Budget Forecasting

Predictive cost-center spend tracking with a donut chart, an overrun/under-budget KPI, and a year-end projection ledger.

Overview

Budget Forecasting (in the Advanced Finance app mode) tracks year-to-date spend by department — Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Admin — against each department's allocated budget, then projects where spend will land by year end based on the current burn rate.

Separate From Finance → Budget & Forecasting

This screen belongs to the Advanced Finance app mode and is independent of the main Finance module's own Budget & Forecasting screen under its Grid View.

YTD Spend Donut

A donut chart shows how year-to-date actual spend is distributed across departments.

Overrun KPI

A dedicated KPI card highlights whether spend is over or under budget overall, with a pulse animation when a department is overrunning.

Forecasting Ledger

A read-only table lists, per department: allocated budget, actual YTD spend, burn rate, projected year-end spend, and variance.

AI Assistant

A collapsible chat panel answers questions about which departments are trending over budget and why.

Quick Start

Open Budget Forecasting from the Advanced Finance sidebar.
Review the YTD spend donut to see which departments account for the largest share of spend.
Check the overrun KPI card for a quick read on whether spend overall is trending over or under budget.
Scroll the forecasting ledger to see each department's allocated, actual, burn rate, and projected year-end figures.
Use the AI Assistant panel to ask which department is most at risk of overrunning its budget.

How the Year-End Projection Works

Projected year-end spend is calculated from each department's current burn rate — its average spend pace so far this year — extended out to the end of the fiscal year. A department whose projected spend exceeds its allocated budget shows a negative variance and is flagged as overrunning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I edit budget allocations from this screen?

No — this screen is a read-only forecasting ledger. Budget ceilings are managed from Expenses & Budget Management.

Why does a department show a pulse animation on its row?

The pulse animation highlights a department whose projected year-end spend is expected to exceed its allocated budget — a visual early-warning signal.

Does this share data with the Finance module's Budget & Forecasting screen?

No. Advanced Finance's Budget Forecasting and the Finance module's Budget & Forecasting screen are separate screens with separate data.