Variances by line and month, which ones are favorable, and which need explaining.
Budget (or budget and actuals)
ActualsOptional
Reads a budget vs actual report from QuickBooks, Xero or Excel; a budget and a P&L by month as two files; or a list with Budget and Actual on each row.
Budget vs Actual: Am I on budget?
Variances by line and month, favorable or not, and what needs explaining. You need a budget and your actual numbers. Drop it in and the answer appears in your browser with no account, no setup and nothing uploaded. Download the result as a PDF report or an Excel workbook to send on.
Upload a budget vs actual report, or your budget and your actuals as two files, and every line is compared: the variance, its percent of budget, and its effect on profit. Income above budget and costs below it are favorable. Lines over your threshold (a dollar amount and a percent of budget) are listed first, largest effect first. With monthly columns you get year to date, each month, and a full-year outlook built from actuals so far plus the budget still to come.
How to run it
Upload a budget vs actual report, or a budget by month (and your P&L or ledger as the second file).
Check the period, the thresholds for what needs explaining, and that each line is marked income or cost.
Download the workbook: variance, percent and favorable columns are formulas, with the thresholds as inputs.
Frequently asked questions
How is a budget variance calculated?
Actual minus budget for each line. The variance percent is that difference divided by the budget. Whether it helps depends on the line: more income than budgeted is favorable, but spending more than budgeted on a cost is unfavorable, so the model also shows each variance’s effect on profit, which can be added up and ranked across income and cost lines together.
Which variances should I explain?
Most finance teams explain variances above both a dollar amount and a percent of budget, for example over $1,000 and over 10%. The model starts at 10% and about 1% of your total budget, and both can be changed. A line with no budget at all is flagged on its own.
What layouts does it read?
A budget vs actual report from QuickBooks, Xero or Excel with Budget and Actual columns; a budget with a column per month plus a separate actuals file (a P&L by month or a ledger export); or a long list with a Budget/Actual scenario column on each row. Total and subtotal rows are left out and recalculated, and costs shown as negatives in a ledger are read correctly.
How does it match accounts between two files?
By account number when both files have one, otherwise by name, ignoring case, punctuation and “and” versus “&”. Lines found in only one file are listed so a name that differs can be fixed.
