> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.jadenet.id/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Budget Management

> Create annual account budgets with an optional monthly breakdown, approve versions, and monitor automatically refreshed actuals.

## Purpose

Budget Management keeps planning data separate from the accounting ledger. Every version belongs to one office and fiscal year and retains one controlled annual amount per account. Choose **Annual** for a simple yearly plan or **Monthly Breakdown** to allocate that annual plan across the fiscal months. Actuals always come from posted accounting journals; planning never changes ledger data.

## Before you start

* Confirm the office, fiscal year, and fiscal periods are configured.
* Confirm the office base currency. Budget amounts use that currency.
* Review the chart of accounts. Mark non-budgetable detail accounts with **Exclude from Budget**.
* Confirm who prepares and who approves the budget. The submitter cannot approve the same version.

## Create a budget

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Budget Master">Go to **Accounting and Finance > Budget Management > Budget Master**, then create a budget.</Step>
  <Step title="Select the scope">Select the office first, then select a fiscal year belonging to that office.</Step>
  <Step title="Define the version">Enter the budget code and description. Choose Original, Revised, or Forecast and the revision number.</Step>
  <Step title="Choose basis and frequency">Use **Period Activity** for debit/credit movement or **Ending Balance** for point-in-time balance targets. Choose **Annual** or **Monthly Breakdown**. A Draft annual budget can be converted later without deleting its account lines.</Step>
  <Step title="Generate lines">Save the header and select **Generate/Refresh Lines**. The action adds missing eligible account lines and, for a monthly plan, one allocation for every configured fiscal month. Existing values are never overwritten.</Step>
  <Step title="Enter amounts">For Annual, enter the amount on each account line. For Monthly Breakdown, open an account line and enter the values under **Monthly Breakdown**; the annual amount is read-only and rolls up automatically.</Step>
  <Step title="Review and submit">Check totals and select **Submit Budget**. A submitted budget becomes read-only.</Step>
  <Step title="Approve and lock">A different user selects **Approve Budget**. After final review, select **Lock Budget**.</Step>
</Steps>

<Note>While the budget is Draft, changing Annual to Monthly Breakdown creates every fiscal-month allocation automatically and preserves each annual total. Period Activity is spread evenly, with any rounding residual in the final month; Ending Balance carries the annual target to every month. Review the generated phasing before submission. Changing back to Annual preserves the roll-up and removes the monthly allocations. Comparison basis still cannot change after lines exist.</Note>

### Annual roll-up rules

| Comparison basis | Monthly values            | Annual amount                       |
| ---------------- | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| Period Activity  | Monthly movement budgets  | Sum of all fiscal-month allocations |
| Ending Balance   | Month-end balance targets | Target for the last fiscal month    |

The Ending Balance rule avoids adding point-in-time balances together.

Lease schedules can populate both bases through **Lease Payment Planning**. Contractual payments feed Period Activity, while the projected lease liability at each fiscal period end feeds Ending Balance. The separately stored lease component can be refreshed without overwriting manual or other budget amounts.

## Revisions

Use **Create Revision** from an Approved or Locked budget. JADE-ELS creates the next Revised Draft and copies its frequency, account lines, monthly allocations, amounts, and notes. The approved or locked source remains unchanged for audit and comparison.

## Actual versus budget report

Actual amounts refresh automatically when a saved Budget Detail, **Actual vs Budget**, **Monthly Performance**, or **Budget Dashboard** is opened. Only posted journals through today are included; future fiscal periods remain zero. **Refresh Actuals** remains available for an explicit refresh and audit timestamp.

Use **Actual vs Budget** for the annual account analysis. A Monthly Breakdown budget also enables **Monthly Performance**, showing each fiscal month's budget, actual, variance, favorable variance, utilization, attention count, and unbudgeted count. The printable **Annual Actual vs Budget Statement** remains available in Reports.

Actuals are matched at report time through the common dimensions:

```text theme={null}
Annual: Office + Account + Fiscal Year
Monthly: Office + Account + Fiscal Period date range
```

Period Activity actuals use posted journal movement in each fiscal-period date range. Ending Balance actuals use the period-end balance through today. Original, Revised, and Forecast versions therefore compare against the same accounting truth without duplicating ledger data.

## Budget dashboard

Select **Budget Dashboard** from a saved budget. The KPI dashboard provides:

* annual budget, actual, raw variance, and favorable variance;
* overall utilization and attention counts;
* an executive summary;
* performance by account group;
* the top 15 unfavorable or unbudgeted account exceptions.

Opening the dashboard refreshes actuals first. The **Actuals Refreshed On** value on the header shows when the stored monitoring snapshot was last updated.

## Variance conventions

| Measure                         | Meaning                                                                       |
| ------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Variance                        | Actual minus Budget                                                           |
| Favorable variance—revenue      | Actual minus Budget                                                           |
| Favorable variance—expense/COGS | Budget minus Actual                                                           |
| Unbudgeted                      | Actual exists while the budget amount is zero                                 |
| Warning                         | Expense utilization has reached at least 90% without exceeding budget         |
| Unfavorable                     | Actual performance is worse than budget under the account's natural direction |

## Controls

* Budget setup and lines can only be edited or deleted in Draft status.
* Office and fiscal year must match.
* One active account line is allowed for each budget and account.
* One monthly allocation is allowed for each account line and fiscal period.
* Monthly budgets must contain every configured fiscal month before submission.
* One active version is allowed for each fiscal year, basis, scenario, and revision.
* Only detail accounts not marked **Exclude from Budget** are generated.
* At least one non-zero line is required before submission.
* The submitter cannot approve the same budget.
* Approved or Locked budgets are revised by creating a new version, not by editing history.

## Common issues

| Issue                                     | Resolution                                                                         |
| ----------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Fiscal year is unavailable                | Select the office first and confirm that its fiscal year exists                    |
| A new account is missing                  | Confirm it is a detail account and is not excluded, then refresh lines while Draft |
| Annual amount cannot be edited            | The budget is monthly; edit its **Monthly Breakdown** values instead               |
| Monthly Performance is unavailable        | Select Monthly Breakdown before generating lines                                   |
| Actuals appear old                        | Reopen the budget/monitoring view or select **Refresh Actuals**                    |
| Actual and budget signs look inconsistent | Confirm the comparison basis and the account group/natural balance                 |
| Approval is blocked                       | The submitter must ask a different authorized user to approve                      |
| Changes are required after approval       | Use **Create Revision** and submit the new Draft version                           |

## Related guides

* [Accounting and Finance](/modules/accounting)
* [Fiscal and period management](/admin/period-management)
* [Approvals and posting](/workflow/approvals-and-posting)
* [Cash Flow Management](/modules/cash-flow-management)