Budget vs Actual Management Pack

A budget tracker that you retype from the ledger every month stops being used by April. The real work is turning the trial balance into the same report lines as the budget, deciding which variances matter, and getting a short written reason from the budget holder. This pack does the mapping once, then each month you paste the export and read the result.

What is inside

• Setup and Lines: financial year, first month of the year (so non-January years work), reporting month, amber and red thresholds, a minimum amount below which variances are ignored and the report lines and departments.
• Mapping: map every ledger account to a report line once (up to 200 accounts). Balance sheet accounts map to '(Not in P&L)'.
• Budget: approved budget by line, department and month, entered as positive numbers.
• Import: paste movements as period, account, department and debits minus credits, up to 1,000 rows. Add each new month below the last.
• Pack and Dept: month and year-to-date actual, budget and variance, with favourable always positive, plus a department view and a full-year forecast of year-to-date actual plus remaining budget.
• Trend, Commentary and Board: monthly trend, an auto-written prompt for each variance that needs a comment (with a minimum comment length), and a board page with two native charts.
• Checks: unmapped accounts, unknown departments and totals that do not tie to the import.

How it is deeper than the cheaper Monthly Budget vs Actual Tracker and the Departmental Budgeting Workbook: the tracker is a typed grid and the departmental workbook builds the budget. This pack takes the actual side straight from your trial balance by mapping, and adds the lights, commentary discipline, forecast and board page.

Facts and settings: lines, thresholds and treatment are yours to set. The pack reports management figures, not statutory accounts.

What it is NOT: it is a calculation tool, not accounting, tax or legal advice. It is not connected to your bank or accounting system, it is not an FTA-approved system and it is not an e-invoicing tool (e-invoicing is on the Zeyto roadmap only). Where a rule matters it is a setting you enter, with a note to confirm it with the FTA, your accountant or your auditor.

Two workbooks: an EXAMPLE copy filled with invented data so you can see every sheet working, and a BLANK copy with the same formulas ready for your own data. Formulas only: no macros, no volatile functions, no add-ins. Input cells are coloured, formula sheets are protected without a password, and a Checks sheet turns green only when every list ties out.

How it was checked: recalculated with an independent Python formula engine and 362 outputs (mapped actuals, month and YTD variance, lights, department split, forecast, trend and board series) were compared with a separate Python model, with no difference. There is no Excel or LibreOffice on the build machine, so it was not opened in them and the charts were not viewed on screen.

Limits: one budget version, one reporting currency, and the example covers seven months of an invented trading company.