Budgets, Approval and Actual vs Budget Variance
Budgets are drafted per fiscal year with yearly amounts per income or expense account, approved by someone else, then tracked in Actual vs budget with PDF export.
For School administrators, Accountants, Directors and proprietors. Updated 2026-10-09.
Overview
Open Accounting > Budgets & Variances. New budget needs a Budget name, a Fiscal year (create one first under Fiscal years) and an optional description; Create and set amounts then opens the planner.
In the planner enter the amount planned for the whole year against income and spending accounts (leave an account empty to leave it out); the footer shows the planned surplus or deficit. Save as draft keeps it editable; names must be unique per year.
Only income and expense accounts are accepted, each account can appear once and monthly splits, if supplied, must equal the yearly amount. Drafts can be renamed, re-planned or deleted.
Approve (the “approve budget” permission, held by the Administrator; "Save and approve" in the planner) locks the budget: an approved budget cannot be edited or deleted ("An approved budget is fixed. Make a new one for changes."). Approval needs at least one amount and someone other than the author unless the approver is an Administrator.
Actual vs budget shows, as at a chosen date, income and spending so far against budget to date (months elapsed of 12), variance and percentage used, with a bar per account; positive variance is good news (under budget on spending, ahead on income).
Export PDF saves the variance table. the “add budget” permission and update are held by Accountants and Administrators; Directors can only view.
Before you start
- A fiscal year
- The “add budget” permission / the “edit budget” permission to draft
- The “approve budget” permission to approve
Steps
- Open Accounting > Budgets & Variances
- Select New budget, name it and pick the fiscal year
- Enter yearly amounts for income and expense accounts
- Save as draft, then have the Administrator Approve it
- Select Actual vs budget and change As at to review progress
- Export PDF if needed
Common problems
Add amounts to the budget before approving it
A budget with no amounts cannot be approved. Use Set amounts and enter at least one account.
Someone other than the author must approve a budget
Ask another approver; the Administrator is the only user who may approve a budget they wrote.
I cannot change an approved budget
Approved budgets are fixed. Create a new budget for the changes.
A budget with that name already exists for the year
Budget names are unique within a fiscal year. Use a different name.