Add more detail to a budget or forecast

Add more levels, entities, accounts, and categories to a budget or forecast.

User permissions: Budgets & Forecasts and Manage Budgets & Forecasts

When you create a budget workbook, it has one worksheet tab, the Main tab, where your budget sits. During the budgeting process, as time progresses and circumstances change, you can add worksheet tabs and the following items to the budget: level, entity, account, and category.

The information below refers to budgets but the same process applies to forecasts.

A dimension is a level in your budget hierarchy and an entity is a value within a dimension. For example, a dimension is Country and the entities are Australia, the UK and the USA.

Add a level

To budget at a more detailed (granular) level, you can add additional levels (dimensions) to the Main tab. For example, if you have a budget set up to budget by Country and Branch, you could add a level for Product Class underneath each Branch.

You can have up to six hierarchy levels in the Main tab. However, levels work differently in the two types of budgets (financial and operational).

Financial budget levels

In a financial budget setup, you can add up to four levels in addition to the two default levels of Category and Account (2+4=6). The levels are visible on the top right of the worksheet, and you can see the hierarchy when you expand the worksheet. For example, in the following image, you can see one level was added for County, bringing the total levels to three.

If you have not started budgeting yet, in other words, you haven’t edited any values in the worksheet, you can return to the budget setup to add more levels.

Operational budget levels

In an operational budget setup, you can add up to six levels of your choice. The levels are visible on the top right of the worksheet, and you can see the hierarchy when you expand the worksheet. For example, in the following image, you can see three levels were added: County Region and Sales Rep.

You can return to the budget setup to add more levels, or you can do it within the worksheet via the blue Add button next to the levels on the top right of the worksheet. For example, if you initially added four levels in the budget setup, you can add two more in the worksheet (4+2=6).

After you add the level, the worksheet page reloads. You can then expand the lines to view the additional levels of data.

The level you add displays in blue, to differentiate it from the levels that were added during the workbook or worksheet setup.

If you change your mind or make a mistake, to remove the new level, click the blue Delete button next to the level name, then click Delete to confirm.

Add an entity

You can add an entity to a single entity in a dimension or all entities in a dimension, in both budget and forecast workbooks.

Add an entity to a single entity in a dimension

You can add an entity, such as a country, branch or product, into to a specific entity in a dimension. Here are some examples for why you might need to do this:

• Your organization receives interest income from a new source in the UK. Previously, you only ever received such income from one country, the USA. The UK entity has been added to the Country dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the UK into your financial budget, under the Other Income category. This example is illustrated in the image below.

• You prepared an operational budget based on your Sales database. Later in the year, your organization opens up a new sales branch in Australia. The new branch entity has been added to the Branch dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the branch into your budget, under the applicable Country dimension.

• Your organization is releasing a new product and only one Sales Rep, Sam, is selling it. The product entity has been added to the Product dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the product into your Sales budget, under Sam, who sits under the Sales Rep dimension.

1. On the Main tab, expand the rows to the applicable dimension, for example, the Other Income category in a financial budget.

2. Hover over the dimension row, then click the blue Add button that displays.

3. In the window that displays, select the entity you want to add. You can select multiple entities.

4. Select the applicable option:

   • If you are in a financial database, either:

     • Select the Add selected entities directly option to add the entity row to the worksheet without any account (child) rows. You can manually add accounts later.

     • Select the Clone revenue accounts from option, then select the entity from which you want to clone the accounts, for example, the USA.

   • If you are in an operational database, select the entity from which you want to clone the structure, for example, if you are adding a Sales Rep, you can clone the product class entities from another Sales Rep.

5. Click the Add Selected button.

6. View the new row in the worksheet. If you added the row without accounts, you need to switch to the unpruned view to see the row.

Additional rows for the new entity and its cloned structure display in the budget.

Examples

Example of adding an entity row with no accounts (worksheet is in unpruned view):

Example of adding an entity row with accounts copied from another entity:

Add an entity to all entities in a dimension

If a new entity, such as a country, branch or product applies to all entities in a dimension, you can add that entity to all those other entities simultaneously. Here are some examples for why you might need to do this:

• Your organization acquires a new business in another country, New Zealand (NZ) and you need to start budgeting for that country. The NZ entity has been added to the Country dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add NZ into your budget, under all categories. As the operating environment is similar to Australia, you clone the General Ledger account codes that are in use in Australia. This example is illustrated in the image below.

