Monitoring Budget vs Actual

Tracking Performance Against the Plan

The Budget Analysis View

Open a validated budget: each line shows Planned, Practical (Actual), Theoretical, and % Achieved side by side.

• Compare Practical vs Theoretical to judge pace — spending 60% of an annual budget by June is on pace; spending 90% by June is a warning sign even though it's still under the full Planned amount.
• Compare Practical vs Planned for the simple over/under total.

On the Profit and Loss Report

Enable Show Budgets on the Profit and Loss report (Financial Reports course) to see Budget and Variance columns laid out against the same account groupings as your actual P&L, rather than switching between two separate screens.

Pivot & Graph Views

Switch to pivot view to compare Planned vs Practical across multiple budgetary positions and analytic accounts at once, or graph view to visualise variance trends across sub-periods.

Best Practices

• Review budget vs actual monthly, not just at year-end — small overspends compound if unnoticed for months.
• Revise a budget mid-year if circumstances genuinely change, rather than leaving an obviously stale plan in place (a budget nobody believes in stops being useful for decision-making).
• Involve whoever is accountable for a budget line in setting it — imposed targets with no buy-in are the most commonly ignored.