Budgets Interface
- There are two types of budget:
- Accounting: A budget amount for each account of the Statement of Profit or Loss for each month. With the General Setting Accounting > Budget - Enable Financial Position, it also has a budgeted closing balance for each account of the Statement of Financial Position.
- Sales: A budget amount (and, optionally, a quantity) for each month, on lines that combine up to two tiers (for example, Customer Category + Item Category). A sales budget stands on its own and does not change any accounting budget.
- A budget covers 12 months, from its Start month.
- You compare a budget with the actual amounts in Budgets vs Actuals.
The Budgets module must be added to a Menu Group, and users need access to it in User Access, before they can open it (see How to Add Budgets to a Menu and Set User Access).
List View
The list shows all the budgets, the latest Start first.
Buttons Explained
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Arrows (left of the caption and at the right of the button row) | Move the module between the panels:
|
| View | Shows the budgets that match the selected filters. |
| Arrow on View button > Reset Data Filter | Resets the filters, clears any column filters and closes the list until you click View (button) again. |
| New | Adds a budget of the type selected from the dropdown list and opens it in the edit view:
A new budget starts in the first month of the current financial year (from the General Setting Accounting > Financial Year – Starting Month), with the status Draft, the version Original and the entity All. You need New access. |
| Output | Export: Exports the list in .xlsx, .htm or .csv format. |
| Menu | Settings |
Filters Explained
When you change a filter, the list is cleared until you click View (button) or press Enter. The blue filter bar above the list shows the filters that were applied.
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Entity | Select an entity to show only its budgets, or All. Hidden if there is only one registered entity. |
| Draft / Approved / Locked | Checkboxes. Check one or more statuses to show only the budgets with those statuses. If none are checked, budgets of all the statuses appear. |
Fields Explained
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Search box (above the list) | Searches the budgets on the list (see Grid Search Bar). Appears only when the list has budgets. |
| Field Chooser (*) | Add or remove columns. |
| ID | The system-generated number for the budget. |
| Status | The budget’s status, in its colour:
The footer shows the number of budgets on the list. |
| Type | Accounting or Sales. |
| Description | The budget’s name. |
| Start | The first month of the budget, normally the first month of the financial year. |
| Version | The budget’s version:
|
| Entity | The entity the budget is for, or All. Hidden if there is only one registered entity. |
| Default | Checked if the budget is the default budget of its type for its Start month and entity. |
| Created | The date on which the budget was created. |
| Updated | The date on which the budget was last updated. |
| Updated By | The user who last updated the budget. |
| Menu (…) | A context menu (also opened by right-clicking the budget) with the following options:
The copy options are explained under Actions in the edit view. |
Edit View
- The caption shows Edit Accounting Budget or Edit Sales Budget.
- The accounting budget shows the accounts in a tree (see Accounting Budget Amounts). The sales budget shows its lines (see Sales Budget Lines).
- Changes are saved when you:
- Go back to the list.
- Go to another budget.
- Click New (button).
Buttons Explained
To use Create Forecast, you must select an Entity.
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Back | Returns to the list. Any changes are saved first. |
| Arrows (next to the caption) | Go to the previous or next budget on the list. |
| Output | Export Budget: Exports the accounts and their amounts (accounting budget) or the lines (sales budget). |
| New | Adds an Accounting or Sales budget, as on the list (see New under List View). |
| Save | Saves the changes. On an accounting budget, the totals of the sections, groups and summary rows (for example, Net Profit) are recalculated when you save. |
| Actions | The options are:
A copy is never the default budget. Copying needs New access. |
| Menu | Settings |
Fields Explained
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | Select the status:
The colour bar at the right of the status row shows the status colour. A change of status is saved at once. |
| Status Note | Enter a note about the status. |
| Start | Select the first month of the budget. A date in the middle of a month is saved as the first day of that month. The month columns are named after the start month (for example, Mar ’26 to Feb ’27). |
| Version | Select the version:
|
| Description | Enter a name for the budget. |
| Tier 1 / Tier 2 | Select what each line of a sales budget is for:
Sales budgets only. |
| Entity | Select the entity the budget is for, or All. Budgets vs Actuals shows the actual amounts of this entity by default. Hidden if there is only one registered entity. |
| Default | A checkbox. If checked, the budget is the default budget. Only one accounting budget and one sales budget can be the default for the same Start month and entity: checking Default unchecks it on the other budget. Budgets vs Actuals opens on the default accounting budget of the current financial year. |
| Updated (at the bottom) | The date on which the budget was last updated and the user who updated it. |
Batch Update Bar
- You need the Batch Updates user setting and Edit access.
- A locked budget cannot be updated.
The bar appears above the accounts or lines when you click Actions (button) > Batch Update. While it is open, you can select several rows with Ctrl + left-click or Shift + left-click. On an accounting budget, a section or group updates all its accounts.
Buttons Explained
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| X (Close Batch Update) | Closes the bar. |
| Update | Updates the selected rows (or the row you are on, if none are selected) after you confirm the message, which shows the update and the number of rows. Pressing Enter in the amount field does the same. |
Fields Explained
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Update | Select the update (see Batch Update Options). |
| Amounts / Quantities | Select whether the update changes the Amounts or the Quantities. Sales budgets only. |
| From Budget | Select the accounting budget to copy the amounts from. Appears only for Copy from Budget + %. The budget cannot be the one you are updating. |
| Amount / Total / % | Enter the value. The caption changes with the update:
Hidden for Clear. |
| From / To | Select the first and last month to update. To cannot be before From. |
Batch Update Options
- On a sales budget, only Amount per Month, Spread Total, Adjust % and Clear are available, for the selected lines.
