What Are Methods for Defining Budgets?

Several methods are available for defining budgets. The method you select will depend on the number of budgets you want to define and how unique or similar the budgets are from each other. The following table describes the available methods.


Entering budgets manually	You can define individual budgets, typing in the budget amounts or typing in units and a rate. If you use units and rates, budget amounts are calculated automatically as Rate * Units. For example, if the budget is for labor costs, you can enter the standard labor rate per hour and the number of hours as the budget units. You can assign a name and description to a rate, making it easier for users to select an appropriate rate. This is called a factor.
Duplicating or copying values in budget entry	As a time saving alternative to typing budget values in each accounting period, you can duplicate or copy existing data. You can enter amounts in specific periods, then duplicate the amounts up to the next period that contains a value. For example, if you want a budget of $10,000 in periods 1 through 6, and a budget of $15,000 in periods 7 through 12, enter $10,000 in period 1 and $15,000 in period 7. The duplicate function populates $10,000 in budget periods 2 through 6, and $15,000 in budget periods 8 through 12 automatically. You can also copy last year's actuals or budgets to create the new budget.
Spreading amounts in budget entry	If you enter an annual budget, it is spread equally across all periods for the year. For example, if you enter an annual budget of $120,000 and you have 12 periods, a $10,000 budget is populated in each period. You can define and use a spread code to spread budget amounts across periods using weighted values. Spread codes can represent seasonal fluctuations, working days, weeks each month, or any other relevant values. For example, you can populate 5% of an annual budget in Period 1, 7% in Period 2, 4% in Period 3, and so on. The weighted values you use in a spread code must total 100%. You can also create a multi year spread budget that spreads the total budget amount equally across all periods and years of a budget.
Copying existing budgets using a batch program	You can use a batch program to define a new budget by copying from actuals or existing budgets. For activity group budgets, you can copy amounts and units from one activity group to another, or to activity groups in an activity group list. For activity budgets, you can copy amounts and units from one activity to another, or to a list of activities. You can also copy compute statements and parameters from source budgets.
Computing budgets during data entry or using a batch program	You can compute or calculate budgets using compute statements. For example, you might want to base next year's budget on current year budgets, factoring in a 5% increase. You can compute budget units and amounts.
Interfacing budgets from a non-Lawson system	You can interface budgets you create in spreadsheets or other budgeting applications to Project Accounting.