USA Where can I find posted budget vs actual reports from other companies?

[Cannellizer]

Hi,

I just registered with this site in hopes of gaining a resource that I can pull from. I work as an accountant in a small business and help with the internal duties surrounding accounting. I report to our controller/VP Finance. They have produced a budget for 2018, and we have also put together a rough draft of budgets for each of the departments in our business (marketing, Development, etc). The controller put together our first budget vs actual report to send out to some of our departments earlier this month. I am in charge of doing it for February, so in a couple of weeks. She has asked me to do some research to see what other companies have done when presenting the department level budget vs actual reports. The basic format seems simple enough, with the budget, the actual, and the variance, accompanied by some visual cosmetics and a narrative, but as I've never put one together before I wanted look at some professional reports, and really just learn anything around it. My boss has high expectations and is very conscious of presentation, so I would like to produce something quality.

Thank you for any help!

 

[Steve-LevelUp]

I cannot provide examples of department reports, but I recommend that you present both the numbers but focus on the narrative. They may understand the numbers (too high, too low) but might not understand why. If you can provide that answer to them during the presentation, it will help ensure that you are providing value added information. In some cases, they already know why costs might be off, but if the professional fees are higher in the month vs budget, then compare the actual spend by vendor of professional fees compared to what was budgeted for those fees. So, more than just presenting the numbers, present the story behind those numbers. Focus on the material variances. Try to stick to the facts as much as possible, but do provide your opinion where appropriate.

 

[Cannellizer]

Steve-LevelUp,

Thank you for the reply and feedback. I liked how you pointed out the understanding of "why." That is an extremely valuable point, and am definitely going to incorporate that into my process. Thank you so much for that and your other words, I really think that is going to help with the narrative.

 

[Steve-LevelUp]

In thinking more about this, I also have the following recommendations.

Using word, get the letterhead template and actually type up the report.

Intro of results - basic conversation about the numbers (above/below budget)

The numbers themselves. Use excel, ensure fonts are the same and that all number columns are the same width.
Include a TTM analaysis (trailing twelve months) to see how things are trending over a rolling 12 month period (eg, Current month vs budget vs prior year. YTD vs budget vs prior year, TTM vs Prior year.

Use a "Better / Worse" selection. So if expenses are worse (eg, higher) then the variance should be red and negative. This would create different formulas for revenues and expenses, but what is does do is reflect Red = Bad.

Additionally, paste in the worksheet directly from excel, but ensure grid lines are removed, makes it look much nicer.

The second page can then cover more specifics of each line item, providing detail and context that might be relevant (eg, headcount variances between actual and budget). The report can then be as long as needed to cover everything that needs to be covered.

Sorry that this was so brief, I could go on for hours about how presenting a nice report can really make you shine.

 

[Cannellizer]

Steve-LevelUp

This sounds great. It is funny you mentioned removing the grid lines from the excel data. My boss HATES the grid lines and she simply won't work in excel unless they are removed. I think that is a good sign, you and her think a like. I'll be sure to follow this format next month when I am preparing it, thanks again for your help and, I won't be starting this until we wrap up January which won't be for a couple weeks, so if you have any additional advice, feel free to post at your leisure. I think my boss is really going to eat this stuff up.