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Finance → Accounting → Budgets → /budgets A budget is your plan for a period, expressed in the same accounts the ledger posts to. Once it exists, every actual figure has something to be measured against — which is the difference between reporting what happened and managing what happens.

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Structure

A budget is defined per period and per account, within a branch. Because it uses the same chart of accounts as the ledger, variance reporting needs no mapping layer: budget and actual are already on the same axis.

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Creating a budget

1

Choose the period and branch

Budgets are branch-scoped, like everything financial.
2

Enter income lines

Base rental income on the lease book and its escalation projections, not on last year plus a percentage. Adjust for expected vacancy rather than budgeting for full occupancy.
3

Enter cost lines

Use the accounts you actually post expenses to. A budget line with no matching expense account can never be compared to anything.
4

Save

The budget becomes available to the budget report.
The budget screen holds unsaved work — the Not Saved indicator tells you edits are still pending. Save before leaving the page.

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Budget report

/reports/budget-report compares budget against actual for the period, by account, with the variance. Use it to answer:
  • Which cost lines are over, and by how much?
  • Is income tracking the plan, or is the gap vacancy rather than pricing?
  • Is a variance timing (an invoice not yet posted) or real?
See Reports.

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Reading variances well

Before treating a variance as real, check that the period’s invoices and expenses have actually posted. An unposted invoice makes income look like a shortfall when it is a queue.

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Budgeting practice

  • Budget at the level you manage. Per branch and per account is usually right; per unit is unmaintainable.
  • Reforecast rather than rewrite. Keep the original budget for accountability and record a forecast alongside it.
  • Use the register and schedules. Planned maintenance from the asset register and known escalations are the most reliable inputs you have.
  • Review monthly, not annually. A variance found in month eleven is history; found in month two it is a decision.

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Next steps

Financial statements

The actuals side of the comparison.

Expenses

Where cost actuals come from.