What is Budget Planner?
In this article, our 3 types of Budget Planner are compared, so that you can select the one which best fits your business.
Before jump into the comparison, let me quickly explain, why our Budget Planner helps your cash flow management.
Our Budget Planner is a strong tool to plan and monitor your cash flow. Once you get your Budget, this can be integrated into your daily cash projection, so that you will not miss your planned transactions, or see the possible cash short risk.
And actual transactions can be always monitored. Below sample is "Quick Cash Flow Plan":
You can see the planned future and past actual at once!
Which Budget Planner fits your business?
We provide 3 types of Budget Planner, and each of them has its own character.
The best selection for you depends on your business style. The key is "invoice" and "bill".
For sales transactions in a retail business, money is generally paid immediately after the goods or service is provided, no matter if paid by cash, debit card, or credit card.
If it is the case for your business, then the possible best match might be:
Quick Cash Flow Plan
- Future cash flows are automatically created from actual transactions in the past
- You can update numbers in a cell directly like a spreadsheet
- Categorisation is simplified into sales, cost of goods sold (direct cost), taxes, loans, and any other cash-ins/outs
- You can plan sales and cost of goods sold at a contact (customer/supplier) level
Please note that any other cash-outs, such as operating costs like rent, or asset purchases are managed as "Others/Expenses (Cash-outs)" in the Quick Cash Flow Plan and Basic Budget.
On the other hand, a wholesale business allows customers to pay later, setting "term" or "due date". In this case, it is important to check if your invoice is issued as planned, and collected as planned, and the best option may be:
Basic Budget
- Future sales and purchases are automatically created from past transactions
- Issue timing and cash payment timing are automatically estimated
- Can update the issue amount and timing
- Can plan the cash flow in detail, such as partial payment
- All the features in the Quick Cash Flow Plan are available
If you want to create a budget for "Others/Expenses" in detail, the best option may be:
Full Budget(*1)
The Full Budget allows you to create a budget at a more detailed level, such as:
- Each operating cost item
- Asset purchase
- Wages and related taxes
- Prepayment handling, etc
Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and detailed Cash Flow Plan are created automatically.
This is a very powerful budgeting tool with high flexibility but may require more accounting knowledge.
The Full Budget also provides the authorisation process and change histories, unlike the others.
Therefore, if you need to "fix" your budget to share it with any advisers for review or financial institutions for lending money, etc, this type could be the right choice.
If you use Xero and already have your budget in Xero, you can also import it as a full budget, make adjustments, and monitor it in real-time in CaFE.
Did you find the best option for you?
If you are not sure, I suggest you can start with the Quick Cash Flow Plan. It is quick to create and easy to understand.
You can also see the quick guide for more details.
Hope you will find the best Budget Planner for you and enjoy using it!
(*1) The Full Budget is available to Business and Enterprise subscribers.
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