantial business, financial and spreadsheet know-how. With Exl-Plan, you get a better-built planner, with more features and facilities, in a fraction of the time and cost that it would take a very experienced spreadsheet user with a financial background to develop a planner from the ground up.

Exl-Plan is suitable for users with basic financial/spreadsheet expertise as well as experienced professional advisers. It is supplied with extensive online help, printable manual and tutorials and is fully supported.

The most relevant versions of Exl-Plan for applicants to the Employment Subsidy Scheme are Lite, Pro, Super and Super Plus. All four versions generate fully-integrated projections (P&Ls, cash flows, balance sheets and ratios) on a monthly basis for the first year and quarterly for the next two years. The main differences relate to the number of main sales groups and levels of detail and sophistication. The following table summaries the main features:

Further details on the entire Exl-Plan range can be got here. You can also download restricted-use trial copies here.

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3. Purchase Exl-Plan Now

After clicking on a link in the following table, you will be taken to an ecommerce service provided by SWREG where you'll be able make a purchase. A download link will be emailed to you as soon as payment has been authorised. Get further information about purchasing and delivery here. The software is licensed to one user who can install it onto their PC/laptop at work and home.

SPECIAL OFFER: We are offering a 25% discount on our normal prices (see below) to help boost subsidy applicant's cashflows! To avail of this offer, enter this coupon "P4KU3" (without the quotes) in the Coupon box at the top right side of the SWREG order form and click the adjacent green button to apply the discount.

In return, we'd be grateful if you would spread the word to any other scheme applicants you might know:

Exl-Plan Versions Suitable for Employment Subsidy Scheme Applications All versions produce fully-integrated financial projections - income statements (P&Ls), cashflow's, balance sheets, ratio analyses and charts - for the specified time horizons.	No Printed Manual	With Printed Manual
Lite New & small(ish) businesses (sales range €0.5m - €2m). 1-3 year projections (monthly for first year) with two revenue/cost streams.	(US$ 89)	(US$ 109)
Pro For larger businesses & start-ups (sales from €1m - €5m). 1-3-5 year projections (monthly for first year) with four revenue/cost streams.	(US$ 129)	(US$ 149)
Super For substantial businesses & start-ups (sales above €2m - no upper limit). 1-3-5 year projections (monthly for first year) with six revenue/cost streams.	(US$ 169)	(US$ 189)
Super Plus For substantial businesses & start-ups (sales above €2m - no upper limit). 1-3-5 year projections (monthly for first year) with ten revenue/cost streams.	(US$ 209)	(US$ 229)
To return to this page from your shopping basket, use the Back button on your browser. To return to your shopping basket without adding anything more to it, use the Forward button on your browser.

Once you have downloaded Exl-Plan, installed it and got familiar with it, refer to the notes in the next section for guidance on using the software to prepare projections for your subsidy application.

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4. Using Exl-Plan for a Subsidy Application

The following notes supplement the extensive help supplied with Exl-Plan and specifically relate to the application requirements:

1. When setting up Exl-Plan via *Tools/Setup, Enter Basic Model Info, assign at least one sales group to "Exports".
   
   
2. When entering the start date for the projections, here are our suggestions:
   
   - If your latest financial year ended in December 2008 and you don't have any more recent management accounts, set the start date to January 2009.
   - If your latest financial year ended in March 2009 and you don't have any more recent management accounts, set the start date to April 2009.
   - If you have management accounts to end June 2009, set the start date to July 2009.
   
   If you have any doubts about the best start date, contact Enterprise Ireland for guidance.
   
   
3. Proceed to enter assumptions in the various Assumption Reports. Your projections should include estimates of the employment subsidy being applied for. Enter these into the Monthly Assumption Report (sheet M_F) and Quarterly Assumption Report (Q_A2) within the rows for "Revenue grants receivable". In the Pro and Super versions set the credit interval in the Monthly Assumption Report to zero as the scheme's documentation indicates that subsidies will be paid inside relevant quarters. When calculating the expected subsidy, take account of the fact that it is capped at €500,000 per company/group and only covers full-time employees working in Ireland who have not received other recent grant aid - get full details here.
   
   
4. Once your projections have been finalised, you'll be able to abstract the projected annual sales, % export, profit margin data for 2010 and 2011 needed for the online application from the quarterly and annual output reports (at sheets Q_A1, Q_PL and Q_PR).
   
   
5. The Quarterly Cashflow Statements at sheet Q_CF will fulfill the requirements for quarterly cashflow statements from July 2009 to December 2010. Before printing, we suggest that you temporarily hide rows and columns that are not needed for the application. Save your file with a new name before doing this in case anything goes wrong! To proceed, unprotect the Q_CF sheet (via "U" toolbar button), display row/column headers (via View, Formula Bar) and then right click headers to Hide rows containing the cashflow notes and data columns other than those for the six quarter commencing July 2009. Once printed, use the Excel UnDo command to unhide items.
   
   
6. Be sure to keep your working papers and Exl-Plan files as they may be subject to review/audit. We recommend that you check back to the Employment Subsidy Scheme site in case there are any late changes in requirements.

If, having consulted the supplied help and manual, you need support on using Exl-Plan refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for Users. Failing that contact us directly.

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