This Training Video walks through the GL Budgets process
Video Transcript:
In this video, we’ll walk through general ledger budgets, a tool that lets you enter budgets for specific GL accounts and compare them against your actual amounts. GL budgets act as your firm’s financial roadmap, helping you forecast revenue and expenses, track progress against key benchmarks, and keep spending in check across multiple categories.
Let’s start by looking at where to access GL budgets in the system. Navigate to Accounts in the left sidebar, then select the Budget tab. Here, you’ll see a list of all your existing GL budgets. Each row represents a budget for a specific account and year. Across the top, each column represents a month, with a total column on the far right showing the full-year amount.
From this view, you can manage and refine your budgets in a few different ways. Use the Actions column to edit or delete an existing budget. Click All Filters to narrow the list by year, account, or amount, including ranges if needed.
When you’re ready to add new budgets, you have two options at the top of the page: manually entering them or importing them from a CSV file.
Let’s look at manual entry first. Click Add Account Budget and select the account. You can search by name or number. Manual entry works well when you’re dealing with just a few accounts. However, if you’re managing dozens or even hundreds, importing is typically the faster option.
To import budgets in bulk, click Import Account Budgets from CSV. From here, you can download the template file to ensure your data is formatted correctly. The template includes columns for account and year, followed by each month from January through December.
Once you’ve filled out the template—or formatted your own file to match—simply upload it, and your budgets will automatically populate in the list. If you’ve used other import tools in the system, this process will feel familiar.
Now that your budgets are in place, let’s look at how to review and analyze them. From the left-hand navigation menu, select Reports. Then, under the Accounting tab, open the Profit and Loss with Budget report. This report lets you compare actual revenue and expenses against your budgeted projections for a selected period, giving you a clear picture of your firm’s financial performance.
To tailor the report to your needs, start by selecting All Filters. Here, you’ll see several options:
Accounting method – Choose between accrual or cash.
Division and billing class – Use these to narrow the report to specific segments of your firm, such as a particular office, department, or practice group.
Exclude zero balance accounts – Hide accounts with no activity if needed.
Year and month – These default to the current period but can be adjusted. For example, selecting February 2026 will pull in GL transactions from February 1 through February 28, 2026, alongside any budget values entered for that same month.
With your filters set, let’s walk through how to read the report. The layout follows a standard profit and loss format. Income appears at the top, followed by expenses, with net income—the difference between the two—shown at the bottom.
Here’s what each column represents:
MTD Actual – Actual amounts for the selected month
MTD Budget – Budgeted amount for that same month
MTD Variance – The difference between actual and budget
Percent Over/Under Budget – The variance expressed as a percentage of the budget
YTD Actual – Total actual amounts from January 1 through the end of the selected month
YTD Budget – Total budgeted amount for that same period
YTD Variance – Difference between year-to-date actual and budget
Percent Over/Under Budget – Percentage comparison across the year
In our example, with February 2026 as the selected report period, the YTD columns reflect January 1 through February 28. If you were to run this report for March instead, that range would extend through March 31. In both cases, actuals and budgets accumulate across the full period.
To make performance easier to read at a glance, the report uses color coding. For income accounts, results below budget are unfavorable and appear in red, with the percentage showing how far under budget you are. Results above budget are favorable and appear in black, with the percentage showing how far above budget you are.
For expense accounts, it works the opposite way. Results above budget are unfavorable and appear in red, with the percentage showing how far over budget you are. Results below budget are favorable and appear in black, with the percentage showing how far under budget you are.
Finally, like other reports in the system, you can easily share or save your results. You can export the Profit and Loss with Budget report to PDF or print it directly from the screen.
To wrap up, GL budgets give you a flexible way to plan and track your firm’s financial performance. Whether you’re entering budgets manually for a few accounts or importing a full data set, the process is straightforward. Once your budgets are in place, the Profit and Loss with Budget report helps you monitor performance and stay on track throughout the year.