Creating a Budget
One budget per fiscal year, month by month per account, and the Budget Variance report.
Creating a Budget
A budget is a plan for one fiscal year: for each income, cost-of-sales or expense account, how much you expect month by month. Once it is active, the Budget Variance report compares it with what actually happened.
Budgets live under Accounts → Accounting → Budgets. You need a fiscal year first — set one up under Company Settings → Fiscal Years if the page says No Fiscal Year Set Up.
Creating One
- Click Budget
- Give it a Budget Name (pre-filled with the fiscal year) and pick the Fiscal Year
- Choose how to start:
- Start with blank budget — you enter every amount yourself
- Copy from previous budget — last year's budget as a starting point, optionally adjusted by a percentage
- Copy from actual figures — last year's actual amounts, optionally adjusted
- Click Create Budget — the budget opens for editing
The Adjustment (%) box on the copy options raises or lowers every copied amount: 5 for +5%, -3 for −3%.
Entering the Amounts
The edit screen shows one row per account and twelve monthly columns for the fiscal year, plus a total. Add Account to Budget adds a row — only income, cost-of-sales and expense accounts that are not yet in the budget are offered. Click the pencil on a row to type each month, then the tick to save.
Quick Spread takes an annual figure and divides it evenly across the twelve months, putting any rounding difference in the last month.
Draft, Approved, Active, Archived
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Editable. The only status in which amounts can be changed |
| Approved | Signed off; the report can use it |
| Active | The budget the company is working to — one per fiscal year. Activating one archives any other active budget for that year |
| Archived | Kept for reference |
Approve and Activate are buttons on the budget page. To change an active budget, create a new one (copy from the previous budget) and activate that instead.
The Budget Variance Report
Accounts → Reports → Budget Variance compares the budget with the actuals posted to the ledger, year to date. Choose the Budget (approved and active ones are listed; the active one is selected by default) and the Through Period — month 1 to 12 of the fiscal year.
Four cards summarise Income, Cost of Sales, Expenses and Net Profit/Loss, each with budget, actual and variance. The table underneath lists every budgeted account with YTD Budget, YTD Actual, Variance, Variance % and Annual Budget. For income, a positive variance is favourable; for costs and expenses, a negative one is.