• Your organization is releasing a new product and all your Sales Reps can sell it. The product entity has been added to the Product dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the product into your budget, under all the Sales Reps in the Sales Rep dimension.

1. In the worksheet, click the dimension (Country) in the top toolbar and click Add [dimension] at the bottom of the list (the label of this dimension will depend on the circumstance, in this example it is Country).

2. In the window that displays, select the entity you want to add. You can select multiple entities.

3. Select the entity from which you want to clone the structure from, for example AUS.

4. Click the Add Selected button.

Additional rows for the new entity (NZ) and its cloned structure display in the budget.

Delete an entity row

If you change your mind or make a mistake, you can remove an entity you added. You cannot delete entities that were in the original workbook hierarchy. If you added an entity to all entities in a dimension, you cannot remove all occurrences of that new entity simultaneously. You need to remove them one by one.

To remove an individual entity row, hover over the left of the entity name and click the Delete button that displays, then click Delete to confirm.

Add an account

In a financial budget or forecast, there might be times when you are expecting a specific account to display but it does not. If an account had no activity in the baseline period upon which the budget is based, it will not display in the budget. However, as long as the account has been mapped a category in the underlying financial statement, you can manually add the account to the budget.

Here are some examples of why you might need to add an account:

• Suppose that due to the Coronavirus restrictions in the previous period, your organization had no entertainment expenses but this year, things are returning to normal, so you want to budget for those expenses. You need to add the Entertainment account.

• Suppose your organization holds a conference every second year and therefore, incurs additional expenses every second year. The related expense accounts will only display in your budget for those years, so you need to add them into the other years.

Add an account row

1. Ensure the account is mapped to a group in the financial statement in the Financial Statements module. The account will only become available to be added after you add it to the applicable category in the Financial Statement, and you cannot do that until there has been some activity against the account.

2. In Budgets & Forecasts, on the Main tab, expand the rows to the applicable category and dimension. For example, Operating Expenses > UK.

3. Hover over the entity row (UK), then click the blue Add button that displays.

4. In the window that displays, select the General Ledger account code(s)* you want to add, for example, Entertainment. You can select multiple accounts. If you do not see the required account in the list, it means the account is not available to be added, as it has not been mapped to a category in the financial statement.

5. Select one of these options:

   • To add the account to the selected entity only (UK), leave the default option selected.

   • To add the account to each entity in the category (UK and USA), select the “Each Account in…” option.

6. Click the Add Selected button.

Additional rows for the new accounts(s) (expenses) display in the budget.

Delete an account row

If you change your mind or make a mistake, you can delete the account you added. You cannot delete the accounts that were in the original workbook hierarchy. You must delete the accounts one row at a time.

When you delete an account, it is removed from the budget and you lose any data that was manually entered into that row. However, you can add that account back in later. The row will have the original account values, which are zero, as the account had no activity.

Hover over the left of the account name and click the Delete button that displays, then click Delete to confirm.

Add a category

If you add a new category (group) to your Profit and Loss statement (in Financial Statements) and add accounts that have no previous activity into that category, the category does not display in the budget by default. Budgets open in a pruned (condensed) view by default, which means if there is no account row underneath an entity row, that entity row is removed from the budget hierarchy, as it is not required.

For example, suppose you have not previously had any loans but you take out a new loan and add Interest Paid as a separate category in your Profit and Loss statement. As the account(s) in this category did not have activity in the prior year, which is used as the baseline for the budget, the category will not show in the budget workbook.

You can budget for Profit and Loss categories that have no activity in the baseline period by switching to an unpruned view and adding the appropriate accounts under those added categories.

1. On the Main tab, switch to the unpruned view to view categories that have no account rows.

   
2. Locate the newly added category row, then hover over it and click the blue Add button that displays.

   
3. Add the entity.

4. Add the accounts.

Watch this video for a demonstration (note the UI is out of date but the context is the same):