How To Generate a Budget Report

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 exported into a Gnumeric file. In Gnumeric the report will be formatted and completed. Steps 1-5 is strictly for numeric and information purposes. Step 6 is for the presentation and aesthetic purposes.

Inputting the Budget Into GnuCash

If the budget is already placed in GnuCash, then 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. The following instructions will assume that Income, Expenses, One Time Income, and One Time Expenses (one time expenses and income may not have any line items under them, so just use one line item) will show broken down by two line items. Two exceptions are Donations and Sales under Income, which should be broken down into 3 line items.

Now the budget can be entered into GnuCash. Open the budget found on the Wiki. 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 go.
  • Now highlight by selecting "Select All" on the Options menu. Deselect the accounts that you don not want ot use in the report by pressing ctrl+select. These accounts will include but are not limited to:
    • Assets
    • Equity
    • Imbalance-USD
    • Liabilities
    • Opening Balances
  • There are some issues with category selection in Gnucash. To make sure that the correct categories 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.

Formatting Budget Comparison Report

In gnumeric delete all columns containing information of months irrelevant to your specific report. In the cell on the right of the cell labeled "Act" type "Difference". Change all text to black and undo word underlining. Drag or move column A to the far left. Delete numerical data in "Bgt" and "Act" in rows pertaining to "Income","Expenses", "Sales" and "Donation".

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" 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)
• 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)
• 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 the sheet. If the report is being generated for personal purposes, this step can be skipped. It is important to somehow highlight 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. Make sure that the page format allows you to fit information on a page that is appropriate and easy to follow if printed.