Budget vs Actuals Dashboard 🤩
Budget vs Actuals Dashboard is my FAVORITE report
In fact…if I had to present just one report to a CEO, it would be this one
Why?
First… let’s start with some definitions:
➡️What is a Budget vs Actuals report?
A Budget vs Actuals report allows you to compare what you THOUGHT was going to happen…
…to what ACTUALLY HAPPENED
This can be anything in the business, though a profit and loss is most commonly included
Next…
➡️ Why is this my favorite report?
Well, a number of reasons:
1️⃣ It Adds Credibility
The biggest thing you can do to add credibility with this report is to have a STORY for every line…
➡️ Explain what happened
➡️ Explain what you thought would happen and why
➡️ Explain how the 2 differ…or ideally, are aligned 🎯
Of all the exciting feelings I’ve had in my career…
Accurately predicting what would happen has been amongst the top
2️⃣ It Allows you to Aggregate the Key KPIS
There are a million and one financial reports out there…
The Budget vs Actuals is often concise, showing all the key takeaways from the largest areas of the business
The truth is a budget vs actuals report can be as detailed as you wish…
My favorite method is to start on a summarized level, and then drill deeper into details where needed
3️⃣ You can prepare it with nice DESIGN 🤩
Unlike a Profit & Loss or a Balance Sheet… A Budget vs Actuals often includes various graphs
These graphs give you the opportunity to explain what’s happening more easily
and allows you to add value to the presentation with some pretty design
Don’t undermine how much value stunning design to add to a financial report!
Those are my reasons for why the Budget vs Actuals is my favorite report
What do you think about the Budget vs Actuals report?