Enhancements to QBO Advanced Financial Forecasts

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Early last year Intuit released financial "forecasting" features within QuickBooks Online Advanced. Enhancements introduced to this functionality since it was originally released include the ability to customize a report, and export a forecast.

Financial forecasts can help you set long-term and short-term goals for your business. These forecasts are based on past performance and business trends using your historical data to make projections. Using your financial data available in QuickBooks Online Advanced, you can easily project forecasts and then use those forecasts to create budgets.

You can create a Profit & Loss (P&L) forecast for up to 3 years from either your prior year's actuals or an average of actuals from prior months you determine appropriate. You can even create rules to build your forecasts using specific percentages for specific accounts from your P&L. 

Let's review the steps to create and edit a forecast, convert that forecast to a budget, then customize a report, and export your forecast.

Creating a forecast

QuickBooks Online Advanced users now have access to Forecasts, a Financial Planning feature, that allows them to create a forecast. To create a new forecast, the User must be able to sign in to QBO Advanced as either the Admin user, or as a Standard All-access user.

Review your businesses fiscal year

Prior to creating a forecast, you must confirm that the beginning date of your fiscal year has been set in QuickBooks Online Advanced. While it's possible to create a forecast any time, it is preferable to set your forecast start date to run consistent with your fiscal year.

  • Sign in to your QuickBooks Online Advanced account.
  • Go to Settings ⚙ and select Account and settings.
  • Select the Advanced tab.
  • In the Accounting section, review the First month of the fiscal year field. If it’s incorrect, select Edit ✎.
  • Select the required month from the drop-down ▼.
  • Select Save.

Create a Forecast

QuickBooks Online Advanced creates a forecast using only those accounts listed in your chart of accounts. You must modify your chart of accounts to include any additional accounts you need in your forecast prior to creating the forecast.

To create a forecast, you can use your past financial data in QuickBooks Online Advanced to build your first financial forecast:

  • From the left Navigation bar, select Financial planning, then select Forecasts (as shown below).
  • On the Forecast like a pro page, select Create forecast (as shown below).
  • On the Set up your forecast page, select the timeframe you’re creating the forecast for from the Forecast for ▼ drop-down.
  • From the Forecast using ▼ drop-down, select one of the following forecast methods: Average of actuals or Actuals from last fiscal year (Note: Using the Settings panel, you can modify the forecast duration and forecast method until the first time you save the forecast.)
  • If you selected Average of actuals, select the past actuals duration to be used to calculate the average from the Use actuals from ▼ drop-down.
  • If you want to set rules (increase/decrease) at account type level, add them in the Set rules section.
  • When you’re done, select Next.
  • Select the edit ✎ icon to edit the name of your forecast, if needed.
  • When you’re done, select Save and close.
  • If you are dissatisfied with the data in your forecast, you can clear the data. Use the Batch Actions, Clear data option to do this.
  • You can refresh the forecast with the latest actuals by selecting Refresh actuals each time you view it.

Edit a Forecast

If you need to edit a forecast, make your changes in QuickBooks

  • Select Financial planning, then select Forecasts.
  • Find your forecast on the list and select View/Edit in the Action column.
  • You can modify each account one month at a time.
  • Select Save or Save and close.

Converting forecasts to budgets

  • Select Financial planning, then select Forecasts.
  • Find your forecast on the list and select View/Edit In the Action column.

Delete a Forecast

  • Select Financial planning, then select Forecasts.
  • Once you find your forecast on the list, select the View/Edit ▼ drop-down in the Action column. 
  • Select the View/Edit ▼ drop-down, then select Delete. Be aware that you can’t recover deleted forecasts.

This is a great new feature for users of QuickBooks Online Advanced.  One can only wonder if Intuit will make this feature available to lower end SKUs of QBO like 'Plus' at sometime in the future.

Customize a Report

  • Go to Reports.
  • Find and select the Profit and Loss Detail Report.
  • From the Report period ▼ drop-down, select a timeframe. f you want to use data from the prior year, select Last Year. If you want to use data from your current fiscal year, select This Year-to-date.
  • Make sure the beginning and end of the year match your fiscal year. 
  • Select Run report.
  • If you don’t want to reopen the report again, select the print or export icon to print or download a copy of the report.

Export a forecast

  • Select Financial planning, then select Forecasts.
  • Find your forecast on the list and select View/Edit In the Action column.
  • Select the Export icon, choose Print/Save as PDF or Export to Excel

Disclosures:

Feature content, including graphic materials were adapted from Intuit media source content and QuickBooks Help resources. Content created or otherwise adapted by Insightful Accountant from Intuit source content is furnished for educational purposes only.

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