Description
Once you have created budgets, utilize the reporting module to review the original budget inputs, actual balances from transaction activity, the variance, and percentage variance. This report splits out those balances by ledger account and month, as well as totals those values for the selected date range.
Important Considerations
Budgets are first created under Financial>Budget Creation.
Select a previously created budget before adjusting and filtering the Actuals data to compare the intended budget against the right set of balances.
Consolidate Actuals figures if comparing against an intended consolidated set of budget values.
Filter Actuals data if comparing against an intended department budget (e.g.
Cost Center=Sales
Budget values and Actuals values returned are by month, with a Total displayed at the end of the report. Adjust the Start and End Dates to see comparisons of portions of larger budgets (e.g. quarterly budget from a fiscal budget).
Create as many versions of budgets, as well as Save the report once the budget is selected, and report configurations adjusted for ease of returning to the budget vs actual report.
Report Configurations
The selections for the report configurations largely mirror the inputs when creating budgets:
1. Location - Location to determine budgets available for selection and the data returned for Actuals balances.
Uses Location from Location Picker if not set.
Only budgets from the selected Location will be available for selection.
2. Dates - Start and End Date
Default to start and end of year
3. Configure Budgets
Budget Account Type
Either Income Statement (Revenue and Expense) or Balance Sheet (Asset, Equity, and Liability)
Budget
The available budgets for selection depend on the other inputs (location, Budget Account Type, etc.)
The report will run once a budget has been selected, and Actuals data will update as any further report configurations and filters are added.
4. Filter Actual Data - Filter on most journal level fields to further refine the Actuals data to compare against the relevant budget.
Filtering here allows for the Actuals data to adjust to compare against the appropriate budget. For example, if creating budgets by a department (e.g. Sales), filter on the Cost Center = Sales, or any other sets of filters to display the right set of Actuals data.
5. Consolidated - When toggled ON, the Actuals data will return consolidated ledger account balances based on the Location selected.
6. Cumulative - When toggled ON, the Budget and Actuals columns will return cumulative balances (meaning each month will add the preceding month(s) values through the End Date of the report).