Build and approve the budget

Take a scoped proposal through the required financial decisions.

5 stages · 3 approvals

Roles and responsibilities

Cost-Center Head FP&A Director CFO System 1 Set the planningbasis BudgetCycles 2 Submit the teamplan BudgetVersions 3 Review the planningproposal Approvals 4 Approve thefinancial plan Approvals 5 Record boardauthorization and lock BudgetVersions
  1. Step 1Set the planning basis
    Open Budget CyclesPlanning
    Cycle CodeNameCadenceFiscal Year
    Mid Year Reforecast
  2. Step 2Submit the team plan
    My Budget SubmissionDraft
    Version NumberCycleVersion TypeStatus
    Negotiation CFO
  3. Step 3Review the planning proposal
    Pending Budget ApprovalsPending
    VersionStep OrderApprover RoleApprover
    FPADirector
  4. Step 4Approve the financial plan
    CFO Budget DecisionsPending
    VersionSubmission RevisionStep OrderApprover Role
    CFO
Red diamonds require approval.Rows show responsibility for each step.

Process steps

Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.

Set the planning basis

FP&A Director opens the cycle and seeds the draft BudgetVersions from the selected baseline. Admin maintains approved driver and formula masters. CFO sets Targets with the correct metric units. Retain the basis before the team begins editing.

Responsible
FP&A Director
Records
BudgetCyclesBudgetVersionsDriversTargets
Effect
Open a traceable planning cycle

Submit the team plan

Cost-Center Head prepares own BudgetLines and submits the stable SubmissionRevision. Preserve formula comparisons and override reasons. A returned or materially changed submission receives a new revision and cannot reuse an earlier approval.

Responsible
Cost-Center Head
Records
BudgetVersionsBudgetLinesDriverValues
Effect
Freeze the proposed revision
Approval required

Review the planning proposal

FP&A Analyst records the assigned review and FP&A Director gives the planning decision. Consolidation into V2 keeps the source submissions and explicit budget overrides. Pending Budget Approvals authorizes the exact assigned revision, not any later edit.

Responsible
FP&A Director
Records
ApprovalsBudgetVersionsAssumptionsLog
Effect
Record the planning review
Approval required

Approve the financial plan

CFO Budget Decisions contains the financial proposal after the required prior decisions. CFO approves the exact revision. This approval permits board presentation but does not invent a board resolution. Keep the actor, revision and supporting evidence attached to the decision.

Responsible
CFO
Records
ApprovalsBudgetVersions
Effect
Authorize the financial proposal
Approval required

Record board authorization and lock

FP&A Director applies any board conditions to a draft revision and completes renewed decisions. CFO verifies the recorded external resolution against the final version before Director locks it. The locked baseline remains intact through later forecasts and transfers.

Responsible
CFO · for recorded external board evidence
Records
BudgetVersionsApprovalsAssumptionsLog
Effect
Retain the authorized baseline
Approvals and controls

3 approvals required in this process

Records and postings

StageRecordsEffect
1 Set the planning basis BudgetCyclesBudgetVersionsDriversTargets Open a traceable planning cycle
2 Submit the team plan BudgetVersionsBudgetLinesDriverValues Freeze the proposed revision
3 Review the planning proposal ApprovalsBudgetVersionsAssumptionsLog Record the planning review
4 Approve the financial plan ApprovalsBudgetVersions Authorize the financial proposal
5 Record board authorization and lock BudgetVersionsApprovalsAssumptionsLog Retain the authorized baseline
Data model →

Process reports

All reports

Headcount & Personnel Cost

Per Entity per Period: Headcount Driver values, AvgSalary, PersonnelExpense BudgetLines (Budget vs Actual), trailing-12 with delta. The cross-walk into Payroll's Headcount Cost ledger and the input to next-cycle workforce planning.

Assumptions Audit Trail

Every AssumptionsLog row in a window with ChangeType, Driver / DriverFormula, FromValue / ToValue, Reason, ChangedBy, ChangedAt, and the RelatedRecord. Filterable by Driver, by changer, by Cycle. The Auditor's primary report for "what assumption produced what number when."

Run by an agent

Agent support

An agent cannot invent board authorization, approve its own transfer, alter locked history or publish a partly reconciled ledger import. Suggested assumptions remain proposals until the appropriate workflow accepts them. A generated PDF is distinct from a CFO-approved packet.

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# Example after configuration $ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent › build and approve the budget · set the planning basis on BudgetCycles, BudgetVersions, Drivers, Targets ✓ FP&A Director opens the cycle and seeds the draft BudgetVersions from the selected baseline. › build and approve the budget · submit the team plan on BudgetVersions, BudgetLines, DriverValues ✓ Cost-Center Head prepares own BudgetLines and submits the stable SubmissionRevision. › build and approve the budget · review the planning proposal on Approvals, BudgetVersions, AssumptionsLog ⏸ approval · waiting for the fp&a director # 2 more stages after approval: approve the financial plan, record board authorization and lock

Other processes

4 more

Approve budget transfers

Reallocate budget with balanced changes and clear decision ownership.

5 stages · 2 approvals

Review variance and board packs

Turn reconciled results into an approved financial review packet.

4 stages · 1 approval

ERP•AI workspace

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