Budget Entry
Budgets > Actuals / Budget Entry
The Actuals/Budget entry screen can be accessed from any of the following menus:
- Budgets > Actuals/Budget Entry. Select a G/L account number.
- Records > Accounts (Account Browse screen). Click to highlight an account and select Actuals/Budgets.
- From any report on the screen, click on a row representing one G/L account number; right-click and select Actuals/Budgets. You might first have to drill down to Account to see if the row on the report is at a summarized level.
On the Actuals/Budgets screen, click the dropdown arrow to select a View with the appropriate columns displayed for the budget entry you are about to do. The system will remember the last view you selected and default to that view each time you go into this screen unless you choose a different one. Budget columns open to allow entry for you are displayed in yellow.
Monthly Entry (no detail)
For simple budget entry:
- Key the amount in the appropriate budget month. To move to another month, click on the relevant month’s entry field or use the arrow keys to move up/down between monthly rows in the entry column.
- If you wish to key an annual amount only, you may enter this amount in the row for the first period of the budget year (or any month you choose). The amount will be reflected in the annual row. The annual amount can later be spread to monthly if you wish.
- Various formula calculations are available to calculate the budget based on budgets from prior years. Click on the total row and select Formula at the top of the page.
- To save the budget entries on this screen, press the Save button (Alt+S) or hit the ENTER key to save and advance to the following account.
Component Entry (detail)
Click somewhere in the budget column where you wish to enter a budget and either click the components button or double-click. The components screen will display for this type of account, where you can enter the budget details for each month based on the format setup your organization has customized and specified for this account. When finished, click Save, and you will return to the former screen, with the monthly budget amounts updated. Click Save to hold the changes.
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If information cannot be entered into the budget year, it is because of one of the following reasons:
- The user does not have menu permission to enter budgets.
- The user’s account/object restrictions do not allow entry of budgets into the specified account.
- Settings > Budgeting > Years setup does not allow entry for this user or G/L account.
- Settings > Budgeting > Years is set to disallow entry on specific dates, which are now in the past.
- Components are being forced or already exist for the column being modified. When components are forced or already exist, you must budget at the component level by double-clicking the column or clicking the components button.
- The account is inactive.
- Settings > Budgeting > Allocations are set to auto-compute the budget for this account, so manual entry is not allowed.
Global Budget Changes
The menu option Budgets > Global Budget Changes allows administrators to use various formulas to calculate the budget for a selected group of accounts based on budgets from prior years. This tool can also be used globally to spread annual budget amounts to monthly.
Forecast
Projected forecast figures for the budget year specified. Usually, the budget is copied to a Forecast column at the beginning of the fiscal year. The original budget is locked down, and the Forecast column is used to make projected budget modifications throughout the current year.
Actual/Forecast
This column presents actuals through the prior month (as set in the system) and forecasts for the remaining periods in the year, resulting in a year-end total projection.
Comments
Every budget column has a comment box for that individual account and budget year column. If you have the authority to modify budgets, you can also modify the comments. Any commentary entered will stay with the respective budget column and may be referenced at any time in the future.
Audit Trail
The Actuals/Budgets screen displays the user and date/time the Budget Year column was last modified as a hyperlink. Click on the link to see the audit trail of all manual budget changes made. Entries will list the changed information, the old and new values, who made the change, and when the change occurred. Manual budget changes may also be accessed via the Generic Report Writer. Audit records are not created when the account is modified from an allocation calculation or global budget changes. So, if nothing is displayed, it will indicate the budget/forecast change was an auto-calculation rather than the user making a manual budget change.