Create and manage forecasts

Learn how to add forecasts.

With QuickBooks Online Advanced, you can create your own reports using Custom Report Builder.

Forecasts help you set long-term and short-term goals for your business. Forecasting is typically based on past performance and trends in your industry. Your historical data is analysed for patterns and projections are made based on this information. With all your financial data available in your company, you can quickly and easily create forecasts and use them to create budgets.

Create a forecast

You can create a forecast at any time but, the end of the year is a great time to start planning for the year ahead. To create a new forecast, you’ll need to sign in as an admin or as a Standard All user.

Step 1: Review the financial year for your business

Make sure the beginning of your financial year is set. You can create a forecast any time, but it helps if your forecast start date is set to the beginning of the financial year.

1. Sign in to your company.
2. Go to Settings and select Account and settings.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. In the Accounting section, review the First month of the financial year field. If it’s incorrect, select Edit ✎.
5. Select the required month from the dropdown ▼ and select Save.
6. Select Done.

Step 2: Get your forecast data

If you already have your data entered, you can skip this step. If not, you can base your forecast on data from either the current financial year or the year before. If you plan to use historical data, run a Profit and Loss Detail report to make sure transactions and accounts look correct.

The report automatically shows transactions created during the current year-to-date. To see a prior financial year's transactions, you will have to customise the report. See the Customise a report section below.

Step 3: Create your forecast

Note: The forecast accounts list is created based on your chart of accounts. If you need more accounts in your forecast, add them to your chart of accounts before you create the forecast.

To create a forecast, you can use your past financial data from your company. If this is your first forecast, start here:

1. Go to Financial planning and select Forecasts.
2. Select Create forecast. 
3. From the Forecast for ▼ dropdown, select the timeframe you’re creating the forecast for.
4. From the Forecast using ▼ dropdown, select one of the following forecast methods:
   • Average of actuals 
   • Actuals from last financial year (Note: You can modify the forecast duration and forecast method until the first time you save from the Settings panel.)
5. If you selected Average of actuals, select the past actuals duration to be used to calculate the average from the Use actuals from ▼ dropdown.
6. If you want to set rules (increase/decrease) at account type level, add them in the Set rules section.
7. When you’re done, select Next.
8. Select the edit ✎ icon to edit the name of your forecast, if needed.
9. When you’re done, select Save and close.

Note: We recommend you refresh the forecast with the latest actuals by selecting the Refresh actuals icon each time you view it.

Edit a forecast

If you need to edit a forecast:

1. Go to Financial planning and select Forecasts.
2. Find your forecast on the list and select View/Edit in the Actions column.
3. Make changes to the forecast.
4. Select Save or Save and close.

Note: We recommend you refresh the forecast with the latest actuals by selecting the Refresh actuals icon each time you view it. Additionally, you can modify each account one month at a time.

Convert a forecast to a budget

1. Go to Financial planning and select Forecasts.
2. Find your forecast on the list and select View/Edit in the Actions column.
3. Select Make this a budget, then select the financial year of the budgeting period.
4. Select Make this a budget again to save the forecast as a new budget.

Find out more about creating a budget.

Delete a forecast

1. Go to Financial planning and select Forecasts.
2. Once you find your forecast on the list, select the View/Edit ▼ dropdown in the Actions column, then select Delete. 
3. Select Delete to confirm.

Note: You can’t recover deleted forecasts.

Customise a report

1. Go to Reports (Take me there) and select Standard reports.
2. Find and select the Profit and Loss Detail report.
3. From the Report period ▼ dropdown, select a timeframe. For example:
   • If you want to use data from the prior year, select Last Year.
   • If you want to use data from your current financial year, select This Year-to-date.
     Note: Make sure the beginning and end of the year match your financial year. 
4. Select Run report.
5. If you don’t want to reopen the report again, select the Print or Export icon to print or download a copy of the report.

Export a forecast

1. Go to Financial planning and select Forecasts.
2. Find your forecast on the list and select View/Edit in the Actions column.
3. Select the Export icon , then select Print/Save as PDF or Export to Excel.