Budget template

Monthly and Annual Budget Template

Plan the year, then track it month by month against what actually happened.

Excel & Google Sheets Free download 4 tabs

Illustrative preview · Annual plan · Monthly phasing · Actuals · Variance

01 — What's inside

What's in the template

Built by FP&A professionals, for companies. Every tab has a job.

Annual plan
Set the year target once, by line.
Monthly phasing
Spread the annual number across months, so seasonality is explicit.
Actuals column
Paste or import actuals each month.
Variance view
Plan versus actual, in dollars and percent, with a favourable flag.

02 — How to use it

Four steps, in order. The first one matters most.

Set the annual plan
One number per line for the year.
Phase it across months
Never divide by twelve unless the business really is flat.
Add actuals monthly
Same week every month. The rhythm is the point.
Read the variance
Explain material lines. Small noise can wait.

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FAQ

Should I just divide the annual budget by twelve?

Rarely. Phasing by month exposes seasonality and makes variance meaningful.

How do I decide what variance matters?

Many teams flag lines beyond 10% or a fixed dollar amount. Pick a threshold and apply it consistently.

Can this replace a variance report?

It produces the numbers. A variance report adds one sentence of commentary per material line.

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Every template is a manual snapshot. Reportly builds the same outputs automatically from live QuickBooks data, and keeps them current.