Plan annual revenue and expense targets, then track them against real results with the Budget vs Actual report.
A budget sets a planned amount for each Profit & Loss account over a date range (typically a fiscal year). The Budget vs Actual report compares those plans against posted transactions, pro-rating the annual figures to whatever period you report on.
Budgets cover Profit & Loss accounts only — Revenue and Expense. Balance Sheet accounts (assets, liabilities, equity) are not budgeted.
Go to Administration → Budgets and click New Budget.
Header
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Budget Name | A label, e.g. "Budget 2026" |
| Start Date / End Date | The budget period — usually a fiscal year (1 Jan – 31 Dec) |
| Project | Optional. Scopes the whole budget to a single project. Leave empty for a company-wide budget |
Lines
Every active Profit & Loss account is listed as a row. Enter the annual amount for each account you want to budget; leave an account at 0 to skip it. The total updates as you type, and the search box helps you find an account quickly.
Click Add (or Save Changes when editing) to save.
Amounts are entered as natural positive figures in the base currency — budget both revenue and expense accounts as positive numbers.
From the Budgets list, use the row actions:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Budget vs Actual | Opens the variance report for that budget |
| Edit | Change the name, dates, project, or line amounts |
| Delete | Permanently removes the budget and all its lines |
Open it from Reports → Budget vs Actual, or with the report action on a budget row.
Accounts are grouped into the standard P&L sections — Revenue, Cost of Goods Sold, Operating Expenses, Other Income, Other Expenses — down to a Net Profit line, with four columns:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Budget | The annual budget, pro-rated to the reported period |
| Actual | Real posted amounts for the period |
| Variance | Actual − Budget |
| % | Variance as a percentage of the pro-rated budget |
A budget stores a single annual figure, but you can report on any period. The budget shown is scaled by how much of the budget period overlaps the report range:
Pro-rated budget = annual amount × (overlapping days ÷ total days in the budget period)
For example, a 12-month budget reported over the first quarter shows roughly one quarter of each annual figure, so it lines up with three months of actuals.
The Budget vs Actual report can be printed to PDF (landscape) or exported to Excel or CSV, just like the other financial statements.
