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Overview

The budget variance analysis is accessible through the Reports view. It offers a classic comparison of actual performance against the budget for the last closed month, year-to-date, and the full fiscal year. Additionally, there is an option to include a forecast, providing an updated outlook on your business’s performance for the full fiscal year.

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Basics

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Update last close

After completing the month-end closing process, update the last close setting to indicate your accounting system’s most recently closed month. This tells Francis which months’ actuals need to be included in the actuals column in the budget variance analysis.

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Specify your budget version

Once the last close is updated to define which actuals are included in the variance analysis, it is necessary to specify the saved version that is considered the budget for the purpose of the analysis. This budget version serves as the reference point for variance analysis in both the last closed month and year-to-date periods.
The budget version would typically be the mutually agreed upon start-of-year budget. However, you might want to compare two reforecasts against each other, in which case the budget selection simply serves as the baseline for comparison in your variance analysis.

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Specify your reforecast version

Forecasts are used specifically for the full fiscal year budget variance analysis. This analysis compares the defined budget to actuals set by the Last Close and incorporates a forecast for the remainder of the year. In simpler terms, the full fiscal year analysis examines the budget versus actuals for X months, plus a forecast for the remaining 12-X months. This provides the most recent estimate of the year’s end performance based on the defined forecast version of your financial model.

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Variance settings

Depending on personal preference, there are various ways to view the budget variance as part of the budget variance analysis. Francis currently supports three methods for displaying variance: percent, index, and absolute difference.