There's a Place for Everything, and Everything in its Place...

Budget records are great tools, especially when they are incorporated into reports like the Income Statement, giving you a full 360° view of your expenses and their projections.

Where exactly to begin though?  With Budget Management (an optional General Ledger module) we can add full budgets to the system.

Each budget record has 3 identifying parts: a Scenario ID, Description, and Fiscal Year.  For the same year, you might have a Scenario ID "A" called Main Operating Budget, and a Scenario ID "B" called Main Operating Budget Up 10%.  Each year, you can use the same Scenario IDs over again.

Let's get started.

Why go into Configuration, Tables to add a new ID? Instead, add a Scenario ID on the fly!

1. In Records, Budgets, click New Budget.
2. Type in a new Scenario ID, and select yes to the prompt to add it to the Scenario ID table.

Ok, the Scenario ID is in place. Now, how about a quick way to add accounts to a new budget?

1. Select "Budget" from the menu bar
2. Select Load Accounts
3. Use filters such as Category or Account Code using a selected range
4. Click Load Now

Alright, accounts are set.  We can move on to amounts.  Could there be a way to enter amounts / distribute without the system checking your every move?  If you’re distributing all total amounts evenly over all periods, we can actually put settings in place to be able to distribute all lines at the same time:

1. Select Tools from the menu bar
2. Select Options
3. Select the Records tab
4. Select Budget Management on the left
5. For the "Validate row by row?" change the drop down to "No" > Click Apply > Ok
6. Begin entering amounts in the total column in the budget
7. Hit Ctrl + A on the keyboard to select all rows
8. Hit the "Distribute Total" button on the gray bar

And Presto! All total amounts are now evenly distributed on every line.

Tip: Ever want to quickly check your budget entry progress using Excel? No problem! Just right click anywhere inside the budget and select to Export Budget Manager Grid to Excel for a quick way to review. The Excel file, with all of the information from the budget, pops right up!

Bonus Tip: Do you have a budget you'll be accessing frequently? Add it to favorites!

1. With the budget record open, select Favorites on the menu bar
2. Select to add to favorites and select to add to the General Ledger Home page

Happy Budgeting!