What you planned, against what actually happened
Set a target per income category and expense account, then watch the real figures land against it as the year runs — with multi-year history so next year's budget is grounded in evidence.
What it replaces
A budget agreed in March and never opened again
Budgets are usually built once, approved, printed, and then quietly abandoned because comparing them to reality means exporting and matching figures nobody has time to match.
Here the comparison is automatic. Actuals come straight from the ledger, so at any point in the year you can see which categories are ahead, which are behind, and by how much.
Target per category
Budget each income category and each expense account separately, not one lump figure.
Year-to-date, pro-rated
Compares actual against the portion of the year elapsed, not the full-year figure, so early months read fairly.
Traffic-light variance
Green, amber and red against each line, with income and expenditure judged in opposite directions.
Suggested from last year
Where no target is set, last year's actual plus five percent is offered as a starting point.
Multi-year view
Six years of income, expenditure and surplus side by side, with year-on-year movement.
Reads the same ledger
Actuals are never captured separately — they are the same figures as the Income & Expenditure statement.
The actual screen
Annual Budget
Every figure below is illustrative — a fictitious church and fictitious people — but the layout is exactly what you use.
| Category | Annual budget | YTD budget | YTD actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tithes | 600 000.00 | 250 000.00 | 268 400.00 | +18 400.00 |
| Offerings | 180 000.00 | 75 000.00 | 71 250.00 | −3 750.00 |
| Building Fund | 120 000.00 | 50 000.00 | 44 900.00 | −5 100.00 |
| Missions | 36 000.00 | 15 000.00 | 12 265.00 | −2 735.00 |
| Thanksgiving | 24 000.00 | 10 000.00 | 6 000.00 | −4 000.00 |
| Total income | 960 000.00 | 402 815.00 | ||
Grace Community Church, its members and these amounts are invented for illustration. No real church, member or giving data appears anywhere on this website.
Where it goes next
Grounded in what really happened
Because actuals are drawn from the ledger rather than typed in, a budget review is a conversation about ministry rather than an argument about whose spreadsheet is right.
Included, not an add-on. Annual Budget is part of the core R150–R350 per month subscription — it is not billed separately and does not need to be activated.