Budgets
Setting and reading budgets
Overview
Budgets are worked from Purchasing → Budgets. Pick a period at the top; the summary band shows four figures for the whole org, and the table below ranks cost centres worst-first, flagging any that are Over budget, Would go over, or Nearly spent.
The four numbers
- Authorised: what finance set for this period.
- Spoken for: money that's reserved by approved requisitions, committed to suppliers on issued orders, or already spent (goods received).
- Available: what's left after everything spoken for.
- Projected: available, minus requests that are submitted but still undecided. It answers "if everything in flight is approved, where do we land?"
A line under the band states what the figures count (goods plus tax, freight, and duty, per your budget rules) and which exchange rates were used.
Setting a budget
Each cost centre row has a pencil action. In the Budget for CC-… dialog, type the target amount the centre should have for the period, not a delta. The dialog shows what the change does ("Adds $5,000." / "Takes back $5,000.") and records the movement in the ledger, along with the Reason you give.
The floor: a budget can never be set below what's already reserved, committed, or spent. The dialog shows that floor and blocks the save; to lower further you'd first release the money, close or amend the requisitions holding reservations, cancel or short-close the orders holding commitments. Actual spend can't be released; use an adjustment instead.
Reading a cost centre
Click through to a cost centre to see This period: the available figure, a composition bar splitting Spent / Committed / Reserved / Pending, and History, one row per period showing how each one ended. The movements ledger at the bottom is covered in The budget ledger, period close, and rules.