Virtual CFO
Budgeting
Budgeting for a business operating across the EU sets a month-by-month plan in euros, built from real historical numbers rather than a flat percentage, broken out by entity or member state where that changes a decision, then checked against actual results every month.
13-week cash forecast
Illustrative client · August 2026
EUR
- Cash today
- €244,220
- Lowest week ahead
- 239,800
- Largest outflow
- Payroll, 46,300
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Starting from actuals, not a template
Every budget begins with what your entities in Xero, QuickBooks Online, Exact or SAP Business One actually recorded over the past year, adjusted for a specific hiring plan, a new market launch or a pricing change you already know is coming. A budget built on real history, rather than a growth percentage applied evenly, holds up better once the year is underway.
Splitting where it matters
A single-market company rarely needs more than one budget line for each cost category. A group selling into Germany, Poland and Spain usually needs the split by country, since VAT rates, wage levels and typical customer payment terms differ enough that one blended number hides more than it reveals.
Living with the budget month to month
The budget stays fixed once set. Each month we compare it to actuals, explain the variances, and feed that comparison into FP&A work if you want the analysis to go beyond a simple comparison. VAT, OSS and national corporate tax payment dates sit on the same calendar as the budget, so those cash outflows are planned for well before the payment itself, even though the filing sits with a local partner.
When the plan needs to change
A large contract win, a new member state launch, or a cost shock changes the picture enough that the original budget stops being a fair yardstick. Rather than rewrite it, we build a revised forecast alongside it, so both the original plan and the current outlook stay visible side by side. See pricing for how this work is scoped.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Budgeting
Do you build one budget per entity or one consolidated total?
Both. Each entity gets its own budget and its own monthly actuals, and we roll those up into a single consolidated euro total for the group.
When in the year should this start?
A month or two before your financial year begins, using the prior 9 to 12 months as the base, is typical.
Are tax payment dates part of the budget?
Yes. VAT, OSS and national corporate tax dates are treated as cash outflows on the calendar, since they are a frequent source of a surprise if left out.
What happens when one country runs over budget?
We explain the driver in the monthly review and help decide whether it is a timing issue, a one-off, or a reason to revise that entity's budget.
Do you build the budget top-down from targets, or bottom-up from departments?
Most budgets are built bottom-up from department input and then reconciled against a top-down target, since either approach alone tends to miss something the other would have caught during the process. We confirm which approach fits your business before the first draft is built.
When during the year should we build a budget?
Businesses often build it a month or two before their fiscal year starts, but a mid-year budget is still useful as a reset.
Do you update the budget once it is set?
The budget itself stays fixed as the baseline. We track actual performance against it monthly and build a separate revised forecast when conditions change.
Can the budget cover multiple locations or entities?
Yes. Multi-location and multi-entity budgets roll up to a consolidated view while keeping each unit's numbers visible.
What software works with budgeting?
Budgeting runs inside Excel or Google Sheets, whichever you already use. If you are not yet set up in either, we can configure a file in your name so you keep ownership of it once the engagement is under way.
Related services
- Virtual CFOFP&AOngoing financial planning and analysis: budget-to-actual tracking, margin and cost analysis, and the monthly pack that explains why the numbers moved.
- Virtual CFO13-week cash flow forecastA rolling week-by-week cash forecast that shows what is coming in, what is going out, and where the next 13 weeks get tight.
- Virtual CFOKPI designA short list of the numbers that actually run your business, defined once and tracked consistently, instead of a dashboard nobody opens.
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.