Create a Budget

Financials > Budgets is where an annual revenue/expense plan is built, one line per account, so actuals can later be compared against the plan. A budget is a Year plus a list of account rows, each pairing an account with a planned Annual Budget Amount.

When would I use this?

• Setting a spending plan for the coming fiscal year before it starts, so the board can approve it.
• Planning both revenue (e.g. expected assessment income) and expenses (e.g. planned landscaping spend) side by side for the year.
• Comparing what was actually collected/spent against the plan partway through the year.

Steps

1. Go to Financials > Budgets and click + Create Budget.
2. Set the Year (defaults to the current year).
3. Click + Add Row to add an account line. Repeat for every account you want to budget.
4. In each row's Account box, start typing to search the chart of accounts — the same type-ahead search used in Manual GL Entries, with category chips above the results: All, Revenue, Expenses. Both revenue accounts (for example, Assessment Income, Amenity Fees) and expense accounts (for example, Repairs & Maintenance) can be budgeted on the same budget.
5. Enter the Annual Budget Amount for that row.
6. Repeat for as many accounts as needed, then click Save.

Good to know

• The Type badge on each row (Revenue or Expenses) is not a field you choose — it fills in automatically based on which account you selected. A row shows "Not Selected" for Type only until an account is chosen.
• Total Revenue and Total Expenses at the bottom right update live as you add rows and amounts.
• There is no manual Name entry on the Create Budget form — a budget is auto-named by the platform based on the year, for example a budget created for 2026 is automatically saved as "2026 Operating Budget," with Frequency "Yearly" and Status "Active."