Introduction:

In Lightning, there are Budgets and Budget Accounts.  The budgets hierarchy works like this:

Budget > Budget Accounts

There are two main budget types that can be created:

  • Budget:  The budgeting "folder" (formerly known as a "Budget Group").  All Accounts that are placed under this budget folder, will be bound by the properties of the main budget.  
  • Budget Accounts:  All expenses will be tracked against one or more budget accounts.  Most accounts used will be associated with Operating budgets, but some accounts will be exclusively for acquiring parts through Purchase Orders.  Those budget accounts will need to be created in a Purchasing budget folder.

You can establish an unlimited number of budget accounts, but they all must fall into one of these two budget types.


Creating a Budget Account

Once the budget (Group/Folder) has been created, select the Budget of your choice on the left of the page, and then click the +Create Account button at the top center of the page to create your account. This account will be part of your selected Budget.

Select an Account Name and an Account Description for the account being created.  A yearly budget for the account is required, but you can set the amount to $0 if you choose.  This budget amount can be updated at any time.

 

Multiple Budget Accounts can be placed under a single budget folder.
For Example, In the animation below, the "Operations" budget actually has two Accounts under it:

  1. Operations - Default Asset Maint. Budget
  2. Towers Maintenance - Default Maint. Budget for Corp

Both of these Budget Accounts are part of the "Operations" budget

 NOTE:  Every single account listed under that budget, MUST share the same budget properties.  For example, if you establish an Operating budget, all the accounts placed under that budget will only be available for modules that use Operating budget accounts (Assets, Work Orders, etc). 

Additional Accounts options:

  • Click on the Account of choice to see the previous year's budget and last year's expenses.
  • Click on the Budget Planning button at the top/center of the page to set what the budgeted amount should be for any month you choose.  

Once the Budget Account is in place, that budget may now be used in the appropriate areas of the program.  


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