Budget, actual, budget left and forecast
Insight, the budget sheet and the budget reports show the same amounts. This article explains what they mean.
What does what mean?
Section titled “What does what mean?”| Term | Meaning | Calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | What you expect to spend or receive in the period. | Sum of the budget rules. |
| Actual | What was really spent or received. Future bookings count. | Sum of the transactions. |
| Budget left | How much of the budget is left. Can be negative. | Budget − actual |
| To go | The part of the budget that has not been spent yet. | Budget − actual, but 0 when the budget of the category is exceeded, when there is no budget or when the month is over. |
| Forecast | What Spendle expects at the end of the period. Shown as Prognosis in the app. | Actual + to go |
| Position | How far you end up above or below the budget. Negative when overspent. | Depends on the position method. |
Budget left looks back: what is left? To go, forecast and position look ahead: what is still to come? Money that has already been spent does not come back. That is why the forecast uses to go and not a negative budget left.
Example
Section titled “Example”An example for expenses, with position method Yearly and a year that is still running:
| Category | Budget | Actual | Budget left | To go | Forecast | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | €100 | €50 | €50 | €50 | €100 | €0 |
| B | €100 | €110 | €-10 | €0 | €110 | €-10 |
| Total | €200 | €160 | €40 | €50 | €210 | €-10 |
- Category A is within budget. €50 is left and Spendle expects it to be spent.
- Category B is €10 over budget. Nothing more is expected, so to go is 0. The forecast equals actual: €110.
- Together, €40 is left net (budget left). Spendle expects €210 to be spent: €10 more than budgeted (position).
To go per month
Section titled “To go per month”Per month, to go depends on the position method:
- Yearly — budget that was not used in earlier months moves on to the months that are still to come.
- Monthly and Daily — each month stands on its own. If more was spent in the current month than the monthly budget, to go is negative for that month.
Where is what shown?
Section titled “Where is what shown?”- Insight — the buttons Budget, Actual, Budget left, To go, Prognosis and Position. Budget left, To go and Prognosis are only shown when the forecast is turned on. To go is only shown when More > Settings > Show to go is on. The Result tab does not show Budget left and To go.
- Budget sheet — all six as amount display at the top left. Hovering over an amount shows all of them. To go is only shown when More > Settings > Show to go is on.
- Budget reports — all six as a column.
- Category details — budget, expenses or income, budget left and position.