Entering Budget Values

Budget values are subject to the same journal validation, balancing and posting rules. The budget transactions are maintained to provide a full budget audit trial.

To use budget checking, you must first set up Budget Check Setup records.

Budget values can be entered onto the budget ledger using any of the following methods:

• Ledger Entry (LEN)
• Ledger Import (LIM)
• Corporate Allocation Run (CAL)

Budget transactions can be entered onto a budget ledger using Ledger Entry (LEN) in the same way as you would enter actual transactions. However, you may also prepare your budget file in a spreadsheet package, and then transfer the data to the budget ledger using Ledger Import (LIM).

Budgets can be as detailed as you require. You can create budgets for individual accounts by posting directly to these accounts.

If you report against budget on a summary basis, you can enter the budget for a range of accounts in any one account. For example, if you always report sales accounts as a range, you might set the budget in the first sales account in the budget ledger.

Budgets can also be entered by analysis code, for example, by department or project. To enter the budget for an analysis code or analysis code combination, you post a transaction to the budget account for the appropriate budget amount and reference the analysis codes on the transaction.

If you want to set a budget by analysis code only, you should post the budget to a single account and point all of the relevant actual accounts to this one budget account.

When entering the budget into the ledger, budget records are created for the unique combination of the following:

• Account Code - this must be the Budget Check Account defined on the Budget Check Setup.
• Period
• Analysis Code 1 (optional - dependent on the Budget Check Setup)
• Analysis Code 2 (optional - dependent on the Budget Check Setup)
• Analysis Code 3 (optional - dependent on the Budget Check Setup)
• Analysis Code 4 (optional - dependent on the Budget Check Setup)
• Analysis Code 5 (optional - dependent on the Budget Check Setup)

The above details are taken from the journal when posted. The normal Chart of Account and Journal Type rules apply, so care must be taken with mandatory, optional, prohibited analysis and so on. Budgets must be entered in the base currency.

On posting the journal, entries are made in the Primary Budget Ledger, and also in the budgeting tables. The budgeting tables are used by the budget checking functionality. The Primary Budget Ledger is then used for reference only.

For purchase orders and purchase invoices, amounts are entered as debit amounts. The following is an example of a journal entry: