What are Brixx components? The building blocks of a financial plan
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TL;DR: A Brixx component is a single modelling object, such as a cost, an employee, a loan or a piece of income, that you add to your plan and describe with a few plain-English numbers. You build a full financial plan by combining components rather than writing spreadsheet formulas. Brixx automatically rolls every component up into your profit and loss, cash flow forecast and balance sheet, keeping everything linked and up to date as you edit.
So, what is a Brixx component? In short, it is the basic building block Brixx uses to model your business, standing in for the rows and formulas you would otherwise write in a spreadsheet. Instead of typing out calculations, you pick a component type, such as Employee or Loan, and fill in a short form of assumptions. Brixx components are the reason you can build a working financial plan without any accountancy background.
A quick note on terminology before we go further. If you have read our guide to the top 10 business plan components, that article uses “components” to mean the written sections of a business plan document, things like your executive summary or market analysis. This article is about something different: the modelling objects inside Brixx software that generate your numbers. Same word, two separate ideas. Worth keeping straight, since they’ll often sit in the same conversation with an investor or accountant.
What is a component, really?
Think of a component as a labelled container for one part of your business activity. A component might represent a member of staff, a loan you’re repaying, a piece of equipment you own, or income from a rental property. Each one asks you for the details that matter to that activity, such as a start date, an amount and how often it recurs, and then calculates the financial impact for every month of your plan.
Why components beat spreadsheet rows
In a spreadsheet, every new cost or income stream means writing or copying a formula, and one broken reference can throw off an entire model. Components remove that risk. Each one already knows how to behave, an Employee component understands salary, tax and pension contributions, a Loan component understands interest and repayment schedules, so you simply enter your figures and Brixx does the calculation consistently every time.
Components and the Timeline
Every component sits on Brixx’s Timeline, meaning you can drag its start or end date, extend it, or shift it alongside other activities. This is particularly useful when you’re testing what happens if a hire is delayed, or a loan starts later than planned, without rebuilding any formulas.
Cost of Sales components
A Cost of Sales component models the direct costs tied to producing what you sell, for example materials or production costs that rise and fall with your sales volume. You set the cost per unit or as a percentage of revenue, and Brixx recalculates it automatically as your sales assumptions change.
Employee components
An Employee component represents a member of staff, capturing salary, start date and any planned pay rises. It’s one of the components accountants and business owners use most often, since staff costs are usually one of the biggest lines in any forecast.
Inventory components
Inventory components let you model stock you buy in and hold before selling, including how much you purchase, how quickly it’s used, and its effect on your cash flow forecast. This matters because stock ties up cash before it turns into revenue.
Asset components
An Asset component covers equipment, vehicles or property you own, including its purchase cost and how it depreciates over time. Brixx uses this to keep your balance sheet accurate without you needing to calculate depreciation schedules by hand.
Loan components
A Loan component models borrowed money, whether from a bank or another lender, including the amount, interest rate and repayment term. It automatically works out your repayment schedule and interest cost across your chosen forecast horizon.
Equity components
Equity components represent funding raised by issuing shares in your business. You record the amount raised and when it arrives, and Brixx reflects this in your balance sheet and cash position.
Investment components
An Investment component models money you put into something, such as another business or an asset held for return rather than day-to-day operations. It’s useful for businesses whose plans include holding or growing investments alongside core trading activity.
Capital components
Capital components represent money introduced into the business by its owners, distinct from a loan or external investment. This is a common starting point for many plans, especially at the founding stage.
Rental Income components
A Rental Income component models income from letting out property or equipment, including rate, frequency and any rent-free periods. It feeds straight into your revenue and cash flow projections alongside your other income sources.
How components roll up into your financial statements
Once you’ve added your components, Brixx does the accounting in the background. Every component you create feeds automatically into your profit and loss, cash flow forecast and balance sheet, with double-entry accounting handled for you. Add a Loan component, for instance, and Brixx books the incoming cash, the ongoing repayments and the interest expense in the correct place across all three statements, without you touching a formula.
Why this matters for accuracy
Because every component is connected to the same underlying model, changing one figure, say a salary increase in an Employee component, ripples through your cash flow and balance sheet automatically. There’s no risk of updating one report and forgetting another, which is one of the most common causes of inaccurate forecasts in spreadsheet-based planning.
A short worked example
Say you’re modelling a small café. You might build your plan with five components: a Capital component for the owner’s initial investment, an Asset component for the coffee machine and fittings, an Employee component for your first barista, a Cost of Sales component for coffee and food ingredients, and a Loan component for a small start-up loan from the bank.
Enter each one with its own dates and figures, the capital arriving on day one, the asset purchased in month one, the employee starting once you open, the cost of sales scaling with your sales assumptions, and the loan repaying monthly over its term. Brixx combines all five automatically into a single cash flow forecast, profit and loss statement and balance sheet, giving you a complete financial picture built from just a handful of plain-English entries.
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If you already run a business and want to bring your existing numbers into Brixx, our guide on how to set up an existing business in Brixx walks through building your first components from real trading data. You can also explore the full range of tools components work alongside on our features page, including Timeline, Scenario Planning and Financial Reporting.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Brixx component in simple terms?
A Brixx component is a single modelling object, such as a cost, employee, loan or income stream, that you describe with a few figures rather than a formula. Brixx uses it to automatically calculate its effect on your financial plan.
How many components do I need for a simple plan?
There’s no fixed number. Many simple plans work well with four or five components covering your main costs, income and any funding, as shown in the worked example above.
Do components replace spreadsheet formulas entirely?
Yes. Each component already knows how to calculate its own financial behaviour, so you enter assumptions rather than write formulas, and Brixx handles the underlying accounting.
Are Brixx components the same as business plan components?
No. Brixx components are modelling objects inside the software that generate your numbers. Business plan components, covered in our guide to business plan components, refer to the written sections of a business plan document.