Budget Vs Actual Analyzer
Compares monthly budgeted amounts against actual spending across all categories to calculate variance. Tracks year-to-date cumulative performance and highlights categories that are consistently over or under budget.
Accounting - Budget Vs Actual Analyzer.xlsx
Excel (.xlsx) — No macros — Works in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice
What This Spreadsheet Solves
- Pinpointing which budget categories are off track each month
- Calculating both dollar and percentage variance for clear context
- Building a YTD view to distinguish one-time spikes from persistent trends
- Providing data for mid-year budget reforecasts
- Holding department heads accountable to their budget commitments
Who This Is For
- Controllers producing monthly variance reports
- Department managers reviewing their spending against plan
- CFOs identifying areas needing budget reallocation
- FP&A analysts building rolling forecasts from actuals
Inputs
- textBudget category
- $Monthly budget amount
- $Monthly actual amount
- dateMonth
- textDepartment
Outputs
- Monthly variance by category (dollar and percentage)
- YTD cumulative budget vs. actual
- YTD cumulative variance
- Categories consistently over budget (3+ months)
- Total budget utilization percentage
How Calculations Work
For each category and month, the template subtracts the budgeted amount from the actual amount to produce the dollar variance. The percentage variance divides the dollar variance by the budget. Year-to-date figures are cumulative sums of monthly values. A consistency flag marks any category where actual exceeds budget for three or more consecutive months, signaling a structural issue rather than a one-time anomaly.
Example Use Case
Scenario: A company budgets $10,000/month for software subscriptions. Actual spending is $10,800 in January, $11,200 in February, and $11,500 in March.
Result: Monthly variances are $800 (8%), $1,200 (12%), and $1,500 (15%). YTD variance is $3,500 (11.7%). The category is flagged as consistently over budget after three consecutive months of overspend.
What You Get — 5 Sheets
Technical Details
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a positive variance mean?
Positive means actual spending exceeded the budget. Negative means spending came in under budget. This convention is set in the README and can be reversed in CONFIG if your organization uses the opposite sign.
How do I enter a mid-year budget revision?
Update the monthly budget amounts on the INPUT sheet for the remaining months. YTD calculations will reflect the original budget for past months and the revised budget going forward.
Can I see variance at the department level?
Yes. The OUTPUT sheet includes a department rollup that sums all categories within each department.
What if actuals are not available for the current month?
Leave the actual column blank for that month. The template will exclude incomplete months from YTD calculations.
How does the consistency flag work?
It checks if a category has been over budget for three or more consecutive months. The threshold is configurable on the CONFIG sheet.
Download Budget Vs Actual Analyzer
Ready to use immediately. Enter your data in the INPUT sheet, see results in OUTPUT.