- To use Prior Year Actual + % or Spread Total by Prior Year, you must select an Entity.
- Amount per Month: Sets the same amount in every month.
- Spread Total: Splits the total evenly over the months, rounded to two decimals, with the rounding difference in the last month. For example, 1 000 over 12 months is 83.33 for 11 months and 83.37 in the last.
- Adjust %: Raises or lowers the existing amounts by the percentage.
- Clear: Removes the amounts.
- Prior Year Actual + %: Sets each month to the actual amount of the same month in the previous year, plus or minus the percentage. Leave the percentage blank to use the actual amounts as they are. Accounting budgets only.
- The actual amounts are the amounts posted to the accounts, as on the Statement of Profit or Loss. For Statement of Financial Position accounts, they are the balances at the end of each month.
- Only the postings of the budget’s Entity are used.
- A month with no actual amounts is set to 0.
- Copy from Budget + %: Sets the amounts of the same accounts and months from the accounting budget selected in From Budget, plus or minus the percentage. Accounting budgets only.
- Spread Total by Prior Year: Splits the total over the months in the same pattern as the previous year’s actual amounts (seasonal; the same actual amounts as Prior Year Actual + %), or evenly if the previous year has no actual amounts in those months. Accounting budgets only.
Accounting Budget Amounts
- The tree shows the accounts of the Chart of Accounts under their sections and groups, as on the Statement of Profit or Loss.
- Enter the budget amount of each account for each month. Revenue and expense amounts are both entered as positive amounts.
- Amounts can be entered only on accounts, not on sections, groups or summary rows. Section, group and summary rows are shown in bold.
- The account’s Total updates as you enter amounts. The sections, groups and summary rows (for example, Net Profit = revenue less expenses) are recalculated when you click Save (button).
Buttons Explained
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Expand | Opens all the sections and groups. |
| Collapse | Closes all the sections and groups. |
Fields Explained
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Search box (above the tree) | Finds an account by its name. |
| Account | The section, group, account or summary row. |
| Code | The account code. |
| Month columns (for example, Mar ’26) | Enter the budget amount of the account for the month. Twelve columns, named after the months from the Start month. |
| Total | The total of the 12 months. For a Statement of Financial Position account, the balance at the end of the year (the last month). A negative total appears in red. |
Statement of Financial Position Budget
The Statement of Financial Position accounts appear only when the General Setting Accounting > Budget - Enable Financial Position is checked (unchecked by default). When it is unchecked, budgets cover the Statement of Profit or Loss only.
- The accounts of the Statement of Financial Position appear below those of the Statement of Profit or Loss.
- Enter the budgeted closing balance of each account at the end of each month, not the movement for the month.
- The Total column shows the balance at the end of the year.
- The summary rows add up the sections as on the Statement of Financial Position (assets less liabilities and equity).
- Budgets vs Actuals > Menu (button) > Financial Position compares these balances with the actual balances.
Retained Income
Retained Income is the account set as the Retained Income default in the Chart of Accounts.
- You do not enter an amount for Retained Income. It is calculated: the actual balance on the day before the budget starts, plus the budgeted Net Profit up to the end of each month.
- Its amounts appear in grey and are not editable.
- It changes when you change the Statement of Profit or Loss amounts and click Save (button).
- Batch Update skips it, and copies and forecasts calculate it again rather than copy it.
Sales Budget Lines
- Each line is one combination of the tiers (for example, a customer category and an item category), with an amount for each month.
- A sales budget stands on its own. It does not change any accounting budget, and locking an accounting budget does not lock a sales budget.
- An incomplete line is not saved, and Save (button) stays enabled until the line is complete.
- The same combination of tiers and revenue account cannot be added twice to one budget.
Fields Explained
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Field Chooser (*) | Add or remove columns. |
| ID | The system-generated number for the line. |
| Tier 1 column | Select the value of Tier 1 (for example, a customer). The column is named after the tier (for example, Customer). The message “Please select the …” appears if the value is missing. |
| Tier 2 column | Select the value of Tier 2. Hidden when Tier 2 is None. |
| Revenue Account | Select a revenue account to limit the line to the sales on that account. Leave it blank for all the revenue accounts. |
| Month columns (for example, Mar ’26) | Enter the budget amount of the line for the month. The footer shows the total of each month. |
| Total | The total of the 12 months. |
| Qty month columns (for example, Qty Mar ’26) | Enter the budgeted quantity for the month. Appears with Actions (button) > Show Quantities. |
| Qty Total | The total quantity of the 12 months. Appears with Show Quantities. |
| Note | Enter a note about the line. |
| Menu (…) | A context menu (also opened by right-clicking the line) with the following option:
|
Locked Budgets
Without Edit access, every budget is read-only, as if it were locked.
- When a budget is locked:
- The details and amounts are read-only, lines cannot be added or deleted, and Batch Update is refused.
- The budget cannot be deleted. The message “Delete Failed. The selected Budget is Locked.” appears.
- The Status and Status Note can still be changed (with Edit access). To change a locked budget, set its status back to Draft or Approved.