Intuit's release notes for QuickBooks Online indicate there are some new budgeting features, including a new Interface that offers Budget versus Actual Comparisons.
I must admit, I thought that was what the "Budget versus Actuals Report" was for?
My QBO Budget vs Actual Report
Intuit says the classic QuickBooks Online interface did not provide totals for category, parent accounts or net income. OK, I can see that it does not provide them when I open my budget in QBO.
My QBO Budget
Since this one doesn't have totals for net income, I must assume that, once again, I have been left out in the cold. I simply don't have the new budget feature yet. It really is difficult to write about a new QBO feature if you don't have the feature you're trying to write about.
Since I'm not like Liz, who has a gazillion QBO clients and companies available, I have no idea if anyone "I don't know", already has the new budgeting feature. But I bet by the time that Liz and I have our QBO Update Fireside Chat on April 19, she'll have the new budgeting to show you.
Apparently the new budget features, when they do arrive, will provide an interface that aligns with the rest of QuickBooks Online.
Now what does that mean?
It seems the existing budget, or at least the one I have, aligns. I mean, the Income Accounts are all there (or at least the ones I use). The same with the COGS accounts and my expenses. How much more aligned could they get?
The release notes go on to say that "the new (budget) interface uses the entire screen when viewing, editing and creating budgets."
Well, that's a good thing, because in my old age, that budget window (as shown above) is so small I have to find my 300x reading glasses just to make out which block is which, us 'old guys' need all the help seeing we can get.
The notes speak of totals for key variables and a faster way to confirm budget amounts. What are key variables, I thought the only thing that could vary in a budget were the budget numbers?
As far as providing a faster way to confirm, how would that be? Right now, the minute you finish entering one set of numbers, it's entered in the budget and the total is displayed. With the screen so small, I can almost see, with my slightly poor peripheral vision, the values posted while I'm still focusing on where I was working. With a larger window, I'll probably have to totally realign my focus to check the totals.
I guess all good things come at a price, right?
The release notes list a whole set of ways that the new feature makes it simpler and easier to compare actual results against budget projections. Don't confuse my commentary with the official release notes per the bullet points.
- Accelerate the creation of budgets
Maybe they're going to load our budgets in the Large Hadron Super Collider at CERN, on the boarder between France and Switzerland, to accelerate their creation to "light speed" – you think?
- Navigate more easily
Let's not forget that the Titanic tried to navigate more easily through the North Atlantic and crashed into an iceberg in the cold of April.
- Access budget-related reports from budget screens
Now that makes a lot of sense. You have just created your budget for the start of the new year and you don't have any actual data for the year, because it's the start of the year. So, let's do a comparison from the budget creation window when there's nothing to compare the budget to yet.
- Check for accuracy while creating a budget
Didn't I cover this already when I talked about the totals posting the moment you save the numbers for an account. Or maybe I should be getting out my calculator to see if the totals are, or are not, being added up correctly by QBO?
- Plan business growth through budgets
Well budgets are a tool, a very good tool in business, but just a tool. It takes someone skilled in interpreting budget patterns and comparing and contrasting the budget values with the actuals to do real business growth planning, so where is Watson when you need a supercomputer?
- Track business performance – comparing budget amounts vs actual income and expenses
And now we're right back to my Budget versus Actuals report. I've written a whole article only to come full circle, back to where I started.
And the wheels just keep on spinning. If you have put on your breaks for the new budget interface yet, and have actually experienced it in person, just let us know here at Insightful Accountant by posting a comment below.
I'm confident our readers would rather read your real world experiences then just my chatter.
Hopefully, Liz will be back from Spring Break soon...