Budget vs Actual sets the company's Profit and Loss budget beside what was actually posted to each income and expense account over a period, and works out the difference. Every variance is labelled Favourable or Adverse, so you never have to work out whether a positive number is good news: earning more than budgeted is favourable, and spending more than budgeted is adverse.
Enter the budget first in Set Up Budgets.
Opening the screen
- Company ▸ Planning & Budgeting ▸ Budget vs Actual
- The Budget vs Actual button on the Set Up Budgets page.
The screen is titled Budget vs Actual. Its subtitle names the period and the budget in use, for example 2026-04-01 → 2026-09-25 · against the FY2026 (Apr 2026 – Mar 2027) budget. Under it, a note tells you what to know before trusting the figures (see Reading the note).
The toolbar
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Period button | The dates whose actual figures are compared. It opens on the first day of this fiscal year to today. |
| Budget year FY*year* | Which fiscal year's budget is used — the same fiscal year Set Up Budgets shows, named by the calendar year it starts in. Opens Compare against which budget?, listing each fiscal year with its first and last months, for example FY2026 (Apr 2026 – Mar 2027): next year and the five before it. Choosing one also sets the period to that whole fiscal year; narrow the period afterwards if you want part of it. |
| Refresh | Reads the figures again. |
Choosing the budget year
Budget year chooses a fiscal year, exactly as Set Up Budgets names it. The fiscal year follows First month of the fiscal year in Edit ▸ Preferences… ▸ Accounting: with a year starting in April, FY2026 runs from April 2026 to March 2027. The budget for the period is then built from that fiscal year's budgeted months that the period covers:
- Only the months inside the period count, so a nine-month period is compared with nine months of budget, not a whole year.
- A month the period only partly covers counts in proportion to the days it covers, so 15 days of June is compared with half of June's budget.
- Every month is read as you typed it in Set Up Budgets, including the months of the fiscal year that fall in the next calendar year: with a year starting in April, January to March of FY2026 are the January to March 2027 figures of the FY2026 budget.
- Months of the period that fall outside the chosen fiscal year have no budget to compare with.
Keep the period inside one fiscal year and pick that year. Choosing a budget year does this for you by setting the period to the whole fiscal year.
The summary tiles
| Tile | Shows |
|---|---|
| Budgeted profit | Budgeted income less budgeted expenses for the period, or — when there is no budget. |
| Actual profit | Income less expenses actually posted in the period. |
| Variance | Actual profit less budgeted profit, marked ahead of budget (green) or behind budget (red). With no budget, it shows — and no budget to compare. |
No budget is not treated as a budget of zero: if nothing is budgeted for the year, the screen says so instead of calling your whole profit "ahead of budget".
If any account had activity in the period but has no budget line, an amber note says N account(s) had activity with no budget line. They are listed below rather than hidden — money spent through an account nobody budgeted still spends.
The table
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Account | The income or expense account. A small amber sign beside the name means No budget line for this account. |
| Type | Income or Expense. |
| Budget | The budget for the period, from the chosen budget year. |
| Actual | What was posted to the account in the period. |
| Variance | For income, actual less budget; for expenses, budget less actual. Green when favourable, red when adverse. |
| Status | Favourable or Adverse. |
Only the company budget is used here. Budgets made for a single class or job are reported on their own (see below), and a Balance Sheet budget is not income or expense.
Click any column heading to sort by it. Open a row to see the account's ledger for the period, with every entry behind the actual figure. The table's toolbar has Email and Export buttons, and a search box once the list is long.
If there is no budget for the year and nothing was posted, the table says No budget has been set for this year, and nothing was posted.
Reading the note
The note under the title changes to warn you about how the comparison was made:
| Note | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No budget has been set for year*, so every figure below is simply what happened.* | Set up a budget for that year, or pick another Budget year. When your fiscal year does not start in January, the year is named with its months, for example FY2026 (Apr 2026 – Mar 2027). |
| Budget is pro-rated to the N month(s) this window covers | Only the covered months' budget is used. |
| …N of them counted by the days covered rather than in full… | Part-months are compared with part of their budget. Mid-month, income will tend to look adverse and costs favourable. |
| …this window reaches outside year*, and months beyond that year have no budget to compare against* | Shorten the period or pick the matching budget year. |
With a whole fiscal year and a full budget, the default note appears: Variance is shown as favourable or adverse, not as a bare sign. Tap a row to see the entries behind the actual.
What the figures are based on
- Actual comes from the general ledger: every entry posted to the account with a date inside the period. For income accounts it is credits less debits; for expense accounts, debits less credits. It includes cost of goods sold and every other expense-type account.
- Nothing on this screen posts anything. A budget never changes your books.
Budget reports
Reports ▸ Budgets & Forecasts has the QuickBooks-style budget reports. They can be customised, memorised, printed and exported like any report:
| Report | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Budget Overview | The Profit and Loss budget for the fiscal year, month by month. |
| Budget vs. Actual | What each income and expense account did against its budget. |
| Profit & Loss Budget Performance | This month and year to date against budget, beside the annual budget. |
| Budget vs. Actual by Class | Each class's own budget beside what was posted to it, fiscal year to date. |
| Budget vs. Actual by Job | Each job's own budget beside what was posted to it, fiscal year to date. |
| Balance Sheet Budget Overview | The budgeted balance of each asset, liability and equity account at each month end. |
See Budgets & Forecasts reports.
Permissions
The screen needs access to Budget vs Actual under Accounting.
Common problems
- Everything is adverse on income and favourable on costs. The period ends mid-month; part of the month's budget is counted, but trading may be uneven. Compare whole months.
- The budget column is all zeros. The Budget year is not the year you budgeted, or the budget was saved for a class or job rather than the company.
- An account has actuals but no budget. It is marked with the amber sign and counted in the note. Add it in Set Up Budgets if you want it budgeted.
- The actual figures are empty. Automatic posting is off, so nothing reached the ledger. See Accounting Setup.