Budget vs Actual report

I am specifically looking to run a budget vs actual with columns for the one month, YTD, and the whole year budget.  Help!!

Good to see you here, @msiegel,

There are two sets of budget reports in QuickBooks Online, namely, Budget vs. Actuals and Budget Overview. This is the reason why we're currently unable to merge elements on both reports.

If you want the Budget vs. Actuals to have a column for the total annual budget, you will need to pull up those 2 reports and customize them in Excel. To do the export process, use the Export icon so you can start modifying them on the worksheet.

See this:

I'll be adding some related links to help you get your way around the Reports feature in QBO:

• Customize reports in QuickBooks Online 
• Run reports in QuickBooks Online

Let me know if there are other things I can help you. I'll be right here if you need anything else. Have a lovely day!

I know I can do it myself.  I was hoping there was a way to do it in QBO since I already have to pull 2 reports for Budget vs Actual, one for the month and one for the YTD, which also can't be done on one report.  So, now I have to pull 3 reports and combine them in excel just to get what's needed, for each and every class and for the overall.  That's a lot of manual steps for an accounting system that should be able to do it for me.

Exactly, since it can be done in QuickBooks Desktop!   Seems like so many things in QBO are a step down from desktop.

Thanks for joining the thread, SteveVA.

QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) and QuickBooks Online (QBO) are two different product with unique features. QBDT has more complex accounting needs and requires more customizable features than QBO. 

I can see how the feature you're looking for in QBO is beneficial to your business. We recognize that each company has unique needs. Since the feature you're looking for isn't currently an option, I encourage you to submit feedback to our Product Development Team. They look through submitted feedback for future updates and use those suggestions to develop changes for the product.

You may also want to visit our QuickBooks Blog. And be the first one to know about any updates that you'll find beneficial for your business. The QuickBooks Blog is our way of letting you know the latest features released and what the product team is working on. They update the site every time new information is available. 

If there's anything else you need help with, let me know by adding a comment. I'm more than happy to assist you. Have a great day!

Yes, they are two different products, but they should be basically the same.  There's no reason for desktop to be more complex than online.  Accounting needs are the same however we purchase the program.

This report is needed by most businesses.  I have never seen a company that uses the Budget to Actual report the way it runs out of Quickbooks Online.  We are in the process of leaving this platform due to its many limitations and quirks.  This software has been around long enough that users shouldn't be asking for basic needs that can't be met by the system. 

How do you do it in QB desktop? 

Hello account4!

I'm happy to provide the steps to pull up your Budget vs. Actual report.

The said report in QuickBooks Desktop can be customized to show the monthly, quarterly, or annual budgets, etc. By default, there is a column for the total budgeted and actual amounts of the date range you set. Therefore, if you want to see the totals for a certain year, just set the From and To dates accordingly.

1. Go to Reports.
2. Choose Budgets & Forecasts.
3. Select Budget vs Actual.
4. Set the date range and drag the bottom slider to the right for the totals. 

If you want to do some customizations, this article is your best resource: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

Feel free to comment below if you need more assistance with your report. The QuickBooks Team is always here to help you.

Hi,

I was actually looking for a monthly report with Year budget

For example: Fiscal Jan - dec

I want the column on the report to show:

- Month: March Actuals

- Budget for the entire year

- $ over budget = how much remaining ( Jan-March actuals minus budget)

RIght now in order for me to get this report, I extract budget vs actual to excel then delete future months (april - dec) , hide the columns i don't need and print.

This takes a while and i am trying to simply my process.

Thank you. 

Thanks for checking in with us, account4. 

I appreciate you for coming up with a workaround to come up with a monthly report with a yearly budget. Alternatively, we can use the Export icon to export the report on the worksheet. We can customize reports and save them to run the same report in the future in QuickBooks Online (QBO). Here's how:

1. After you customize a report, select Save customization.
2. Give your report a name.
3. Press Save.

Feel free to browse this link here if you need help with managing your financial report. It'll route you to our report topics with articles.

Make the most of QuickBooks exploration. If you have any debrief about the process, feel free to share them with us in this post. I welcome the opportunity to respond immediately. You have a good one.

"each company has unique needs" 

Seriously? A budget vs actuals is not a "unique need" it's an accounting need and that's why we pay this subscription fee every month...for accounting tools.

I just got a QBO report from the treasurer of my group.  The expense variance is wrong.  It should be budget minus actual equals variance   Instead it is using actual minus budget equals variance.  For example 2460-3400=(1040) where the report is showing a positive variance of 1040. Is this a QBO issue.  Jean [Last name removed]

Thanks for reaching out to us, Jean. QuickBooks calculates the variance for the Budget vs. Actual reports using the formula Actual minus Budget. Let me explain this below.

Before we proceed, I want to make sure we have all the details correct. From the example you shared, it looks like there may be a discrepancy in the calculation. Could you please share a screenshot of your report? This will help me better identify the issue and provide more accurate assistance.

Since QuickBooks uses the said formula to calculate the variance, we can concluded that this is a system design and not a technical error. Here's an overview of how variance works in the software:

• A positive variance indicates that actual expenses exceeded the budgeted amount.
• A negative variance means actual expenses were lower than the budgeted amount.

Based on the example you provided, the variance should be negative, indicating that spending was under budget by $1,040. Since it shows a positive variance, this could be due to customized report settings. That said, I recommend consulting with your treasurer who generated the report to check the report's formatting.  

On the other hand, if you’d prefer to calculate variances using the budget minus actual, please know that QuickBooks doesn’t currently provide an option to modify the default formula. However, you can export the report to Excel, where you can personalize the variance calculation to align with your preference.

Please let me know in the comment if you have other questions or concern about this. We’ll be glad to help you.

Here's a copy of the report.  JGW

This calculation is correct for income but not for expense.  If actual is greater than budget, the variance should be negative not positive.  If you are over budget, that is not a good.  Even AI explains variance in this way.