How to enter a budget in MYOB

Settle what the budget is for before you open MYOB, then turn those goals into figures. MYOB points to information you probably already hold: business plans for sales, marketing, production and product lines, what came in and went out in earlier years according to your bank statements, any equipment you plan to buy or sell, big events such as opening or closing a location, and any earlier budget you could build on.

Then check your categories, because an inactive linked or header category can stop a budget from running. Choose Manage linked categories from the Accounting menu and note the linked categories on the Categories & Banking tab for electronic payments and undeposited funds. Next open Categories (Chart of accounts), select Show inactive, and for any of those noted categories marked Inactive, click its name, clear Inactive category and click Save.

An inactive header category is fixed differently: MYOB says to delete it and create it again. Take a screenshot of its details first, then after recreating it, select each detail category that belonged to it and click Move down a level to put it back underneath.

1. Go to the Reporting menu and choose Reports.
2. On the Reports page, click Budget management.
3. Click Create budget, enter a name for the budget and choose the period it covers.
4. Click Save changes. Your new, empty budget opens.
5. Use the options across the top to pick which type of categories to budget for, the periods to break the budget into, and how amounts are shown.
6. If you want MYOB to work out the balance of a nominated category from your budget entries, select that option.
7. Type your amounts into the budget cells. Clicking a cell offers Copy across, Average across and Increase/decrease per month, and a cell also works as a calculator when you type a sum and tab out.
8. To spread a total over a period instead of typing each month, use the Breakdown filter.
9. To change what you've entered, or start again, choose a Clear option.
10. Click Save.

The budget is listed on the Budget management page, ready to measure results against: in the Profit and loss report, select the Budget option and choose this budget to see it next to your actual results. MYOB recommends doing this at least once a month so you spot areas running behind plan early.

To revise it, open Budget management, click the budget's name, make your changes and click Save changes. A different budget period needs a new budget. For a copy to work from, click the ellipsis button next to a budget, choose Duplicate and confirm. To remove one, click its ellipsis (...) button, choose Delete and confirm.

To share it, click Export for an Excel or PDF copy, or View and print to open a PDF in a new browser tab. In Excel, enable editing, or the budget's totals won't show.

If a budget won't run, go back to the category checks above: an inactive linked or header category is the cause MYOB names.

If you use AccountRight on the desktop, budgets are entered in the Prepare Budgets window: open Accounts List from the Accounts command centre and click Budgets. Choose this financial year or the next, and Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet as the account type, then type an amount for each month. Put a hyphen in front of a figure to make it negative. Shortcuts, Copy Amount to Following Months and Copy Previous Year's Actual Data help fill rows, and OK saves. MYOB's desktop notes say some company files develop a fault where budget figures won't save or don't appear in reports, and asks you to contact MYOB if that happens.