Docs

Plan vs Actual

Compare what happened against what you planned in bluprnts, month by month, for every month that has closed since your forecast opened.

Plan vs Actual sets your books beside your forecast for every month that has closed since the forecast opened. It answers the question a forecast can't answer on its own: were we right?

Find it in the left sidebar, under Statements → Plan vs Actual.

What you need first#

An accounting system connected, and accounts mapped. With nothing connected the page says "Nothing to compare yet" and offers a link to set one up — it is reachable either way, so you can see what it will give you before committing.

The headline variances#

Four figures across the top, each showing the actual with the variance underneath. Profit leads, because it is the question the page exists to answer; the other three explain how it got there.

FigureCompared over
Profit vs planThe closed months
Revenue vs planThe closed months
Operating costs vs planThe closed months
Cash vs planThe latest month end

Cash is a balance rather than a flow, so it is compared as a position at the most recent month end, not as a total of the months.

Green always means better#

Every figure is actual less plan, and the sign is arranged so a positive is better than planned on every line, including costs. Spending less than planned reads green, the same as earning more than planned. You never have to work out which direction is good for the row you're looking at.

The table#

The same grid as the financial statements, in diff mode: each line shows the actual, tinted by whether it improved on or worsened against the plan, with a legend for the two.

The bottom row is Net profit.

Two things are deliberately different here:

  • Only closed months appear. A month in progress would compare a part-month of actuals against a whole month of plan, which is worse than no comparison at all. The page tells you how many months it is covering.
  • The lines are the engine's own, not a presented statement. Actuals are keyed to the engine's vocabulary, so the comparison doesn't change shape when you switch your reporting standard or the Simple/Accounting view.

Before anything has closed#

"Nothing has closed yet. Once a month ends, it will be compared here." A forecast that started this month has nothing to compare until the month ends.