Budget versus actual tracking
Spot an overspend in week two, not at the end of the quarter. Budget against real spending every Monday, and about 2 hours a week of 'what's left?' questions gone.
Hours back
2
hours a week back, typically
How it runs
What we build, step by step.
This is the usual shape. Yours gets built around how your team actually does the job.
- 01
Your budget loaded once
Your yearly budget, by month and category, set up in one sheet. If you don't have one, we help you build a simple one from last year's numbers.
- 02
Real spending pulled weekly
Spending by category, and by job or team where you track it, read from the books every week.
- 03
Overspends flagged early
Any line running ahead of budget for that point in the month, with the bills behind it.
- 04
Managers can ask what's left
A manager sends a message like 'how much is left for tools this month?' and gets the figure from the latest numbers.
- 05
A monthly note for you
Where you're over, where you're under, and what that means for the year if nothing changes.
Shown with software we see a lot. If your team uses something else, we build it into that instead.
Built for your business
Same job, different business. We build yours.
Two firms in the same trade rarely run a job the same way. Different software, different steps, different people signing off. We build it for your business, around how your team actually does the job.
Your steps
Built around the order your team already works in, odd exceptions included.
Your software
Runs inside the tools you already pay for, set up the way you use them.
Your rules
Your wording, your limits, your sign-offs. Nothing generic goes out in your name.
You sign off
Your team keeps the final say.
It reports and answers questions. It never approves spending, and only you or your bookkeeper change the budget.
What it's worth
What those hours add up to.
2 hours a week, over 46 working weeks, is 92 hours a year. At $50 an hour, that’s
$4,600
back in the business, every year.
Typical, not promised.
Before and after
The job, before and after.
How it runs today
The budget gets built in a spreadsheet in January and looked at again in December. Managers don't know what's left for tools, marketing or overtime, so they either ask the office or just spend. The overspend turns up in the accounts months later.
What we build
- Your budget loaded once
- Real spending pulled weekly
- Overspends flagged early
- Managers can ask what's left
- A monthly note for you
A month in
Overspends show up within a week or two, managers spend against a number they can see, and the budget stops being a January job nobody opens again.
FAQ
We've never had a budget. Is that a problem?
No. Most owners we talk to don't have one either. We start from last year's real spending, you change the lines you want to change, and that's your budget.
Can every manager see the whole budget?
Only if you want them to. Each manager can be limited to their own budget lines, and wages can stay private to you.
More for finance & bookkeeping
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Thirty minutes on budget versus actual tracking. We build its elf with you, live, and you keep it.