13.4The budget sheet

Chapter 13 · Budgets·1 min read·2 topics

A spreadsheet with statement tabs along the bottom — Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow.

  • Accounts are grouped into sections (Income, Cost of Goods Sold, Operating Expenses…) with totals; calculated rows such as Gross Profit and Net Income update as you type.
  • Click a cell and type; Tab and the arrow keys move between cells, and you can copy and paste ranges to and from Excel. Edits save automatically (All changes saved).
  • Compare shows a second figure in every cell: Last year (the actuals for the same period one year earlier — to plan from) or Actual this year (spending in the budget's own periods — to track). For a department budget both count only spending tagged to that department.
  • Change the frequency with the Monthly · Quarterly · Half-Yearly · Yearly switch. The amounts are carried over: months add up into quarters, a quarter splits evenly into months, and balance-sheet targets keep the period-end balance.
  • Fill from last year overwrites the open tab with last year's actuals.

#Fill one account

Click the lightning-bolt on an account row:

  1. Method — Copy actuals, % increase or % decrease from actual, Fixed amount (the same every period), Adjustment (actual plus or minus an amount), Spread a total equally, or Spread a total in the pattern of the actuals (a busy month gets a bigger share).
  2. Enter the percentage, amount or total.
  3. Check the preview and click Apply to budget. A spread always adds up to the total exactly; any rounding lands on the last period.

#Excel export and import

Export Excel downloads all three statements; Import Excel uploads a filled copy to update a draft in bulk.