Budget is the figures you want to hit, on top of what you already book. You pick an accounting year from e-conomic or Dinero. You do not pick calendar dates.
Offset years (e.g. July to June) and short years land on the right periods, because the periods come from the accounting system.
Budget is an add-on. We turn it on. It needs e-conomic or Dinero, not Billy.
Before you start
Accounting is connected
You are owner or administrator. Member and viewer can see the budget, but cannot create or edit
Budget shows under Accounting in the sidebar
If you do not see Budget, message us in chat and we will turn it on.
1. Open Budget
Go to Accounting → Budget.
The first time it says No budgets yet.
2. Create a budget
Choose Create budget (create).
Accounting year: pick the year. The list comes from your accounting system. Closed years can still be budgeted.
Continue, give it a Budget name, and choose how to start:
Empty budget: you build the lines yourself in the sheet
Draft from last year: Payfriend fetches booked figures from an earlier year and applies a growth rate
Upload Excel: you already have the budget in a spreadsheet. See Import your budget from Excel
Choose Create budget.
An empty budget is created with no lines. You build them afterwards.
3. Build the lines
Open the budget (Open spreadsheet).
Add line (e.g. Product sales)
Pick Accounts under the line. A line can cover several accounts. The same account may sit on more than one line
Type amounts in the cells. They save as you go
Beside the budget sit Actual and Variance. Figures normally refresh every hour. Use Update now to fetch straight from the accounting system.
A group is visual only. Enter the amount on a line under the group, not on the group itself.
4. Draft, active, locked, archived
Status | What it means |
Draft | You are building. It is not the budget you follow yet |
Active | The one you follow. Only one active per accounting year. Choose Activate |
Locked | Lines and amounts freeze. Booked figures still update. Only the owner can Reopen |
Archived | Out of day-to-day work. The figures stay and cannot be activated again |
Locking and alerts live under the budget Settings.
Problems?
Symptom | Cause | Fix |
No Budget in the menu | The module is off | Message us in chat |
Budget requires e-conomic or Dinero | Billy, or no accounting | Connect e-conomic or Dinero |
No accounting years | The year does not exist in the accounting system | Create it there, then try again |
A member cannot create | Only owner and administrator create and edit | Ask an owner or admin |
Cannot edit a locked budget | The figures are frozen | The owner chooses Reopen |
Actual is stuck | Stale sync, or live fetch failed | Update now. Check that accounting is still connected |
Didn’t find an answer? Message us via in-app chat, or use Contact. We reply on business days.