Capex Planning
Corporate Finance Financial Model (Free Excel Download)
Prioritise capital projects by timing, cost, NPV, payback, and ROI while tracking monthly spend, budget headroom, and portfolio-level investment capacity.
professionals from Deloitte
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About this model
A capex planning model is a portfolio-level capital expenditure plan that translates per-project total capex, start month, build duration, useful life, annual cash benefit, and approval status into a per-project outlay schedule, an NPV / payback / ROI economics panel, and a monthly budget tracker that compares scheduled outlay against a user-set envelope. This template lays the full mechanic on seven sheets: an Assumptions sheet with eight candidate projects (replacement, expansion, IT, compliance, and ESG categories), each with total capex, start month, duration months, useful life years, annual benefit, status flag, priority score, and category, plus a 12-month envelope row and thresholds for payback hurdle, NPV break-even, envelope utilisation green / amber, and the portfolio discount rate; a Project Master sheet that computes per-project monthly outlay (total capex / duration), start month, end month, useful life, annual benefit, priority, and Approved / Pending status text; a Capex Schedule sheet with per-project 12-month outlay (flat over the build window starting at start month) and category and panel totals; an NPV Schedule sheet with per-project PV of inflows (annuity factor with zero-rate guard), NPV, payback months, ROI, and a Passes / NPV fail / Payback fail flag against thresholds; a Budget Tracker sheet that rolls monthly envelope, scheduled capex, variance, cumulative envelope, cumulative scheduled, running headroom, and monthly utilisation; and a Dashboard sheet with portfolio committed capex, annual benefit, NPV, PV of inflows, average payback, average ROI, projects passing the NPV hurdle, peak monthly capex and the month it occurs, annual envelope, annual scheduled capex, envelope utilisation with traffic-light status, ending headroom with Within envelope / Overspend status, and a per-project composition block with total capex, NPV, and payback per project.
The per-project outlay formula uses a COLUMN()-based positional pattern to turn the outlay on at start month and off at start + duration, with no same-row prior-column dependencies. The NPV uses an annuity factor over useful life at the portfolio discount rate, with a zero-rate guard. The payback months column uses a Payback_Hurdle × 100 sentinel when annual benefit is zero so the project visibly fails its hurdle without introducing a hardcoded literal. The Budget Tracker's running headroom is cumulative envelope minus cumulative scheduled - positive when the envelope has slack and negative when overspend occurs in the middle months when projects bunch up.
CFOs, FP&A teams, capital allocation committees, and operations leaders use this template for annual capex board reviews (walk the candidate portfolio with NPV, payback, ROI, envelope fit), re-forecasting under tighter envelopes (cut the envelope and see which months go red), and project hurdle screening (each project carries an explicit Passes / NPV fail / Payback fail flag). The template focuses on the approval gate and the sequencing of cash. Once a project is approved and cash leaves, the depreciation expense path and post-asset book value belong in the depreciation template, and the cash leg integration belongs in the cashflow or 3-statement template.
What every model includes
Live formulas, no hardcoded values
Outputs are driven by live formulas, so the workbook updates from its assumptions instead of relying on hardcoded results.
All assumptions in one tab
Inputs are clearly marked in the Assumptions tab and separated from calculations, making it clear what to change and what to leave intact.
Statements always balancing
For integrated-statement models, the balance sheet, cash flow, and supporting schedules tie through properly.
Distinct schedules for clarity
Debt, working capital, taxes, and cash flow can get messy quickly. We group calculations in clear schedules, not across disconnected tabs.
No hidden macros or external links
There are no unexplained external workbook links or macros to undermine auditability or portability.
Changes flow through the model
Update a key driver and see the impact carry through the forecast, financing, and return outputs. We never use hardcoded numbers in formulas.
What's inside the Capex Planning
- Eight candidate projects spanning replacement, expansion, IT, compliance, and ESG categories
- Project Master with monthly outlay, start / end month, useful life, annual benefit, priority, and Approved / Pending status text
- Per-project Capex Schedule (flat outlay over the build window starting at start month) with annual total column and panel total row
- Per-project NPV Schedule with PV of inflows (annuity factor at portfolio discount rate, zero-rate guard), NPV, payback months, ROI, and Passes / NPV fail / Payback fail flag
- Budget Tracker: monthly envelope, scheduled capex, variance, cumulative envelope, cumulative scheduled, running headroom, monthly utilisation
- Dashboard with portfolio committed capex, NPV, PV inflows, average payback, average ROI, projects passing NPV, peak monthly capex, envelope utilisation, ending headroom
- Status thresholds for payback hurdle, NPV break-even, and envelope utilisation (green / amber)
- Eight candidate projects with total capex, start month, build duration, useful life, annual benefit, status flag, priority, and category
Capex Planning Model: How the 12-Month Template Evaluates Project Portfolios
This capex planning model helps planners assess eight candidate projects over a 12-month horizon. It schedules monthly outlays, calculates per-project NPV with a growing annuity, tracks budget headroom, and shows portfolio metrics on a dashboard.
