Accounting Budgets

Plan against the ledger

Put the budget beside the account movement it is intended to control.

Account budgets

Record budget values against the nominal accounts used for income and expenditure.

Period values

Keep budget values aligned with the accounting periods used by the ledger.

Actual movement

Compare the budget with the signed movement recorded for the same account and period.

Variance

Use the difference between budget and movement to identify accounts requiring attention.

Accounting budgets

A financial control, not a separate planning spreadsheet

YouDoAccounting stores budget values with the account balances used by the nominal ledger. This keeps the planned figure, the actual movement and the resulting variance in the same accounting structure.

Project budgets cover a different question: the planned value and time for delivering a project. They belong in YouDoProjects, while this page covers budgets against nominal accounts and accounting periods.

A practical review cycle

  1. Set the budget for the relevant account and period.
  2. Post normal sales, purchase and nominal transactions.
  3. Compare actual movement with the budget.
  4. Review the variance and investigate the underlying entries.

Review budgets in their accounting context

The nominal ledger provides the accounts, periods and transaction detail behind each comparison.

Explore the nominal ledger