Set a budget

Budget is on Plus, in the Detailed view for businesses, and always there for households. Every cell shows the budget you set and, under it, the actual for a month gone by or where the forecast says the month will end; tap a cell for the actual so far. So you know a month is heading over budget on the 10th, not on the 31st.

To start

1. Open Budget. Nobody starts from a blank grid: use Fill the year from last year, which copies each month from a year earlier, or from the forecast, and press Apply. Change by a percent to move every number at once.
2. Type over any cell. Enter saves it and moves down the column; leaving a cell blank removes its budget.
3. Fill a whole year for one category with Fill year, under its name.

What the colors mean

• Green: heading under budget. Amber: within 10% of it. Red: heading over, or, for money in, short of the target.
• A category marked fixed comes from recurring items that don’t vary, so the forecast already knows its number.
• The average shown under a category is what it has actually come to, month by month, to set a number from.

What it doesn’t do

The budget never changes the forecast. The Dashboard says what the data says will happen; the budget is what you want to happen; the Budget tab shows the two side by side. Transfers between your own accounts are left out, as on Reports.

A household has a This month tab as well: what’s left in each category, the days to go, and the pace. The grid stays the first tab, for the costs that come once a year and for setting the budget in the first place.

Owners and editors change the budget; viewers see it. An owner can set the month the fiscal year starts in, on the Budget tab.

Beyond the grid

• The Charts tab on the Budget page draws the next 13 weeks twice: once as if every budgeted category landed on its number, and once as the forecast has them. On the Dashboard, in the Detailed view, choose Your budget under Compare with to lay the same plan over the forecast, week by week. It’s there whenever a budget exists, and it follows your changes.
• The Year to date tab shows budget against actual through the last whole month, with the variance, ready for month-end reporting. The download has the same comparison month by month, on its second sheet.
• Next year: build next year’s budget while this one runs, from this year plus a percent.
• Upload from Excel brings a budget worked on in a spreadsheet back in, in the shape the download gives you.

When a category is heading over budget this month, the Dashboard says so under Needs your attention, the Monday email carries the same line, and an alert email goes to owners and editors who have alerts on, once per month unless it gets worse.