Creating a budget is one of the most important things you can do for your business. It helps you see how much money you have coming in, where it’s going, and where you could save some cash. In fact, you pretty much need to create your own budget template if you want to use QuickBooks to manage your company’s finances. A customized budget template will make it easier for you to track expenses and revenue so that everything balances out at the end of each month.

This article will teach you how to create a custom budget template in QuickBooks so that you can use it every month without any additional setup work.

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Can you create a budget in QuickBooks?

Yes, you can absolutely create a budget in QuickBooks. The budgeting feature is built right into the software and is accessible from the home screen. You can create a budget for your business expenses and income, and then you can use that data to track your spending.

You can also track your key performance indicators (KPIs) by creating a budget. A budget is a helpful tool for tracking a company’s KPIs because it shows you in one place how your business is performing financially.

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Is creating a budget in QuickBooks easy?

Yes, it is extremely easy to create a budget in QuickBooks. The tool is built right into the software and can be accessed from the home screen. To create a budget, you’ll need to identify your income and expenses. You can do this manually or use built-in reports to help.

Once you have your budget set up, you can easily add or remove line items whenever you need to. You can also use the budget report to see how you’re doing each month. You can easily see which expenses are over budget or under budget so that you can adjust them as needed.

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The benefits of creating a budget in QuickBooks

There are many benefits to creating a QuickBooks budget.

First, it helps you see where your money is going so that you can make adjustments as needed. This means you can increase your profits by making sure you aren’t overspending on any given expense.

Another benefit of creating a budget is that it gives you a visual representation of your company’s finances. This can help you identify any potential issues before they become major problems.

Finally, creating a budget allows you to make financial projections. This can help you make important business decisions like whether or not to expand your business.

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How to create a budget in QuickBooks

Creating a budget in QuickBooks is a straightforward process that should take about half an hour (or less if you’re familiar with the software). There are several different ways to do this depending on your version of the software, but generally speaking, the best way to create a budget is to break your expenses down into classifications. This will make it easier to track your revenue and profits.  

To create your budget, just follow these two simple steps:

1. Click on the “Planning” tab and select “Create New Budget”

2. Next, fill in your budget details by adding each expense category.

Keep in mind that you can either do this manually or you can use the built-in reports to help. If you use the reports option, then QuickBooks will recommend categories based on the data you enter. This can save you some time, but it won’t be as accurate as manually creating your categories.

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How to budget by class in QuickBooks

You may also want to set up a budget by class in QuickBooks. This can help if you want to see your finances at a glance without breaking down each individual line item. The process for creating a class budget in QuickBooks is also fairly easy.

Follow these steps to create a budget by class in most versions of QuickBooks:

1. Click the “Budget” tab at the top of the screen. This will open the Budget window and show you a list of all of the budgets you have in QuickBooks.

2. Select the budget you want to edit, then click the “Classifications” tab at the top of the screen. This tab shows you a list of all of the classifications you currently use in your company.

3. Click the “Add a New Classification” button to open the Create New Classification window. You can give the classification a name and add a description if you want.

4. Once you’ve added your classification, click the “OK” button to save your changes and return to the classifications list.

5. Select the new classification you just added, then click the “Add a New Budget Class” button to open the Create New Budget Class window. This is where you specify which budget numbers the new classification applies to.

6. Select the budget you want to assign to the new classification, then click the “OK” button to save your changes.

Remember, this process can vary slightly depending on which version of the QuickBooks software you're using, but the general process is more or less the same in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and QuickBooks Pro.

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How to create receipts in QuickBooks

Once you have your budget set up, you can create receipts for your expenses. By creating receipts for all of your business expenses, you can easily track your spending. This makes it much easier to keep track of your finances and enables you to create accurate financial reports come tax time.

You can follow these steps to create a receipt in most versions of QuickBooks:

1. Click the “Create New Receipt” button at the top of the Expenses tab.

2. Next, enter the details of the receipt.

3. Add some tags to make it easier to find your receipt later.

4. Finally, click “File > Export As”, and select your preferred file format.

Again, this process can vary depending on the exact version of QuickBooks you’re using, but the general process is more or less the same across the board.

Recommendation

LiveFlow is a valuable platform built for QuickBooks, which is designed to make it easy to create an integrated, real time connection between your QuickBooks data and customized reports and dashboards in Google Sheets. This means that you don’t have to give anyone access to QuickBooks simply to review reports – you can use pre-built templates or bring live data to any customized report you already have.  This way, you only share what departments need to see. The live connection between QuickBooks and Google Sheets means that your reports will always be up to date – without any manual exports, data formatting or hands-on effort.

If you want to save some time when managing your company’s bookkeeping processes, then be sure to check out LiveFlow. With helpful templates, and handy tools, such as the new Live Budget vs Actuals tool, LiveFlow takes the stress out of small business accounting. Best of all, you can explore the platform for free with a 30-minute demo, so be sure to try LiveFlow today.