Company Budgets
Company Budgets in Zoho ERP lets you monitor your receivables, payables, and overall financial activity to see how your business is performing. By comparing company budgets with actual performance, you can monitor cash flow, identify variances early, and make informed financial decisions to keep your business on track.
Understanding Company Budgets
You can create company budgets for different periods and track your financial goals using detailed reports. Once a budget is created, Zoho ERP generates a Company Budget Summary that allows you to compare your projected values with the actual performance of your business through Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement reports.
Using Compare Company Budgets vs Company Actuals , you can analyse variances, identify gaps between planned and actual results, and take corrective actions to stay on track financially.
In addition to creating and analysing budgets, you can perform other actions such as editing, cloning, downloading budgets as PDFs, printing, and deleting budgets when they are no longer required. These options make it easy to manage and update your budgets as your business needs change.
Create a Company Budget
To create a company budget in Zoho ERP:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click + New Budget in the top-right corner.
- Enter the required details.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Enter a name to identify your budget. |
| Fiscal Year | Select the financial year for which you want to create the budget. |
| Budget Period | Select a time period for your budget: monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly. |
| Income Accounts | Select the income accounts you want to include. |
| Expense Accounts | Select the expense accounts you want to include. |
| Include Assets, Liabilities, and Equity Accounts | If required, select this option to include Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts. |
- If you want to include Assets, Liabilities, and Equity accounts in your budget, click the Include Assets, Liability, and Equity Accounts in Budget option.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Asset Accounts | Select the asset accounts to include in the budget. |
| Liability Accounts | Select the liability accounts to include in the budget. |
| Equity Accounts | Select the equity accounts to include in the budget. |
You can also associate reporting tags to your budgets:
- Click Create this budget for a specific reporting tag.
- Select the tag name and choose an option.
- Once all the required details are filled, click Create Budget.
Record Budget Amounts
You can record budgets for your income and expenses using one of the following methods:
By Entering Budgets Manually
If you would like to enter the budget manually, you can enter the amounts in the fields provided next to the respective accounts. Once you have recorded the budget for your income and expenses, the Net Profit and Loss will be automatically calculated by Zoho ERP.
By Pre-filling from Previous Years’ Actuals
You can also create a budget based on one of your previous year’s business performance. To do so:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click + New Budget in the top-right corner.
- Enter the required details and add accounts for the budget.
- Click Create Budget.
- Once the accounts are added, click Pre-fill from Previous Years’ Actuals.
- Select a previous year and click Pre-fill.
- Zoho ERP automatically calculates the Net Profit and Loss.
By Auto-filling Accounts
Instead of entering the amount for each account and period individually, you can enter the amount for the first period for an account and choose to auto-fill values for the subsequent periods (monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly). The amounts in the subsequent periods will be auto-filled based on the first period amount and the following criteria:
- Apply fixed amount for each period
- Adjust by amount for each period
- Adjust by percentage for each period
To do so:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click + New Budget in the top-right corner.
- Enter the required details and add accounts for the budget.
- Click Create Budget.
- Once the accounts are added, hover over the account you want to fill budget.
- Click Auto-Fill.
- In the pop-up that appears, select the drop-down in the Autofill Amount By option.
Auto-Fill by Applying Fixed Amount for Each Period
If your business is projected to earn the same income or incur the same expense for each period in your budget, you can select this option. You will have to enter a fixed amount for a period. The subsequent periods will be auto-filled with the initial amount you entered.
Auto-Fill by Adjusting the Amount for Each Period
If your business is projected to earn income or incur expenses based on adjustments to amounts, you can select this option. You’ll be able to add the adjustment amount to the:
Add the Adjustment Amount to the First Period’s Amount
You can enter an amount for the first period, and the subsequent periods will be auto-filled based on the adjustment amount.
Scenario: If you set the first period’s amount as 1000 and the adjustment amount for each period as 100, then 1000 will be the amount for the first period, 1100 for the second, 1200 for the third, and so on.
Pro Tip: You can add the negative symbol (-) if you want the amounts in the subsequent periods to decrease.
Add the Adjustment Amount for Each Period’s Existing Amount
You can select this option if you’ve already entered your budget and wish to update them with an adjustment amount.
Scenario: If you want to add 100 to the previous year’s budgets for the first three periods, which are 1000, 2000, and 1500, entering 100 as the adjustment amount will create a new budget with amounts 1100, 2100, and 1600 respectively.
Pro Tip: You can add the negative symbol (-) if you want the amounts in the subsequent periods to decrease.
Auto-Fill by Adjusting the Percentage for Each Period
If your business is projected to earn income or incur expenses based on a percentage, you can select this option. You’ll be able to add the percentage to the:
Add the Adjustment Amount to the First Period’s Amount
You can enter an amount for the first period, and the subsequent periods will be auto-filled based on the percentage adjustment.
Scenario: If the first period’s amount is 1000 and the adjustment for each period is 10%, the subsequent periods will be 1100, 1210, and so on.
Pro Tip: You can add the negative symbol (-) if you want the amounts in the subsequent periods to decrease.
Add the Adjustment Amount for Each Period’s Existing Amount
You can select this option if you’ve already entered your budget and wish to update them with a percentage adjustment.
Scenario: If you expect a 10% increase to the previous year’s budgets of 1000, 2000, and 1500, entering 10% as the adjustment will create new amounts of 1100, 2200, and 1650 respectively.
