LegalSuite Budgets

Author:                   Laura Stewart

Date:                      January 2009

Audience:              Bookkeeping / Agents

Summary:              Inserting budgets in LegalSuite

CONTENTS:

· Introduction

· Accessing the Business Ledger Budgets

· Accessing the Cost Centre Budgets

· Accessing the Employee Budgets

· Default Business Budget

· Reports

· Conclusion

Introduction:

LegalSuite has a facility whereby you can insert budgets to the business ledger accounts, cost centres and employees. These budgets are used for reporting and analysis purposes.

Accessing the Business Ledger Budgets:

· Click on the business ledger icon.

The following business ledger screen will appear (Fig 1):

Fig 1: Business Ledger Screen

· Select the account you wish to add the budgets for.

· Double click on the account.

The following screen will appear (Fig 2):

Fig 2: Record Will Be Changed Screen

· Select the Balances tab.

The Balances tab shows a breakdown of the Business Ledger account's balances and budgets for this year and last year. 

To Insert a Budget for a Period in the current Financial Year double-click on a Period in the required Budget column. Type in the Budget for this Period and press [Enter].

The Business Ledger Account - Balances tab will look as follows (Fig 3):

Fig 3: Record Will Be Changed Screen

These data fields appear on the Business Ledger Account - Balances tab.

Per                   -           The different Periods in the financial year.

This Year         -           The balance for each Period in the current financial year.

Last Year         -           The balance for each Period in the last financial year.

Budgets           -           The estimated figures for each Period in the financial year. These Budgets

are used for reporting and analysis purposes.

If you wish to use the same budget amount for every month on the ledger account then click on budget tab (Fig 4):

Fig 4: Record Will Be Added Screen

· On the right hand side of the screen under Budget 1 type in the amount of the budget and select Tab.

Click OK

The following screen will appear (Fig 5):

Fig 5: Record Will Be Added Screen – Balances Tab

I have selected R24 000 as my budget 1 total, and now the budget 1 column has been divided into 12 months, each period has a budget of R2 000 totaling the budget total of R24 000.

Budget 2 and budget 3 can be used for prior years for reporting purposes.

Alternatively if you wish to alter every business ledger budget amount by a percentage, open the business ledger and select Edit at the top of LegalSuite and click on Change Budgets.

The following screen will appear (Fig 6):

Fig 6: Processing Records Screen

You can increase the budget, copy, move or clear the budget.

Select which Budget you would like to change and select the rate at which you would like the budget to be changed.

· Click OK and the budgets will now be changed

Accessing the Cost Centre Budgets:

· Click on the Cost Centre icon.

The following screen will appear (Fig 7):

Fig 7: Cost Centre Screen

· Select the cost centre and double click on the cost centre.

The following screen will appear (Fig 8):

Fig 8: Record Will Be Changed – Balances Tab

· Select the Balances Tab

· In the Budget column double click on each period and insert the budget amount for that period and click Enter.

· Click the OK button.

The budgets have now been set up in the cost centre and can be used for reporting purposes.

Accessing the Employee Budgets:

· Click on the employee icon.

The following screen will appear (Fig 9):

Fig 9:  Employee Income and Expenditure Screen

· Select the employee you wish to insert the budgets for and double click on the employee.

The following screen will appear (Fig 10):

Fig 10: Record Will Be Changed – Balances Tab

· Click on the Balances Tab

· Double click on the Budget column and insert the budget required for each period.

· Click on the OK button

The budgets have now been added to the specified employee.

Default Business Budget

When you set up the budgets for the business ledger accounts you had an option to add budgets for budget 1, budget 2 or budget 3.

You can select which budget you would like to appear as your default budget so when you draw budget  reports the default budget will appear on the report.

To set up the default budget click on Setup – Program Settings – Miscellaneous Tab.

· The following screen will appear (Fig 11):

Fig 11: Program Settings – Miscellaneous Tab Screen

Select either budget 1, 2 or 3 as the default budget to appear on all budget reports.

Reports:

Business Ledger Budget Reports:

If you wish to see all the budgets for the business ledger accounts click on the reports icon next to the exit button.

The following screen will appear (Fig 12):

Fig 12: Reports Screen – Business

· Highlight the Business Ledger Budgets – Budget 1 report.

This report shows a listing of all Business Ledger Accounts with Budgets for each Period (Budget 1)

You can filter this report for all ledger accounts or selected ledger account.

An example of this report is shown as follows:

If you wish to view a report showing Actual and Budgeted Income and Expenditure for the Current and Previous Periods and Years, select the Income and Expenditure report (Fig 13):

You can filter this report for the period you require.

Fig 13: Reports Screen

An example of this report is as follows:

Cost Centre Budget Reports:

If you wish to see all budgets for all the cost centres click on the reports icon next to the exist button.

The following screen will appear (Fig 14):

Fig 14: Reports Screen – Cost Centres

· Highlight the Cost Centre Budgets report.

This report shows a list of all Cost Centres with their Budgets for each Period.

You can filter this report for all cost centres or selected cost centres.

An example of this report is as follows:

If you wish to view a report showing Actual and Budgeted Income for each Cost Centre for the Current and Previous Period and Year highlight the Cost Centre Income Analysis report (Fig 15):

Fig 15: Reports Screen – Cost Centres

This report can be filtered by all cost centres or selected cost centres and can be filtered by the period required.

An example of this report is as follows:

Employee Budget Reports:

If you wish to see all budgets for all the employees click on the reports icon next to the exist button

The following screen will appear (Fig 16):

Fig 16: Reports Screen - Employees

· Highlight the Employee Budgets report.

This report shows a list of all employees with their Budgets for each Period.

You can filter this report for all employees or selected employees.

An example of this report is as follows:

If you wish to view a report that shows a list of all Employees showing Income this period / budget this period / income last period and budget this year, highlight the Employee Income Analysis report (Fig 17):

Fig 17: Reports Screen – Employees

This report can be filtered for all employees or selected employees and can be filtered for the period required.

An example of this report is as follows:

Conclusion:

This whitepaper will assist you in inserting the necessary budgets for the business ledger accounts, cost centres and employees.