Enter a Budget

This tutorial walks through the budget entry process, highlights the graphs and other features on the Budget Information page, and covers exporting your budget to Excel, making changes, and importing it back into the General Ledger application.

Note: For a visual walkthrough, see the "Enter a Budget" video or browse all tutorials on the "Videos at a Glance" page.

Manual Entry of Budgets

1. From the General Ledger menu, select Modify > Budget Information.
2. Set your Filters to view a specific department or range of accounts, then click Search.

Edit a Budget

1. Click the Edit icon next to the account you want to modify.
2. To change the budget allocation from Annual to another distribution, use the Distribute Budget drop-down.
3. Enter the budget amounts for each period by tabbing from one period to the next.

4. To view a comparison graph of Budget and Actual figures, hover over the Large Graph icon.

   

5. To modify the columns shown on the Budget Entry page and the bars on the graph, click the Column and Graph Options link. Select Budget figures, Actual figures, or any combination of both.

Note: Column and Graph options do not need to be changed for each account. Once changed while viewing one account, the settings carry over to other accounts.

6. When finished entering the budget for one account, click Next to move to the next account.
7. For accounts with an Annual budget, enter the amount in the Annual Amount field.
8. (Optional) To attach a document, such as a Budget Request Form, click the Attachments tab, then click the Add New Attachment link.
9. Select or scan an attachment, then click OK.
10. (Optional) To add a note to the budget, click the Note tab and enter your note in the box.
11. Choose how to continue:
    • Click Next to enter budget figures for the next account.

    • Click Done to save your changes and return to the Budget Information page.

View Account History

1. From the Budget Information page, hover over the Graph icon to view a Budget vs. Actual comparison graph for that account.

   

2. Click the History icon to view up to four years of Budget, Actual, and Variance figures on a grid.
3. To modify the columns shown on the Account History grid, click the Account History Column Options link. Drag and drop column names into the Selected Options box to view Current and Prior years' Budget, Actual, or Variance (dollar or percent) figures. Click Apply to save your changes.

Use Other Budget Grid Features

1. To quickly update an Annual Budget directly from the grid, click the Current Budget amount link. In the entry window that appears, change the annual budget and click Update.
2. To mark an account as a Variable Budget, click the check box in the VB (Variable Budget) column. Variable Budget accounts allow you to print a percentage of the budget when running the Budgeted Financial Statement report.
3. To view a Budget Note from the grid, hover over the Note icon.

Export/Import Budget

You can export part of your budget to a spreadsheet file, edit it in Excel, and then import it back into the General Ledger.

Three common mistakes when importing a budget:

1. Importing the budget to the wrong year.
2. Not entering income accounts as a credit using the minus key in Excel.
3. Adding accounts to the Excel budget that have not yet been added to your Chart of Accounts.

Note: In Excel, you may need to click Enable Editing.

1. From the Budget Information page, click Import/Export Budget in the lower right.
2. Select the Levels (Funds, Departments, etc.) you want to export.
3. Click Export. The file BudgetExport.xlsx has been downloaded.
4. Open BudgetExport.xlsx in Excel or any spreadsheet program that supports the latest Excel file format.
5. Enter Periodic (monthly) amounts in each field corresponding to the period name.

Note: All budget figures import as "by Period" unless the amounts are evenly distributed across the periods, in which case they import as an "Annual" distribution. Add any rounding to the first period. For example, if you enter $34.33 in each period and $34.37 in the first period, this account imports as an Annual budget of $412.

6. Save your changes.
7. On the Import/Export page, click Choose File on the right side of the page.
8. Verify that the correct file is selected, then click Import.
9. In the Import Budget window, click Import Budget to import and overwrite the budget figures for the current Fiscal Year.
10. A notification message appears when the import is complete.
11. Set your Filters to view a specific department or range of accounts, then click Search. Review your accounts and make changes as appropriate.

Updated June 17, 2026 15:30