Virtual CFO
Budgeting
Annual budgeting for UK companies builds a month-by-month plan from your actual historical numbers, broken out by department or site where it matters, then tracks real performance against it every month so a variance gets explained rather than discovered at year end.
13-week cash forecast
Illustrative client · August 2026
GBP
- 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.
Built from actuals, not a rollover of last year
Most budgets fail for a simple reason: they start from last year's spreadsheet with a flat percentage nudged up across every line, and nobody involved in setting it actually believes the number. We start instead from your historical actuals inside Xero, QuickBooks Online or Sage, and tie the plan to whatever real decision is driving it, a headcount increase, a new site, a product launch, so the figure reflects a decision someone made on purpose.
Only as complex as the company needs
A one-site professional services firm and a multi-site retailer running several product lines should not end up with budgets of the same shape. Where splitting by department, site or product line changes what someone actually decides, we build that split in. Where it would not change anything, we leave the budget simple rather than adding structure for its own sake.
The two Corporation Tax dates that shape the calendar
Corporation Tax falls due nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period, well ahead of the CT600 filing deadline itself at twelve months after period end, and that gap between paying and filing is exactly the kind of date a budget needs built in rather than discovered late. A sole trader runs on a different clock entirely, working to the Self Assessment online filing deadline of 31 January 2027 for the 2025-26 tax year, recurring each year after.
What makes it worth revisiting
A budget nobody compares against actuals each month is really just a forecast that expired the day it was written. The monthly variance, what ran ahead, what fell short, why, is what keeps it live, and that comparison feeds straight into FP&A once ongoing tracking matters more than a single annual number. See pricing for how this is scoped.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Budgeting
When should we build next year's budget?
Most UK companies start budgeting a month or two before their financial year begins, using the prior 9 to 12 months of actuals as the base.
Do you include tax payment dates in the budget?
Yes, as cash outflows on the calendar they fall due, since Corporation Tax and VAT payments are among the more common causes of a cash surprise if they are not planned for.
Can the budget be broken out by site for a multi-location business?
Yes. Multi-site and multi-entity budgets roll up to a consolidated total while keeping each site's own budget and actuals visible separately.
What happens if we go over budget in one area?
We flag it in the monthly review, explain what drove it, and help decide whether it is timing, a one-off, or a sign the budget itself needs revising.
How does the budget account for a planned hire that has not started yet?
A planned hire is modelled from its expected start date with realistic onboarding ramp, rather than added as full productivity from day one, since assuming immediate full output from a new hire is one of the most common ways a budget ends up too optimistic.
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.