How to Plan a Budget With QuickBooks
QuickBooks makes it relatively simple to set up a budget for your business or even for home use. Once the budget numbers have been entered, the program can then create reports showing the projected budget amounts compared to actual amounts spent. Planning a budget with QuickBooks takes some thought and a knowledge of what has been spent previously for different categories, such as rent, utilities, advertising or other items.
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Instructions
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1
Create a spending comparison report within QuickBooks for this year's expenses so far. Click on "Reports" from the text menu and choose "Profit and Loss" from the options. Choose "Prev Year Comparison" from the list.
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2
Change the date on the report to "This Fiscal Year" by clicking on the drop-down menu beside "Dates" at the top of the report.
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3
Compare what you have spent so far this year to what was spent last year to determine how much money you need to budget for each type of transaction for the remainder of this year.
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4
Divide the amount you have allocated to spend in each category for the rest of the year by the number of remaining months in the year.
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5
Click on "Activities" and choose "Create Budgets" from the options. This may be under the option "Other Activities" in some versions of Quickbooks.
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Select the "Account" from the drop down box for your first budgeted number. Choose the "Customer" and "Class" if that is appropriate for your budget.
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Enter the dollar amounts you have determined for the monthly expenditures into the remaining month fields on the screen. For instance, if you have allocated $1,000 for monthly utilities, choose utilities for the account and fill each remaining month of the year with $1,000.
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Repeat this process for each account you wish to budget. When you have done them all, click "OK".
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9
Track your budget by click on "Reports" and choosing the "Budget Reports" from the options. Choose the report type you want to see from the options given.
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Tips & Warnings
Budgets can be set up for any type of expense account on your books. You can track a few accounts or you can track all. Setting up budgets is best done at the beginning of the fiscal year when you know what you have spent in each account the previous year.
