Budget Spreadsheet: Track Spending Trends In Category and Chart Report
Applies to Excel template: "Georges Budget for Excel"
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Benefits of tracking spending trends in an Excel budget spreadsheet
Spotting trends in your spending is an important part of helping manage your personal finances and using a budget spreadsheet like Georges Budget for Excel or other similar personal finance software can help especially with the use of Excel charts spanning over a period of time such as spending for the Last 12 months in a particular expense category such as restaurants.
If you see spending trending up from one month to another in addition to going over your monthly budget limit that you set in your Excel budget spreadsheet, then you can take corrective action and cut your spending as needed to prevent this and start finding ways to save money.
How to use the Category Report and Chart section of Georges Budget for Excel
The Category Report and Chart is located on the Accounts Summary sheet of the Excel budget spreadsheet titled Georges Budget for Excel.
The Expense amounts displayed in the Category Report and Chart have been multiplied by -1 for display purposes. For example, if there are transactions in the registers that show -300.00 was spent on groceries for a particular month, then -300.00 is multiplied by -1 in this report and will be displayed as 300.00 in this report for that particular month and category.
The Category Report and Chart is primarily for single category reporting over 3 periods of time: This Yr. Last Yr, and Last 12 months. However, it also includes reports for Total Income (displayed in the drop down selection as "Show Total Income"), Total Expenses (displayed in the drop down selection as "Show Total Expenses"), and Net Amount (displayed in the drop down selection as "Show Net Amount", which is Total Income Less Total Expenses)
The colored indicator lights work differently in the Category Report and Chart located in the Accounts Summary sheet as compared to the colored indicator lights in the Monthly Actual vs Budget Report and Yearly Actual vs Budget Report located in the Reports and Charts sheet. For example, there are no yellow indicator lights in the Category Report and Chart located in the Accounts Summary sheet. Also, the "Show Net Amount" option in the Category Report and Chart located in the Accounts Summary sheet has green indicator lights in certain scenarios.
For Income Categories, the "Show Total Income" option, the "Show Net Amount" option, and their report Totals, a green indicator light means that for a particular month or report Total, the Actual amount is greater than or equal to the Budget amount and also the Actual amount must also be is greater than 0.00.
For Income Categories, the "Show Total Income" option, the "Show Net Amount" option, and their report Totals, if the Actual amount is greater than 0.00 and the Budget amount is equal to 0.00, then a green indicator light will be displayed.
For Income Categories, the "Show Total Income" option, the "Show Net Amount" option, and their report Totals, if the Actual and Budget amounts are both equal to 0.00, then a green indicator light will not be displayed, however the 0.00 amounts will be displayed. There are no other colored indicator lights for Income Categories, the "Show Total Income" option, the "Show Net Amount" option, and their report Totals.
For Expense Categories, the "Show Total Expenses" option, and their report Totals, a red indicator light means that the Actual amount is greater than the Budget amount.
For Expense categories, the "Show Total Expenses" option, and their report Totals, if the Actual amount is greater than 0.00 and the Budget amount is equal to 0.00, then the red indicator light will be displayed.
For Expense categories, the "Show Total Expenses" option, and their report Totals, if the Actual and Budget amounts are both equal to 0.00, then a green indicator light will not be displayed, however the 0.00 amounts will be displayed. There are no other colored indicator lights for Expense Categories, the "Show Total Expenses" option, and their report Totals.
If a column chart is visible, it will show a green column, or a gray column, or a combination of green and gray columns. The gray columns represent the Budget amounts. The green columns represents the Actual amounts.
Note: Budget Amounts will be displayed and totaled for all months in the time period selected even if there are no transactions related to the category that was selected.
The Category Report and Chart relies on your computers date. If the calendar date or time is incorrect, the reports and charts may be incorrect. Make sure your computers calendars date and time are correct.
The Category Report and Chart is based on the all transactions in all the Registers, even if the Filter command is used to filter out (hide) some or all the transactions from a particular Register(s).
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