Budgets

A budget is your plan for the year's income and spending, month by month. Once approved, MannaBooks compares it with the books as the year goes on.

Making a budget

1. Open Accounting > Budgets and choose New budget.
2. Choose the financial year. Leave cost centre and project empty for the whole business, or pick one to budget just that part.
3. In the plan, Add an account for each income and expense line you want to plan.
4. Type the amount for each month, or type a year total in the Year column to spread it evenly.
5. Save budget.

Copy last year fills the plan with what each account actually came to in the same month last year, plus a percentage you choose (for example 5% for inflation). Change any figure afterwards.

Approving

When the plan is ready, choose Approve (or Send for approval if an approval rule covers budgets). Only one approved budget can cover a given year and scope. To change an approved budget, Reopen it.

Budget vs actual

The Budget vs actual tab shows, for each account, the budget and the actual figure from the start of the year to the month you choose, and the difference. Green means better than planned (more income, or less spending); red means worse. The bar shows how much of the year's budget has been used.

Spending is counted from the books: bills, expenses, payroll and journals posted to that account (and, for a cost centre or project budget, tagged with it).