Priya at Northwoods Outfitters runs a lean operation. Each year she sets a budget with a handful of categories — payroll, equipment, marketing, and facilities — and then posts actual entries each month as bills come in. The Budget detail page shows her exactly where they're over and under at a glance, no spreadsheet needed.
Here's the full setup from budget creation to reading the variance.
Before you start
- The Finance module must be enabled. Check Settings → Modules and confirm Finance is toggled on.
- Creating budgets, categories, and entries requires admin or owner role.
- Decide on a category structure before you start — you can add categories later, but it's easier to plan the line items up front. Common patterns: one category per department, one per expense type, or one per project.
Step 1: Create the budget
Navigate to Finance → Budgets (or /finance/budgets). Click New budget. The
dialog asks for:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | A descriptive label — for example, "Operations 2026" |
| Fiscal year | Yes | Integer — for example, 2026 |
| Currency | No | Defaults to the module's default currency (usually USD) |
Click Create. The new budget appears in the list for the selected fiscal year.
Step 2: Open the budget detail page
Click the budget row to open the detail page (/finance/budgets/:id). At the top you'll
see a summary card showing overall totals (allocated, actual income, actual expense, and
variance). All zeros for now.
Step 3: Add categories
Click Add category. Each category needs:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | For example, "Payroll", "Marketing", "Equipment" |
| Allocated amount | Yes | Your planned spend for this category in dollars and cents |
Priya created four categories for Northwoods Outfitters' 2026 budget:
| Category | Allocated |
|---|---|
| Payroll | $168,000 |
| Equipment | $24,000 |
| Marketing | $18,000 |
| Facilities | $12,000 |
Repeat for each line item. The summary card updates as you add categories.
Step 4: Record actual entries
As the year progresses, post actual income and expense entries against the relevant category. On the budget detail page, find the category row and click Add entry (or use the three-dot menu on the category). The entry form asks for:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | Yes | Positive number in dollars and cents |
| Date | Yes | The date the income or expense occurred |
| Type | Yes | Income or Expense |
| Description | No | A note for your records — for example, "May payroll run" |
An income entry on a budget category increases the variance (favorable); an expense entry decreases it. The formula per category is:
variance = allocated − actual expense + actual income
A positive variance means the category is under budget; negative means over.
Step 5: Read the variance report
The budget detail page shows each category with:
- Allocated — what you planned
- Actual income — sum of income entries
- Actual expense — sum of expense entries
- Variance — favorable (positive) or unfavorable (negative)
The summary card at the top shows the same figures rolled up across all categories.
For a visual comparison, go to Finance → Reports (/finance/reports) and select
Budget variance. Choose your budget from the dropdown to see an allocated vs actual
bar chart per category, with Over and Under badges.
Tips
- You can have multiple budgets per year. The Finance module supports any number of budgets per fiscal year. The Budgets list shows all of them for the selected year. The Finance dashboard KPI tile and reports default to the first budget returned — if you create multiple, the first one created takes precedence on those surfaces.
- Categories cannot be deleted with active entries. If you need to remove a line item, delete its entries first, then delete the category. If entries should be kept for historical purposes, leave the category in place.
- Entries are not linked to revenue entries. Budget entries and revenue entries are separate data sets. A budget entry records actual spend/income against a plan; a revenue entry records recognized income for goal attainment purposes. They coexist but don't share data.