sales CRMFeaturesSet a plan for each expense category, revenue and payroll. The CRM fills in actuals from payments and bank statements and shows where spending is running ahead of the month.
Budget vs actual (also called plan vs actual or variance analysis) compares planned income and spending with what actually happened in the same period. It answers a simple question: is the business staying within this month's budget, and if not, which category is off?
In most small businesses the budget lives in Excel. The plan is set at the start of the month, and actuals get pulled together at the end, when the money is already gone. In 95sales CRM, actuals build up on their own from client payments, expenses, the payroll sheet and imported bank statements. So you see the variance mid-month, while you can still do something about it.
The screen covers one month. Expense categories are grouped the same way as in the monthly P&L: a "Marketing" group holds ads and contractors, an "Office" group holds rent and utilities, and so on.
| On the screen | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Revenue: plan and actual | Whether sales are on track |
| Expenses: plan and actual | Total spending against budget |
| Profit | What's left at current actuals |
| Plan for each expense category | Budget for ads, rent, software and so on |
| "Salaries (payroll sheet)" row | Planned payroll against what's been accrued |
| Variance per row | How far actual is above or below plan |
| Progress bar with a "today" marker | Whether spending is ahead of the calendar |
| Number of overspent categories | How many rows have already gone over plan |
The progress bar is the key signal. If on the 10th your "Advertising" category is 70% spent and only a third of the month has passed, the bar runs past the "today" marker. That's your cue to look into it before month-end, not after.
You don't enter actuals. They come from what's already in the CRM. The more transactions you load, the more accurate they are, which is what bank statement import is for.
Clinic or rehab center. Say a private clinic has fixed costs (rent, payroll, software) and variable ones (advertising, supplies from contractors). A plan based on the 3-month average gives a realistic budget, and the "Salaries (payroll sheet)" row shows whether new hires are pushing payroll over plan.
Agency. At a marketing agency, spending on contractors and tools grows with the client list and is easy to lose track of. The project filter shows what was actually spent on a given client or service line, while the overall budget shows whether the company is within limits.
Service business. For a service business, the balance between revenue and costs during the month matters. If revenue is behind plan while costs run on schedule, month-end profit will be lower, and you can see that early.
A project is a service line, client or location you want to track separately. Projects live in a reference list and are set on transactions, including when you import from Finmap. On the budget screen, the project filter changes only the actuals. The budget itself is company-wide; there's no separate plan per project.
The three reports answer different questions:
All three use the same transactions and categories, so the numbers match. For the method behind it, see the guide how to run a budget vs actual.
Budget vs actual works together with the monthly P&L, the management balance sheet, counterparties and bank statement import. Access is limited to roles with permission to view finance.
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FAQ
It's a table that puts planned and actual income and spending for the month side by side, with the variance between them. It shows which categories are over budget.
Click "Same as last month" or use the 3-month average option. The CRM fills in the plan, and you adjust individual categories.
From expenses, payments, the payroll sheet and transactions in imported bank statements. You don't enter actuals separately.
No. Budget vs actual in 95sales CRM is monthly. For the full-year picture of actuals, use the monthly P&L.
The project filter shows actuals for the selected project, but the budget itself is company-wide.
It's in 95sales CRM — we'll show you in a demo.
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