How to Prepare Financial G/L Budget in Microsoft Business Central ?

Step by Step Guidelines for Business central users

Business Central, Microsoft’s comprehensive business management solution, empowers organizations to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and achieve financial success. One crucial aspect of Business Central is its robust financial management capabilities, including the ability to prepare and manage financial budgets.

In Business Central, you can set up different budget cycles based on your organization’s needs. These cycles can align with your fiscal year, quarters, or any other preferred time frame. Establishing budget cycles allows for effective planning and monitoring over specific periods.

Business Central enables you to create budgets for individual departments or cost centers within your organization. This granularity helps in aligning budgets with specific business units, allowing for a more detailed and accurate financial plan.

Dimensions in Business Central enable you to categorize financial transactions further, providing deeper insights into spending and revenue sources. Use dimensions to track expenses related to specific projects, products, or departments, facilitating better budget analysis.

In this article, we will explore a step-by-step guide on how to prepare a financial budget in Business Central. You can establish several budgets in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and duplicate, import, or export existing ones. Following reading this blog, you will be able to do the following tasks:

• Create multiple Business Central budgets for identical time periods by using different names.
• Create simple or complex budgets by selecting a combination of different G/L account from Chart of Account, period, the two global dimensions and four budget dimensions.
• Copy budgets from previous periods and revise budget figures by using an adjustment factor.
• Export budgets to and import budgets from Microsoft Excel.

Create G/L Budget

1. Go to Main Menu
2. Click on Finance
3. Click on G/L Budget
4. You may also Type “G/L Budgets” in the Dynamics 365 Business Central search bar.
5. Click “New.”
6. Enter Name, Description and any dimensions that are applicable as shown below.

7. Click on that Budget name and, then it will popup new page: (You can see in below screenshot).

8. The top part of the page dictates how the Budget Matrix (pictured below) is displayed. (Budget Name, Show as Lines, show as Cloumns, View by | Rounding Factor, Show Cloumn Name)

9. Enter the budget amounts for the appropriate GL accounts.

10. In the Filters tab, you can enter the filters necessary, such as the Dimension. If you had a budget called Department, for example, you would filter on that department, enter the budget and then repeat for other departments.

Export Budget to Excel

1. Type “G/L Budgets” in the search bar.
2. On the G/L Budget list page, double click on the budget you want to export to open the Budget Window.
3. On the G/L Budget window, click “Process,” then “Export to Excel.”

4. Fill in the appropriate options (see screenshot below) for the export, then click “OK.”

Import Budget from Excel

1. Type “G/L Budgets” in the search bar.
2. On the G/L Budget list page, double click on the budget you want to import.
3. On the G/L Budget window, click “Process,” then “Import from Excel.”

4. Enter the Options information and click “OK.”

5.Once budgets are entered you can use them in your account schedules to show budget versus actual.

Business Central provides real-time monitoring of your budget against actual financial data. Utilize the reporting and analytics tools to track performance, identify variances, and make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information. The various ways within Business Central to compare actuals to budget. These include:

• G/L Account Balance Budget by Period
• Trial Balance/Budget
• G/L Account Balance/Budget
• G/L Balance/Budget
• Cash Flow Forecast by Budget and Account Schedules

Important Note:

Keep in mind with various budget versions, you will need to select the correct Budget Name to ensure you are comparing actuals to the correct budget.

Conclusion

Creating a G/L budget in Business Central is a straightforward process that empowers organizations to manage their financial resources effectively. Financial budget in Business Central is a powerful way to strengthen your organization’s financial management. By utilizing the platform’s comprehensive features, you can create, monitor, and adjust budgets with ease, fostering better financial control and strategic decision-making. Embrace the capabilities of Business Central to navigate the complexities of budgeting, ultimately contributing to the overall success and sustainability of your business. By following the step-by-step guide outlined above, you can easily create and track budgets for your G/L accounts, enabling better financial control and informed decision-making.

Author: Syed Haseeb