Compare your budget with actual spending (Budget vs Actual)

Before you start

You need a confirmed budget. See Create a budget.

Steps

1. Open Accounting > Reports and choose Budget vs Actual under Management.
2. Choose the date to measure up to. Pick End of last month in Period, or type an As of date and press Tab. Budget lets you pick a budget; it starts on the latest one.
3. Each account shows the Budget for the period up to that date (the current month counted by days), the Actual posted, the Variance between them and the Achieved percentage.
4. Full Budget is the whole budget for the account and Remaining is what is left of it. Status says Within Budget or Over Budget for costs, and Above Budget or Below Budget for income. An account with spending but no budget shows No Budget.
5. Use Accounts to switch from Budgeted + Unbudgeted Spending to Budgeted Accounts Only. Compare With switches between Budget To Date and the Full Budget.
6. Click an account to open its entries in the General Ledger. Click Budget vs Actual in the path at the top to come back.
7. Click Export and choose PDF, Excel or CSV.

What happens next

If an account is always over budget, adjust the budget: open it under Configuration > Budgets, set it to Draft, change the figures, and confirm it again.