If you are planning a budget for a business, you may want to look into some sort of project management software tool that assists you with this. Alternatively, you may simply use Excel to compile a simple budget yourself. Start by categorising each expense. http://www.projectperfect.com.au
1. Create a Budget with Excel
Let’s face facts, setting up a budget is never a lot of fun. Using Excel can be a pretty simple way to create
a budget. In a few simple steps, you will be able to set up a budget that can be adjusted from month to
month as your circumstances change. You can make it as simple or as complex as you want to.
If you are planning a budget for a business, you may want to look into some sort of project management
software tool that assists you with this. Alternatively, you may simply use Excel to compile a simple
budget yourself. Start by categorising each expense. You can then decide whether or not to create sub-
totals for each expense or to simply total it up at the end.
You will start off by opening a new spreadsheet and clicking on A1. Enter Categories and the click on the
“Enter” key. Type in the word “Income” in the next couple of cells. Then enter the word “Living” in the
next few cells – you will need to fill in these terms in as many cells as you need. In the last five cells, type
in the word “Other”. In the next column, enter the word “Description” and press enter. In the next few
columns, enter all the months from January to June.
Drag over the first row and then the first column and bold the text. Enter the names of the people who
earn a living in your household and then drag the cursor over “Living” categories. Enter the appropriate
labels like Telephone, water, etc. You need to click on “Enter” after each entry. You will now want to
highlight the “Other” categories. Enter non-typical expenses such as books, transport, etc.
Totalling your spreadsheet will now be very simple. Drag the cursor over all the cells that have your
budget and all the labels and then open the Data menu and choose the “Subtotal” option. In the dialog
box that opens up, make sure that the Categories is chosen in the “At each change in” option. Choose
the months from January to June in the option for “Add subtotal to” and choose “Okay”. Once again,
project management software will probably have this feature built in for you.
Now you need to choose the “Grand Total” row and open the “Edit” menu. You will then have to choose
“Delete”. In the next box, choose the whole row and click “Okay”. You will then need to enter a
“Monthly savings” label in this space. Now you need to total everything up and copy the formulae across
to all the other cells. Make sure to enter all cell references correctly and you are ready to input your
expense amounts. Once your amounts are entered, you will have a budget laid out for you and ready to
use.
http://www.projectperfect.com.au