Budgets

Gravity supports budget creation for use in financial reporting.

A financial budget is a formal document that outlines projected income and expenses based on future plans, objectives, and anticipated business conditions. Typically, budgets are prepared for a one-year period and may encompass both income and expense accounts, as well as Balance Sheet accounts. It is also possible to create multiple versions of a budget.

Numerous companies typically create their budgets using Excel spreadsheets. To simplify the process of entering budget data, values can be easily copied from a spreadsheet and pasted into the designated grid section of the Gravity budget screen.

Gravity supports entering budget values manually into the budget grid and/or using the spreadsheet mode to create formulas or past values from a spreadsheet.

Budgeting in Gravity can be done at the account level or at the account + dimension level. To enable budgeting by dimension, you need to activate it in the configuration of each entity. In the Financial section, set the Budget by Dimension option to Yes.

With Budget by Dimension, you have the ability to input budgets for both account and dimension values. This feature is particularly useful for accounts in the chart of accounts that have the dimension set to either Optional or Required.

Access budget functionality from financials>accounting> budgets entries.

When you click on the budget option, it will open the screen displaying all active budget entries. This screen allows you to view a list of all active budgets. You can use the drop-down feature on the screen to display a list of grid screen views. From there, you can choose the specific view that you need.

Use the screen's pin function to pin the view selected.

Clicking on the New action displays the new budget entry screen. Use the screen’s summary section to define general budget settings.



Enter the budget name in the budget name field. When needed be descriptive to assist in selecting the correct budget in reporting. Remember, the budget screen also uses the Gravity notes and attachments feature for capturing additional descriptive information.

Enter the fiscal year in the fiscal year field. Use the approver field to select a Gravity user as the budget approver.

Gravity allows users to create budgets in specific currencies. A budget can be created in the entities home currency and another in the organizations consolidation currency.

Tip: When required, deactivate the budget then send the budget for approval. Deactivating the budget provides a control that the budget cannot be used. Use the Gravity email a link action for this purpose. Select the action and send the e-mail to the budget approver. The approver can set the approved status to Yes, and communicate the approval as needed. Once approved, activate the budget.

Budget details can be entered in the grid manually in the "Edit in Grid" mode or using spreadsheet like controls using the "Edit in Spreadsheet" mode. Additionally the "Edit in Spreadsheet" mode makes it easy to cut and paste to and from Excel.

Use the budget screen’s details section to enter budget detail. Use the details section to select the GL account required and enter budget amounts by period.

To choose the GL account, utilize the search option in the account number field. Simply click on the search icon and select the necessary GL account from the displayed list. If necessary, you can also manually input the GL account number.

Enter the monthly budget amounts into the applicable month fields. Gravity automatically calculates monthly totals for all accounts entered, as well as line and grand totals.

When editing in the spreadsheet mode you can use spreadsheet like controls to enter or manipulate value.

Some of the common controls are:



Many companies initially build their budgets on Excel spreadsheets. To ease budget data entry, values can be copied from a spreadsheet and pasted into the budget grid section.

Build the budget spreadsheet in the same format as the budget details screen. Add column headings and totals in the spreadsheet to streamline the spreadsheet, budget reconciliation process.

Tip: To control the quality of spreadsheet data when budgets are built by multiple budgeters (e.g. departmental budgeting) use Excel features such as “ data validation” to control GL accounts or worksheet cell protection to prevent spreadsheet changes such as GL account number changes.

To copy budget detail select the data in the spreadsheet and use Ctrl C to copy the data selected to the clipboard.

Remember to select only the data to be imported. Do not select column headers or totals.

To paste the data into Gravity, select Edit in Spreadsheet and place the cursor on the top left most field (Account Number) and use Ctrl V to paste the data.

Gravity pastes the selected data into the applicable fields and calculates period and account totals.

Activate a budget from the inactive budget entries grid screen. Select the budget from the grid displayed and select the activate option. When needed, activate the budget from within the applicable budget screen.

Deactivate a budget from the active budget entries grid screen. Select the budget from the grid displayed and select the deactivate option. When needed, deactivate the budget from within the applicable budget screen.

Delete a budget from either budget grid screen. Select the budget from the grid displayed and select the delete option. When needed, delete the budget from within the applicable budget screen.