AWRA Help Center

A GL budget is a budget for the income statement. It is separate from the spending budgets procurement reads — see Budgets & Limits for the difference.

Creating A Budget

1. Open Accounting → GL Budgets and press New budget.
2. Give it a Name and the First month. The budget runs for twelve months from there, so a July start covers a July-to-June financial year.
3. Optionally choose a Department, Branch or Project. Actuals are then read only from postings tagged with it, so one budget per branch gives you a branch-by-branch plan.
4. For each revenue and expense account you want to plan, type an annual figure and leave the months blank to spread it evenly (any rounding lands on the last month), or type each month where the year is seasonal.
5. Save. Accounts left empty are not part of the budget.

Budget Against Actual

Open a budget to see each account’s twelve months. Choose Compare through to pick the last month to compare — by default the current month while the budget is running. For every account you see the budget to date, the actual to date and the variance (actual minus budget), plus totals for revenue, expenses and net. Months after the chosen one still show their budget, without an actual.

• Actuals come from posted journal entries on each account, on the same basis as the income statement, so the two always agree.
• A variance is favourable when revenue beats the budget or an expense comes in under it, and is shown in orange when it is against you.
• Drafts and journals still awaiting approval are not actuals until they post.

Permissions

• View accounting — open budgets and budget against actual.
• Manage accounts — create, edit and delete budgets.

GL budgets are also in the mobile app, so a manager can read budget against actual away from a desk.

Common Mistakes

• Comparing through the current month. Its actuals are still arriving. For a review, compare through the last month you have closed.
• Untagged postings in a branch budget. An expense with no branch is not counted against a branch budget. Tag lines when they are entered.
• Spreading a seasonal line evenly. Type the months for revenue that peaks, or every early month looks behind plan.