Financial Budget Plan
A budget worksheet: income and expense lines by quarter or by month, with totals, actual figures and the variance against the budget so far.
Free. Fill in, print, save as PDF or download as Word without an account. Saving to your account needs a free account.
Country versions
- International
- Korea *
- Japan *
* check with local advice
A template, not advice.
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What it is
A budget is a plan for money: what you expect to earn and what you expect to spend, period by period. Its value comes from the comparison afterwards. A budget that is never set against the actual figures is only a wish, and a set of actual figures with no budget cannot tell you whether the year is going as planned.
This sheet is a worksheet for a small business, a team or a project. Income lines and expense lines run across the four quarters of a year, or across the three months of one quarter if you want a closer plan. The budget total of every line is added up for you. As the period goes on you enter the actual figure and mark how many periods are complete; the sheet compares the actual with the budget of those periods only, so a half-finished year is not measured against the full-year budget, and it shows the variance as an amount and as a percentage. The totals show planned and actual income, planned and actual expenses and the result.
The figures are your own estimates. The sheet adds and compares them; it does not forecast, and it is not financial advice. The amounts are plain numbers: the currency and the unit (whole units, thousands, millions) are named in the heading, so a large company or a currency with big numbers stays readable.
When to use it
- You set the budget for a year, a quarter, a team or a project and want to track it against the actual figures.
- A bank, an investor or your board asks for the plan behind your numbers.
- You want to see early which expense line runs over before the year ends.
- You prepare next year's plan from this year's actual figures and want one place for the assumptions.
How to fill it in
- Name the budget period, choose the currency and unit, and pick "year by quarter" or "one quarter by month".
- List your income lines and fill the budget for every period.
- List your expense lines the same way. Start from last year's actual figures and adjust for what you already know will change.
- As time passes, enter the actual figure of each line and mark how many periods are completed.
- Read the variance per line and the totals, write the assumptions in the notes, then print the plan or download it as a Word or Excel file.
Common mistakes
- Comparing a half-finished year with the full-year budget. Mark the completed periods so the sheet compares like with like.
- Setting income too hopefully and expenses too tightly, so the plan never fits reality. Plan income cautiously.
- Mixing units: typing some lines in thousands and others in whole units.
- Leaving out irregular costs such as insurance, annual fees or tax payments that fall in a single quarter.
- Never writing down the assumptions, so nobody can tell later why a figure was chosen.
Steps at a glance
- Fill in
- Check the preview
- Save as PDF, Word or Excel
Country versions
Pick the country you need. Each version uses the wording and layout commonly found there; a version marked “check with local advice” should be read by someone who knows the local rules before it is used.
- International (XX): Written in English, Korean, Japanese, German
- Korea (KR): Written in Korean, English – check with local advice
- Japan (JP): Written in Japanese, English – check with local advice
Designs
The same form in several designs. The fields and the wording stay the same; only the look changes.
- Ledger
- Banner
- Executive
- Classic
- Modern
- Formal
- Minimal
- Side band
- Compact
- Boxed form
- Warm
- Plain (black and white)
Your details fill it in
Fields that ask for your name, address or company details are filled from My details, so you do not type them again; you can still change any field for one form. Signed in, your details stay in your account; otherwise they stay in this browser only. A passport, identity or social security number is never saved.
Questions
- Why do I mark the periods completed?
- The actual figure is only what has happened so far. Comparing it with the whole year's budget would always show you far below plan. The sheet adds up the budget of the completed periods and compares the actual with that.
- Is a positive variance good or bad?
- The variance is always actual minus budget. On an income line a plus means more income than planned, which is good. On an expense line a plus means more spent than planned. The result line at the bottom already accounts for that: a plus there is better than budget.
- Can I plan all twelve months in one sheet?
- The sheet shows four quarters or three months so that it stays readable on a portrait page. For a month-by-month year, make one sheet per quarter in the "one quarter by month" layout.
- What does the "Amounts in" setting do?
- It only prints a label. Type your amounts already in the unit you choose, for example 1,250 for 1,250 thousand. It lets you keep the columns narrow when the numbers are large.
- Does the sheet forecast the rest of the year?
- No. It adds up what you enter and compares actual with budget. A forecast is your judgement, and it belongs in the budget lines of the periods still to come.
- Is this form legal, tax or accounting advice?
- No. It is a template: it gives you the usual structure and wording, not advice. Rules differ by country and case, so have someone qualified read anything that matters before you sign, send or file it.
- Which countries and designs does it come in?
- It comes in 3 country versions: International, Korea, and Japan. 12 designs.
A form is a template, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Rules differ by country and case.