Budget Structure Every effort has been made to make Budget Controller as flexible as possible. Being a high-end financial modelling tool, the detailed chart of accounts found in database Budgeting applications has been replaced with a simpler, more generic structure which should be applicable to most organisations. Sales One revenue stream can be entered in each copy of Budget Controller Lite. If you need more, multiple copies of Budget Controller can be linked together to consolidate sales from different companies, division, regions or departments (see Tips & Tricks below) or consider upgrading to the Standard Version. Costs You can classify your costs in various ways: Cost Behaviour The way costs behave in relation to sales activity and time enables them to be classified as fixed or variable. It is a fairly arbitrary classification and depends greatly on the nature of your business and the time frame in question. Variable costs change with sales. Costs are expressed as a percentage of sales and so values will vary proportionally. Once entered, any changes made to sales will automatically be reflected in changes to variable costs. The variable costs only need altering if there are changes in your cost structure: changes in manufacturing techniques or prices of raw materials for example. Fixed costs don't change with sales. Administration costs are generally considered fixed when analysed on a monthly basis, although over the life of an economic cycle there is inevitably a variable component as the business expands and contracts with market and economic conditions. Functional Use Its normal to classify costs by where or how they are consumed in the business. The cost of producing goods or services. Also called Cost of Sales (C.O.S.). The cost involved in getting people to buy or use your goods and services. This often (but not always) will include distribution costs. Typically costs associated with support functions like accounts, personnel and general management. The costs of inventing better goods and services to offer to your customers. Use Other Costs to add your own functional classification. Operational Significance The operational significance of a cost is used to rank it in order of relevance and is used to define different levels of profitability. Costs associated with the normal running of the core business. Costs not directly associated with an organisation's core business but nevertheless considered normal in that they occur frequently. Costs associated with rare or one-off events or adjustments. Cost Type For statistical analysis it is often useful to classify costs by their physical characteristics: Cost Timing Costs are often accounted for before they're actually incurred. They take the form of provisions for known or perceived future events that are likely to have a material impact on the company. It's important to separate these provisions from the other costs, not only for calculating cash-flow, but also to provide an assessment of the risks and reliability of the forecast. Cost Classification You can use any combination of the various types of cost listed above. Some cost types may not be appropriate for your business and can be ignored, but be sure to clear the worksheets of any example data shipped with Budget Controller. The table below gives a summary of the possible combinations available: Function | Behaviour | Significance | Type | Timing | Manufacturing | Variable Fixed | Operational | Materials Labour Expenses | Actual | S&M | Variable Fixed | Operational | Materials Labour Expenses | Actual | G&A | Variable Fixed | Operational | Materials Labour Expenses | Actual | R&D | Variable Fixed | Operational | Materials Labour Expenses | Actual | Other | Variable Fixed | Operational | Materials Labour Expenses | Actual | Other Items | Not applicable | Operational Non Operational Extraordinary | Not applicable | Actual Provision |
Creating Your Forecast 1. Enter start datesSelect the month your fiscal year starts and the start date of your current forecast. 2. Enter opening balances in Balance Sheet Use the closing balances from the month immediately preceding the start of your forecast. 3. Enter your new forecast Return to the Main Menu and go through each sheet entering your new assumptions as you go. Budget Controller ignores data entered in months prior to the start of the forecast. These values can either be left for future reference or cleared if no long required. Unless instructed otherwise, enter positive values. Budget Controller will treat the value as positive or negative depending on the logic of the account description. 4. Check and Save your results You use the Excel menu to save your work like any other Excel file. You can use Save As to change the name to something more appropriate than Budget Controller. There is no restriction on the number of copies you make: Budget Controller is licensed by the number of users not the number of copies. If your using old versions of Excel you will receive the following message: This file was created using a later version of Microsoft Excel. If you save the file using Microsoft Excel 97, information created with features in the later versions may be lost.
Click Yes to continue. 5. Print your reports All worksheets are designed to print one year per A4. However, there are small differences between printers in terms of their maximum printable area. If your reports don't fit, go to the Excel menu File/Page Setup/Margins and try reducing the left margin. If that doesn't work, go to File/Page Setup, Page and try adjusting the size until it fits. Tips & Tricks Copy/Paste Use Excel's Copy/Paste functions to enter data more quickly. Caution! When pasting data, always use Paste Special/Values or Formulas to avoid copying cell boarders and formats to other cells. If you forget, use the Excel Undo icon. We recommend you add the Past Values icon to your toolbar. To add the icon, do the following: Select View/Toolbars/ ....Customize from the Excel menus Select Edit from the list of Categories in the Customize window. Scroll down the list of icons to Paste Values With the mouse drag and drop the icon onto your toolbar next to the Copy icon.
To remove the icon, drag it back to the Customize window. Add your own formulas Use the full power and flexibility of Excel to do calculations in data fields or link to other spreadsheets (see below). Consolidate workbooks Excel allows you to link multiple worksheets from different workbooks together. Say, for example, you use Markitsoft's Sales Controller for sales forecasting, you could link it to the Sales worksheet so Budget Controller updates automatically. The simplest way to link cells in different workbooks is to open both workbooks, then enter + in the cell where you want to consolidate the data, click on the cell in the other workbook to add the link, enter + to add a second cell, and so on. See "Create a link between cells in different workbooks" in Microsoft Excel Help (F1) for more information on linking cells. You could use this method to consolidate several versions of Budget Controller. Each file could represent a different company or region, for example, which would then automatically update the Group forecast. If you don't want a dynamic link between different workbooks you can also use the Copy/Paste Special/Add to consolidate data from various sources. Calculator You can use the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen as a calculator. Use your mouse to select the range of data; the total will appear on the right-hand side of the Status Bar. To add several disconnected cells, for example the 1st and 2nd quarter's net profit, hold the Ctrl key down and click on the cells to add. Further Information For further information refer to FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) or contact us directly. We would be happy to arrange on site training or consultancy services tailored to your specific needs. |