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- Budgeting & Forecasting
- Features
- Variance and board packs
Variance and board packs
Variance and board packs connects reconciled actuals, the selected budget basis and the accepted forecast to the explanations Finance needs. Variance analyses identify the differences by account, entity and period. Flux comments retain the owner’s explanation and reviewer response. Board packs brings the selected evidence into a retained packet for financial review and distribution. The figures and commentary stay attached to an explicit snapshot, so a later import or forecast does not change what the board previously received.
OverviewVariance Review×
Budgeting & Forecasting · Variance and board packs
New
Variance Review
Variance analyses
| Period | Entity | Account | Budget amount | Actual amount | Forecast amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Oct | Product development | 4010 Service revenue | 43,943.46 | 23,808.61 | 42,228.65 | |
| 22 Oct | Wholesale sales | 4000 Product sales | 22,905.90 | 21,609.61 | 46,957.84 | |
| 02 Nov | Field service | 6400 Software subscriptions | 44,448.51 | 34,344.07 | 3,919.23 | |
| 01 Nov | Field service | 6300 Freight expense | 41,287.00 | 28,015.29 | 6,968.60 | |
| 19 Oct | West region | 7100 Interest expense | 5,454.00 | 39,993.87 | 39,836.90 |
6 of 6 records
Product developmentVariance analyses · VA-24789
Not requiredPeriod11 Oct
Account4010 Service revenue
Budget amount43,943.46
Actual amount23,808.61
Forecast amount42,228.65
What you can do
Compare the right financial bases
Variance Review uses a complete reconciled actuals batch, a locked budget version with its applied-transfer cutoff and the selected accepted forecast. Keep missing forecast values distinct from zero. Evaluate materiality in dollars and, where configured, percentage terms; a zero budget produces a null percentage with the absolute difference still visible. Use the effective account settings for the entity and retain their basis. Revenue and expense differences need their account context before Finance interprets whether the change is favorable.
Collect explanations from the responsible team
My Variance This Month gives Cost-Center Head the material findings within their entity scope. When the configured rule requires commentary, the owner supplies flux comments with a reason, relevant driver and quantification where useful. FP&A Analyst reviews the explanation for that specific comparison. Pending flux comments helps Finance follow up on missing work. A later recomputation has a different basis and must not inherit a reviewed comment as if its numbers had never changed. Preserve earlier explanations for the audit trail.
Approve the packet that will be shared
Upcoming Board Packs contains the preparation and review work for Finance. Snapshot manifest records the exact budget revision, actuals batch, accepted forecast, transfer cutoff and scenario runs included in the PDF. CFO approves that packet before distribution. Published Board Packs gives Executive Reader access only to approved or distributed artifacts. Pack approval is distinct from an external board resolution. If the board requests a budget change, retain its mandate and prepare a new draft revision with renewed decisions before locking it.
What your team sees
- Variance Review. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
- Upcoming Board Packs. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
- Published Board Packs. Open the related work within your assigned scope.
Rollout checks
Reconcile a closed month with a zero-budget account, a material currency variance and an optional percentage threshold. Review the owner’s explanation, generate a packet and record its approval. Then publish a later forecast and verify that the earlier PDF and manifest remain intact. Confirm that an Executive Reader cannot retrieve a draft packet through a copied link or export.
What it keeps track of
Data model- Variance analyses
- Periodic Actual-vs-Budget-vs-Forecast per
(Version, Period, Entity, Account, ActualsSnapshotKey, ForecastSnapshotKey, TransferCutoff). Materialized monthly by the variance-recompute workflow on Actuals load. The grain Cost-Center Heads defend at the close meeting. - Flux comments
- Narrative explanations of material variances. One or more per variance analyses row. Provided by the Cost-Center Head, reviewed by FP&A Analyst.
- Budget account settings
- Per-Account (optionally per-Entity) thresholds that drive variance materiality flagging and flux-comment requirements. Read by the
variance-recomputeworkflow at evaluation time. - Board packs
- Quarterly (or monthly) board financial packets. Generated 5 business days before each board meeting from the explicitly selected budget revision and accepted forecast snapshot recorded in snapshot manifest.
- Budget versions
- Versions within a Cycle. The audit-friendly chain — V1-Submission, V2-negotiation CFO, V3-board approved, mid year reforecast — so the trail of who proposed what and what the board approved survives.
- Rolling forecasts
- The rolling N-month forward view that updates monthly. Distinct from budget versions — Forecast is a living revision, Budget is a locked plan. The rolling window slides as months close.
- Assumptions log
- Audit trail of every Driver, driver value, and driver formula change plus every budget transfer apply. The auditor’s source of truth for “what assumption produced what number when.”
Who uses it
Permissions- Cost-Center Head
- Explains own variances.
- FP&A Analyst
- Reviews the supporting commentary.
- FP&A Director
- Prepares the board packet.
- CFO
- Approves distribution.
- Executive Reader
- Sees published artifacts and Auditor reads the retained evidence.
Set up Budgeting & Forecasting your way.
Start free, then use Proto to change fields, steps and approvals before your team goes live.