Scenario toggles flex discount rates, benefits, and slippage. The public download offers a values-only preview of the underlying calculations.
Operating Drivers and Scenario Flexing
The model is built around eight candidate projects, each defined by total capex, start month, build duration, useful life, annual cash benefit, and a three-state approval flag (Approved, Pending, Conditional). A scenario engine toggles between Base, Bull, and Bear cases by adjusting the discount rate, a benefit multiplier, and slippage months.
- These flexed values flow through to project schedules and economics, allowing a planner to see how delays or changed benefits affect the portfolio. The monthly budget envelope is entered separately, providing a spending constraint against which scheduled outlays are compared.
- This design lets users explore trade-offs among project timing, funding, and strategic priority.
Calculation Flow: From Outlays to NPV
Monthly outlay per project is total capex divided by build duration, switched on at the slipped start month and off at the slipped end month.
- The NPV calculation uses a growing annuity formula: annual benefits grow at a specified rate and are discounted at the monthly rate derived from the annual discount rate, then deferred to project completion.
- Maintenance capex and a depreciation tax shield are subtracted from or added to the present value of inflows, and the net present value is the difference between discounted inflows and discounted outlays.
- Risk-adjusted NPV multiplies NPV by the probability of success, giving a view of expected value.
Outputs and Portfolio Monitoring
Key outputs include per-project monthly outlay schedules, NPV, IRR approximation, payback, and ROI, all shown on the NPV Schedule. The Budget Tracker compares scheduled capex against the monthly envelope, reporting headroom and utilisation, with zero-guarded formulas to avoid division errors.
- A dashboard aggregates portfolio committed capex, total NPV, average payback and ROI, envelope utilisation, and peak monthly capex, with traffic-light statuses against user-defined thresholds. Composition rollups by category and approval status help identify concentration.
- A sensitivity grid shows portfolio NPV across discount rates and benefit multipliers, and self-checking rows on the Checks sheet validate the integrity of key calculations.
Practical Use and Boundaries
The model focuses on capex commitment timing and approval-gate economics. It does not model operating cash flows, post-asset depreciation expense paths, or working capital items such as vendor terms and retentions; those belong in separate templates.
- Sign conventions treat all outlays and benefits as positive numbers, with NPV positive for value-creating projects and headroom positive when the envelope exceeds scheduled outlay. Planners can use it to test scenarios, identify projects at risk of breaching the envelope, and prioritize the portfolio based on financial and strategic factors.
- The public download is a values-only preview, not a live calculation engine, so users should refer to the full model for dynamic updates.
Formatted to IB standards
Named theme colors repaint the whole workbook in one click, on top of an investment-banking structure with clear input, output, and cross-sheet reference styling - brand-ready, institutional-grade, and fully auditable.
Created by ex-finance professionals
Hey, I’m Alex and I created Finamodel.
Over my years in the finance industry I kept building the same models over and over again. Same structure, same assumptions, different logo. So I started building frameworks to turn them into clean, reusable templates.
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I’m not an expert in every industry, but I’ve built enough models to know what belongs in one. And when something is completely foreign to me, I reach out to my network for experts to work on our models with us.
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Frequently asked
What is a capex planning model?+
A capex planning model is a portfolio-level capital expenditure plan that prioritises candidate projects by NPV, payback, and strategic fit, then sequences them across a monthly budget envelope. It is how CFOs and capital allocation committees decide which projects get approved and when the cash leaves the door.
How is project NPV computed?+
Each project's PV of inflows is the annual cash benefit times an annuity factor over the useful life at the portfolio discount rate: PV = benefit × (1 − (1 + r)^−life) / r. NPV = PV − total capex. A zero-rate guard collapses the formula to benefit × life so the workbook still computes if the user wants to inspect the undiscounted sum.
Why split monthly outlay flat instead of an S-curve?+
Flat-spread monthly outlay (total capex / duration months) is the standard simplification for portfolio-level planning. An S-curve adds project-level shape but at the cost of an extra per-project parameter set. The flat spread is conservative for envelope-fit testing because it understates peak burn.
What does the status flag mean?+
A numeric 1 means the project is approved; 0 means pending. The Project Master renders this as text. The flag is not used to gate the NPV / Capex Schedule machinery - every candidate is scheduled and valued - but the dashboard counts and the operator can use the flag to filter live reporting.
Can I extend it beyond 12 months?+
Yes. The builder is parameterised by N_MONTHS - bump it and rerun. Start months and durations are absolute month numbers so they continue to work for any horizon. The envelope row and Budget Tracker columns extend automatically.
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