Close & reporting
Budget vs. actual
Monthly actuals mapped to your budget's chart of accounts, with the variance explained in plain language rather than left for you to work out, lined up against your July to June financial year so the comparison resets on the right date each year.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
AUD
| Line | Aug | Jul | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 142,380 | 131,904 | +10,476 |
| Cost of sales | (51,260) | (48,115) | (3,145) |
| Gross profit | 91,120 | 83,789 | +7,331 |
| Payroll | (46,300) | (45,900) | (400) |
| SoftwareNoted | (6,480) | (5,490) | (990) |
| Rent | (8,000) | (8,000) | 0 |
| Other operating | (9,215) | (9,870) | +655 |
| Net income | 21,125 | 14,529 | +6,596 |
Reviewer's note
Software is up on last month after two seats were added mid-month. Revenue includes one milestone invoice that will not repeat next month.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Actuals against your budget, explained
Each month's actuals are mapped to the same chart of accounts as the budget you built, with variance shown by line item in amount and percentage terms. Anything past an agreed threshold gets a written explanation rather than a bare number, and a variance report that only shows good news is not a report we would send you.
Built around your financial year
Because the comparison runs against your July to June financial year rather than a calendar year, the numbers reset when your own budget cycle resets, not on 1 January. Where the budget includes payroll costs, the 12% compulsory super contribution rate and the Payday Super cash-timing change effective 1 July 2026 are reflected in both the budget baseline and the actuals it is compared against.
Who builds the original budget
You do, with our help structuring it against the same chart of accounts we use for monthly actuals, so the comparison lines up from month one rather than needing a remapping exercise later.
Rolling forward
Where the business re-forecasts through year end, we update a rolling forecast alongside the variance report rather than leaving the original budget to go stale for the rest of the financial year.
Delivery and handover
The variance report is built from the same closed books used for your monthly management report, checked in senior principal review before it reaches you. A named pod owns the comparison each month, and if the variance threshold changes or the budget is remapped to a new chart of accounts, a recorded handover memo goes with it. Terms are set out in your engagement letter, and you keep the Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file throughout.
Setting it up
We structure the first version of the budget with you against the chart of accounts your close already uses, so the very first month's comparison is usable rather than a placeholder while the mapping catches up.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Budget vs. actual
Can budget vs actual track GST and super obligations too?
Yes. Where payroll costs are in the budget, the compulsory super rate and Payday Super timing are reflected in both the baseline and the actuals compared against it.
Does the budget reset on our financial year rather than the calendar year?
Yes. The comparison resets on July 1, matching the financial year your tax return uses.
Does the report reset with our financial year or the calendar year?
With your financial year. Year-to-date figures and comparisons reset on 1 July, not 1 January.
What is not included in budget-versus-actual reporting?
We do not set your targets or strategy. We build the comparison and flag variances; deciding what to do about a shortfall or an overspend is a management or advisory conversation, not part of the reporting itself.
How often is the budget-versus-actual comparison delivered?
Monthly, alongside your close, unless your business runs on a different reporting cadence agreed during onboarding.
Who builds the original budget?
You do, with our help structuring it against the same chart of accounts we use for the monthly actuals, so the comparison lines up cleanly from month one.
What happens when a variance is bad news?
It gets flagged in plain terms in the same report, because a variance report that only shows good news is not useful.
What if our records for budget vs. actual are not up to date?
If your records are behind, we scope a catch-up first so budget vs. actual starts from a clean, reconciled base. That catch-up is priced and timed separately from the ongoing engagement, so you always know what each part costs.
Who reviews the work before it reaches us?
Every deliverable under budget vs. actual is reviewed by a senior principal before it reaches you. You keep access to the underlying file at every stage, so nothing about the work happens somewhere you cannot see it.
Related services
- Close & reportingVariance analysisA closer look at why a number moved: price, volume, timing or a one-off, so a variance on a report turns into an answer instead of a question.
- Close & reportingManagement reportsMonthly profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow packaged with a plain-English narrative so the numbers explain themselves before anyone has to ask a question.
Industries
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.