Difference between revisions of "How To Generate a Budget Report"
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For printing instructions got to [[Budget Procedures]] and scroll down to the "Printing Spreadsheets for Board Review." | For printing instructions got to [[Budget Procedures]] and scroll down to the "Printing Spreadsheets for Board Review." | ||
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[[Category:Finances]] | [[Category:Finances]] | ||
[[Image:[[Image:Example.jpg]][[Image:Example.jpg]]]] | [[Image:[[Image:Example.jpg]][[Image:Example.jpg]]]] |
Revision as of 13:01, 14 April 2007
A Budget Comparison Report compares budgeted income and expenses, and actual income and expenses over a specific period of time. By comparing budgeted and actual, a more accurate budgeting system can be developed over time to meet Free Geek's specific needs. The goal is to minimize the gap between budgeted and actual, so net income can be more predictable.
The purpose of the instructions is to assist in creating a simple and uniform report for any specific time period. The report was formatted with the intentions of being easy to understand and print. The process begins using GnuCash. The information obtained in GnuCash is then copied and pasted into a Gnumeric or other spreadsheet file. In Gnumeric the report will be formatted and completed. Steps 1-4 is strictly for numeric and information purposes. Steps 5 and 6 are for presentation and aesthetic purposes.
Inputting the Budget Into GnuCash
If the budget is already placed in GnuCash, then this step can be skipped. The budget for Free Geek is located on Budget 2007 Q1.
- Once the budget for the selected time period is found open GnuCash for the year of the selected period.
- Got to File > New > New Budget. Now choose Options located on the task bar. Here you can choose the time period you wish to budget for, or choose the type of time period (weeks, months, quarters, or years).
- The budget report is only concerned with Income and Expenses. Ignore all other line items. Open up Expenses and Income to as many line items as you would like to place in the budget.
- Now the budget can be entered into GnuCash. Unfortunately, the only way to put the data into GnuCash is to physically input it.
- Click the cell under the correct time period and in the correct line item and input the corresponding budget amount located on the Wiki page.
- If the budget is broken down into different time periods than the Budget sheet in GnuCash, then divided or multiply to come to the correct amount for that time period.
- For example, if the you want to budget by months, but the written budget is in quarters, divide the quarter budget by 3 to approximate the budget per month.
Creating a Budget Report in GnuCash
- Go to Reports > Income & Expense > Budget Report. Select Options on task bar. Select the "Accounts" tab. For "Account Display Depth" choose 6 (this will ensure that the report will indent at every level you wish to show in the budget report, making it easier to organize the final product.
- Gnucash allows you to choose what accounts and levels you would like show in the budget report to fit your specific needs:
- To begin press "Clear All." Collapse all accounts and open only those accounts that you would like to be included in the budget report.
- For example, you want to include the 5 major subaccounts for Sales in your report. First you would open Income. Then you open Sales and the 5 subaccounts should appear. Depending on the amount of detail you want, you can open the accounts as far as the account goes.
- For general use of the Budget Comparison Report you will want to include the totals for the expense parent accounts (there should be a parent account for each committee) and the all parent accounts for income. The income accounts for Sales and Donations should be opened one more level. Sales and Donations are major income generators and need to be broken down into smaller detail to view their major sources.
- NOTE: Do not forget to include One Time Income and One Time Expenses in the report.
- Now highlight by selecting "Select All" on the Options menu. Deselect the accounts that you don not want to use in the report by pressing ctrl+select. The deselected accounts may include but are not limited to:
- Assets
- Equity
- Imbalance-USD
- Liabilities
- Opening Balances
- There are some issues with account selection in Gnucash. To make sure that the correct accounts are selected and included in the report, it is suggested that you select "Apply" on the Options menu once you think you are done. This allows you to make changes and adjustments to the report without closing the Options menu.
- Once you are satisfied with the report select "OK" on the Options menu.
- To begin press "Clear All." Collapse all accounts and open only those accounts that you would like to be included in the budget report.
- To place Budget Report in a spreadsheet, highlight entire report. Go to "Edit" on the task bar and select "Copy". Paste into a spreadsheet where the report's presentation can be formatted.
Formatting Budget Comparison Report
- Once the Budget Report is pasted into GnuCash, leave highlighted and change all text to default black and undo word underlining.
- Un-highlight sheet and resize columns A and B to the far left.
- Delete all columns containing information of months irrelevant to your specific report.
- If this report is being generated for Board meeting purposes, usually you will want information for the past quarter, or past three months.
- Insert a column after each of the "Act" columns. In the first row of each of the new column type "Difference."
- Note: Make sure you label the column for differences after the last "Act" column.
- Delete numerical data in "Bgt" and "Act" in rows pertaining to "Income" and "Expenses" and any other rows that you do not want to include in the budget comparison. The totals for income and expenses will be shown later in the report.
- Insert a row between the last income category and "One Time Income". In the new row, type in column A "Income (w/o one time)".
- Change "One Time Income" to "Total One Time Income". Insert rows needed under "Total One Time Income" to show specific sources of one time income. The total amount of one time income should still be seen in the "Total One Time Income". Insert two rows above row with "Expenses". Under "Total One Time Income," or the last one time income category, which ever is last, type "TOTAL INCOME".
- Insert a row above "One Time Expenses" and name it "Expenses (w/o one time)". Change "One Time Expenses" to "Total One Time Expenses". Add rows under "Total One Time Expenses" to break down and show specific one time expenses. After the last one time expense type in column A "TOTAL EXPENSES". 2 rows down type in column A "TOTAL NET INCOME". Another 2 rows down insert "NET INCOME (w/o one time)".
Calculations in Budget Comparison Report
All formulas can be used for actual and budgeted.
- Income (w/o one time) = sum of income (DO NOT include one time income)
- Note: If you include totals for each subaccount and you include the total of the subaccounts in the parent account, make sure that you only include either the subtotals or the total in the parent account only once. This may require you to break up your sum equation into blocks. For example, instead of writing the formula for Income (w/o one tome) as sum(E4:E26) you would write E4+sum(E9:E19)+sum(E24:E26).
- TOTAL INCOME = Income (w/o one time) + Total One Time Income
- Expenses (w/o one time) = sum of expenses (DO NOT include one time expenses)
- Note: If you include totals for each subaccount and you include the total of the subaccounts in the parent account, make sure that you only include either the subtotals or the total in the parent account only once. This may require you to break up your sum equation into blocks. For example, instead of writing the formula for Income (w/o one tome) as sum(E4:E26) you would write E4+sum(E9:E19)+sum(E24:E26).
- TOTAL EXPENSES = Expenses (w/o one time) + Total One Time Expenses
- TOTAL NET INCOME = TOTAL INCOME + TOTAL EXPENSES
- NET INCOME (w/o one time) = TOTAL INCOME + Total One Time Expense - Total One Time Income
- Difference = Budgeted - Actual
- If the difference is positive, then the budget was over by that amount.
- If the difference is negative, then the budget was under by that amount.
Formatting Appearance of Report
The purpose of this step is to make the Budget Comparison Report easy to read for range of people that may need to interpret it. If the report is being generated for personal purposes, this step can be skipped.
It is important to highlight or make noticeable the more important information. This can be done by using a combination of bold and italicized data, and color highlighting. Adjust columns so all numerical data can be read.
Printing the Budget Report
For printing instructions got to Budget Procedures and scroll down to the "Printing Spreadsheets for Board Review." [[Image:File:Example.jpgFile:Example.jpg]]