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How to Create a Budget for Capital Expenditure

xAssets Fixed Asset Management User Guide
How To

How to Create a Budget for Capital Expenditure

This page explains how to create a capital expenditure budget in xAssets, set budget amounts, and track actual spending against approved targets.

Before You Begin

  • Ensure you are in the Fixed Asset Management profile.
  • The Budgets module must be enabled. If it is not visible in the left sidebar, enable it via the gear icon (top right) > Enable/Disable Features > check Budgets, then refresh the page.
  • Accounting periods must be configured (see How to Set Up Accounting Periods).
  • Decide how you want to split your budget: by Company, Category, Department, Cost Centre, or Location.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Step 1: Create a Budget Slot

  1. Navigate to Budget and Forecast Slots in the Budgets menu.
  2. Create a new budget slot with the following fields:
Field What to Enter
Budget Slot Name A descriptive name, e.g. "IT Capital Budget 2026"
Budget Type The category of budget
Split By Choose the dimension that matches how your organisation tracks capital spending: Company, Category, Department, Cost Centre, or Location
Start Date Beginning of the budget period
End Date End of the budget period
  1. Click Save.

Step 2: Generate Budget Entries

  1. Navigate to Create Budget Entries in the Budgets menu.
  2. Select the Budget slot you just created.
  3. Select the Financial Year for period calculations.
  4. Choose whether to create entries Per Period (e.g. monthly budgets) or as a single annual entry. Start with annual entries unless you need monthly tracking.
  5. Select the Companies and Categories to include.
  6. Click Create. The system generates entries by cross-joining the selected companies, categories, and the dimension from the "Split By" field.

Step 3: Set Budget Amounts

  1. Navigate to Budget Totals in the Budgets menu.
  2. The generated entries appear as records in the list.
  3. Click an entry to open it and set the Budget Amount (the approved target).
  4. Add a custodian and notes if needed.
  5. Click Save.

For efficiency, use Bulk Update Budget Entries in a Single Edit to update multiple entries at once.

Step 4: Monitor Spending

The budget system tracks three values for each entry:

Value Description
Budget Amount The approved target you set
Actual Transactions Real spending (asset additions) recorded against this dimension
Forecast Transactions Projected spending for the remainder of the period

Use the budget reporting queries to compare these values and identify variances:

  • Under budget: Actual + Forecast is less than Budget Amount.
  • On budget: Actual + Forecast approximately equals Budget Amount.
  • Over budget: Actual + Forecast exceeds Budget Amount.

Important Notes

  • Review budget vs. actuals monthly as part of your period-end process.
  • Deleting budget entries removes the targets and variance tracking permanently. To zero out a budget without losing the structure, set the amount to zero instead.
  • The number of generated entries depends on your selections. For example, 2 companies x 3 categories x 5 cost centres = 30 entries. With "Per Period" checked and 12 monthly periods, that becomes 360 entries.