Budget settings
Purpose
Use the Budget settings screen to configure all parameters needed before creating your
budget in XLReporting. You select the budget year and maintain the setup for revenue, staff,
employment, and asset planning. Updating this screen ensures that budgets are posted to the
correct accounts and that the planners use the right defaults.
Context
Budget settings are maintained per year. Update these settings before you start working
in the Revenue Planner, SaaS Planner, Staff Planner, or Asset
Planner. Depending on your configuration, the same structure can be reused across
years, but you can also adjust accounts and defaults when your chart of accounts or planning
approach changes.
Steps
- Open Budget settings from the menu.
- Select the Budget year you want to edit.
- Configure the four sections:
- Revenue types — Used by the Revenue Planner and SaaS
Planner. Define each type as a separate revenue stream you want to budget. You
can create an unlimited number of types. Each type must be linked to a
Revenue account and a Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) account so
XLReporting can record revenue and related costs.
- Staff Planner — Define default accounts (see Account) and
default values for standard salary cost items. Optionally enter a
Description for clarification. These defaults are used by the Staff
Planner.
- Employment types — Used within the Staff Planner to select
predefined settings for Taxes, Social Security, Pension, Travel Cost, and Other
salary costs. Each type can be assigned to a salary account. If you do not use
separate accounts, you may assign the same account to all types.
- Asset types — Used by the Asset Planner to control
investment postings and depreciation. For each type, specify the number of months
for depreciation. You can add an unlimited number of asset types.
- Review your settings and save.
Examples
For the 2025 budget year:
- Revenue types: create “Subscriptions” and “Consulting,” each linked to the
appropriate revenue and COGS accounts.
- Employment types: define “Full-time,” “Contractor,” and “Intern” with
relevant cost settings (Taxes, Social Security, Pension, Travel Cost, Other salary costs)
and assign salary accounts.
- Asset types: add “Equipment” (depreciate over 60 months) and “Software”
(depreciate over 36 months).
Common mistakes & tips
- Verify that every revenue type is linked to both a Revenue and a COGS
account; missing links will prevent correct postings.
- Confirm salary accounts in the Staff Planner defaults and in each Employment
type to avoid unintended mappings.
- Check depreciation months for each Asset type to ensure expense timing matches your
policy.
- Review settings at the start of each budget year to reflect any changes in Companies,
Account types, or planning structure.