Budgeting Monthly

The View>Analysis>New Column>Budget Monthly creates an amount column on any blue table. The Budget Monthly column is similar to the Budget column on the Account's Budget view. You enter budget amounts directly on the blue Monthly Budget column.

The date range set in the Budget Monthly column controls the number of budget transactions that will be created. i.e., if the date range in the Budget Monthly column is set to a year, then 12 budget entries will be created.

Note: the account must be a posting account. If you get error Attempted to budget a TOTAL account, navigate to a posting account that is totaled to the TOTAL account and enter the budget amount there.

Setting up a new Account View - Budget Monthly

Shown below are the steps to creating the Budget Monthly view.

Step 1 - On any report switch to the Custom Analysis view.

The Budget Monthly column can be added to any Account's view, but we recommend starting with a clean slate. If your Custom Analysis view has more than the three default columns, continue with the create, copy and naming of the table (steps 1 to 5). After step 5, delete all but the basic three columns (Folder, Name & Description), (see Modifying Tables).

Step 2 - Press F11 or Menu - Window Define Columns - Click the New button.

Step 3 - Press OK to create a copy.

All new table views are added to the list in the Accounts + tab. For a full explanation see Managing Column Layouts .

Step 4 - Give the new table view a name, e.g. Budget Monthly.

Step 5 - Add the Budget Monthly column.

Although the Budget Monthly column has the appearance of an amount column, it has specific behavior.

Step 6 - Double click the title row of the Budget Monthly column and set a date range, e.g. a year.

Step 7 - Double click the row to display the budget ledger of the account.

Since the Budget Monthly column's tag is set to budget, the ledger/posting table is restricted to budget transactions. See Ledger/Posting Table Views.

Step 8 - Enter a value on the blue row and see the results on the ledger.

The behavior of the budget values entered on the blue table are similar to the Accounts Budget view. However budget entries through the book of Final Entry will now generate negative values for credit postings.

Step 9 - Optionally add a Multiple Column Setup to display all the month in the date range.

Steps 9 to 11 are optional. We recommend using Multiple Columns as a quick reality check of all budget amounts and balances for a given date range.

Step 10 - Set a matching date range on the Multiple Columns Setup as in Step 7.

The Multiple Columns are not coupled to the Budget Monthly column. When you change the date range on the Budget Monthly column you will also need to change the date range on the Multiple Column Setup.