Easily manage budgets and track financial performance. Our simplified Budget vs. Actual Google Sheet template consolidates all income, expenses, budgets, and forecasts in one place, replacing complicated financial tracking.
It helps you compare your budget with what you've earned and spent.
Generate automated reports with your income and expenses data.
Here’s a breakdown of the tabs included in the template:
Forms (Data entry)
Income record – Submit revenue/invoice data.
Expenses record – Record business expenses.
Input Tabs (for data entry)
Forecast Inputs – Enter projected monthly income.
Budget Inputs – Enter planned monthly expenses.
All entries here will auto-fill the analysis reports.
Categories Input
Define the classification used across all input tabs:
Income Categories - Expense Categories - Operating Years.
Having a single location for categories ensures consistent data tagging and keeps dropdowns clean.
Inputs Tab
Use this tab to select the reporting year for your analysis.
The year dropdown updates automatically based on the years found in your income and expense data.
When you add new records for the next year, the dropdown will include that year too — no manual updates required.
Reports Included
The spreadsheet includes three auto-updating dashboards:
1. Budget Analysis
Compare: - Actual vs Forecasted Income - Actual vs Budgeted Expenses - Actual vs Expected Operating Profit
Presented in a month-by-month table with key financial metrics.
2. Income Analysis
See the monthly performance of each income stream by category, with forecast vs actual comparisons and variance calculations.
3. Expenses Analysis
Monitor monthly budget vs actual spending across all expense categories to quickly spot overspending or savings.
How to Use the Template
Make a copy of the template in your Google Drive.
Open the Categories Input tab and define your categories and operating years.
Enter your data in:
Income Inputs
Expenses Inputs
Forecast Inputs
Budget Inputs
Go to the Inputs tab and select the year you want to report on.
Open the reporting tabs to view your financial performance automatically.