Setting your budget

Where to find it

Budget → Budget Analysis. Pick the year to budget in the settings panel.

How a budget is built

Each line of your income statement starts from last year's actual for that line. You set the change you're aiming for, and the budget is last year's figure with that change applied.

Global Targets set the change for a whole section at once:

• Revenue Change %
• COGS Change %
• Operating Expense Change %
• Other Income/Expense Change %

Every line in the section follows its target unless you change that line.

Changing one line

Type a new Target % on any line. A line you've changed can be reset to follow its section's target again. You can ask Lou about any line.

Spreading it across the year

By default each month gets an equal share. Customize Seasonality lets you weight the months, so a busy fourth quarter carries more of the year. Reset to Equal puts them back.

Reading the table

Each line shows last year's actual, its share of revenue, its target, the budget, and the dollar change from last year. Choose Table, Quarterly or Annual to change the view, and round to cents, dollars, thousands or millions.

Divisions

If your company tracks departments or divisions, you can budget each one and see the breakdown. See Departments and divisions.

A budget is your plan. It never changes your accounting data.