SEE Finance Help

Index

Creating Budgets

Creating a Budget:

1. Select the Budgets View by selecting "Budgets" from the Account List.
2. Click the "+" button underneath the budgets table on the top left.
3. You can rename the new budget by double clicking the new budget's name in the "Budget Name" column of the table and entering the new desired name.
4. Next, you select the time period that you want to use for your budget. This can be set to standard intervals or to a "Range of Dates", which then you can enter the start and end dates for your budget.
5. Next you setup your budget by allotting money to various categories for specific periods of time.
   
   Income Category Example:
   To add an income category, select the "Income" button on the "Selected Budget" bar then click the "+" button under the income categories table. Then select the category to be "Salary", the frequency to be weekly, set the "Budgeted Amount" to be our regular weekly take home pay. The "Total for Budget" amount will be set to be the amount you are budgeted to be paid in the time period selected for the whole budget.
   
   Expense Category Example:
   To add an expense category, select the "Expense" button on the "Selected Budget" bar then click the "+" button under the expense categories table. Then select the category to be "Groceries", the frequency to be monthly (let's say we only shop monthly), set the "Budgeted Amount" to be our expected monthly grocery bill. The "Total for Budget" amount will be set to be the amount you are budgeted to spend in the time period selected for the whole budget.
   
   Fixed Amounts:
   Many budgeted items have a "fixed" aspect to their amounts. For example, if you are paid a salary then your income is regular and you can also set the "Fixed Amount" to your base salary. Other examples of a budgeted items that would have a fixed amount would be rent, subscription services, utilities that have base rates such as cell phones, among others. Using fixed amounts can help you monitor your budget's progress and know that although it may appear you are under budget for a particular item you have X amount "Pending" due to the fixed expected amount that has yet to be received/spent. Fixed amounts for budgeted items directly correspond to the "Pending" amounts shown in the budget monitor.
   
   
6. Once you have all your desired categories entered into the budget you can check on your finances. Up top under the the budget's period information you will see your overall budget monitor for income and expenses. This shows how much you have budgeted for this period and the actual amounts for income and expenses.
7. To check on the individual income and expenses by each category you have entered click "Monitor" on the "Selected Budget" bar. Then you can choose between "Income" and "Expenses" on the "Selected Budget" bar to see how each individual category has fared under your budget for the selected period.

Budget Notes and Tips

• All accounts that except for accounts marked to "Hide Balance" are included in budgets.
• Transfer transactions between accounts in the program are not included in the budgets.
• You can change the currency for the report by Control clicking the name of the selected budget and choosing the desired currency.
• The "Other Income Categories" and "Other Expense Categories" listings will be for all categories that are not included in the budget's list of categories to be reported on.
• You can also set the color preference for when the monitors show red, yellow, and green when analyzing actual amounts and budgeted amounts.
• You can export the budget to a CSV or PDF file using the "Export" button under the budgets table on the top left.