Pro Tip: You can add the negative symbol (-) if you want the amounts in the subsequent periods to decrease.
- Click Apply.
You have now successfully created a budget in Zoho ERP and can track your income and expenses for the selected period.
Company Budget Summary
Once you’ve created a budget, Zoho ERP uses it to generate the following reports to help you forecast your organisation’s finances:
Profit and Loss
The Profit and Loss report is generated based on the amounts entered for the selected income and expense accounts while creating the budget. Zoho ERP calculates the net profit or net loss for the chosen period using the total income and expenses. Reviewing this report helps you make informed financial decisions and adjust your budget to improve profitability.
Learn more about the Profit and Loss Report.
Balance Sheet
The Balance Sheet in a budget helps predict your assets, liabilities, and equity for the selected budget period. It is calculated based on the chosen frequency (Monthly, Quarterly, Half-yearly, or Yearly). This report shows the financial position of your business using the values entered in the budget.
Zoho ERP follows a double-entry accounting system. This means the budget values in the Balance Sheet are maintained as:
Total Assets = Total Liabilities + Total Equity
If the total assets do not match the total liabilities and equity, Zoho ERP automatically adds a Budget Mismatch Account under equity to balance the accounts.
Learn more about Balance Sheet Reports.
Cash Flow Statement
The Cash Flow Statement is a comprehensive report that shows the overall cash inflow and outflow of your business based on the budgeted values. This report helps you understand how cash moves through your business during the budget period. Similar to the Balance Sheet, it also includes the Budget Mismatch Account if total assets do not equal total liabilities and equity.
Learn more about the Cash Flow Statement Report.
Compare Company Budgets vs Company Actuals
Once you’ve created a budget, you can track how your business is performing against your forecasted targets. Zoho ERP lets you compare budgets with actual performance using the Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement reports.
To compare Budgets vs Actuals
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click View Company Budget Vs Company Actuals next to the budget you’ve created.
This will display a detailed comparison of your budgeted values and actual figures.
You will also be able to:
Export Budget Report
You can export your organisation’s budget summary in PDF, XLS, or XLSX format.
Pro Tip: If you use Zoho Sheets, you can export your organisation’s budget summary directly to Zoho Sheets.
To export the budget summary:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- In the list view page, select the budget you want to export.
- Click View Company Budget Vs Company Actuals.
- Click Export As in the top-right corner and choose your preferred format.
The budget summary will be exported in the selected format.
Customise Budget Report
You can customise your budget summary report based on the budget name, account type, report basis, and budget period.
To customise the budget summary:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- In the list view page, select the budget you want to customise.
- Click View Company Budget Vs Company Actuals.
- Click Customise Report in the top-left corner.
- Select the budget, filters, report basis, and budget period.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Filter | Run the report based on account type. You can choose All Accounts, Active Accounts, Budget Accounts, or Budget or Active Accounts. |
| Report Basis | Run the report on an Accrual or Cash basis. |
| Budget Period | Run the report based on monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly periods. |
| From | Select the start date for generating the report. |
| To | Select the end date for generating the report. |
Note: The Budget column is generated from the beginning of the month in the From date to the end of the month in the To date. For example, if the From date is 14/05/2021 and the To date is 03/09/2021, the Budget column will be generated from 01/05/2021 to 30/09/2021. The Actuals column will be generated based on the exact dates selected.
The accounts that can be filtered have been mentioned below:
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| All Accounts | Includes all accounts in the report. |
| Accounts with Transactions | Includes only accounts with recorded transactions. |
| Budget Accounts | Includes only accounts added to the budget. |
| Accounts with Transactions or Budget Accounts | Includes accounts with transactions or accounts included in the budget. |
Insight: Even if you created a budget with a specific period (for example, quarterly), you can still run reports using other periods such as monthly, half-yearly, or yearly.
- Click Run Report.
Print Budget Summary
You can also print a copy of your budget summary for reference.
To print the budget summary:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- In the list view page, select the budget you want to print.
- Click View Company Budget Vs Company Actuals.
- Click the Print icon in the top-right corner.
- Click Print.
Company Budgets - Operations
In Zoho ERP, you can perform several additional operations on your budgets to manage them efficiently. These operations include:
Edit a Budget
You can edit a budget at any time if you need to make changes.
To edit a budget in Zoho ERP:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click the dropdown next to the budget you’ve created.
- Click Edit.
The selected budget will be updated with your changes.
Clone a Budget
If you want to reuse an existing budget, you can clone it and make the necessary changes.
To clone a budget in Zoho ERP:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click the dropdown next to the budget you’ve created.
- Click Clone.
The selected budget will be cloned.
Download a Budget
You can download your budget to your system as a PDF for offline reference.
To download a budget in Zoho ERP:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- In the list view page, select the budget you want to download.
- Click the PDF icon in the top-right corner to download the budget as a PDF.
The budget will be downloaded to your system as a PDF file.
Print a Budget
You can print a physical copy of your budget if required.
To print a budget in Zoho ERP:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- In the list view page, select the budget you want to print.
- Click the Print icon in the top-right corner.
- Click Print.
Delete a Budget
If a budget is no longer required, you can delete it permanently.
To delete a budget in Zoho ERP:
- Log in to your Zoho ERP organisation.
- Click Accounting on the left sidebar.
- Navigate to the Budgets dropdown in the Modules bar and click Company Budgets.
- Click the dropdown next to the budget you’ve created.
- Click Delete.
The selected budget will be deleted from Zoho ERP.