# Budget vs Actuals Tracker Dashboard

Review planned and recorded P&L across revenue, COGS, gross profit, opex, and EBITDA, with monthly dollar and percent variances and a YTD traffic-light summary for close reviews.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/budget-vs-actuals
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/templates/budget-vs-actuals.xlsx

## About this dashboard

The Budget vs Actuals Dashboard compares planned and recorded P&L across revenue, COGS, gross profit, opex, and EBITDA. It brings monthly dollar variance, percent variance, and YTD budget-versus-actual totals into a focused operating view, with On track, Watch, or Off track status based on user-set thresholds.

Use it during monthly close reviews to isolate lines that need explanation, or in re-forecasting discussions when YTD variance suggests the original plan needs attention. The dashboard outputs are fed by the workbook's parallel Budget, Actuals, Variance, and Summary sheets, which share the same row layout for clear cross-reference.

Supporting workbook details include editable month-one bases, monthly growth, COGS percentages, and simulated actual variance. In live use, replace the formula-driven Actuals cells with bookkeeping data; the Variance and Summary sheets then recalculate. The report covers P&L performance and does not provide balance-sheet or cash-flow variance.

## What's included

- Monthly budget and actual revenue
- COGS, gross profit, opex, and EBITDA
- Dollar variance by line and month
- Percent variance with divide-by-zero guard
- YTD budget, actual, and variance totals
- On track, Watch, or Off track status

## Frequently asked questions

### What does this dashboard compare?

It compares planned and recorded monthly P&L across revenue streams, COGS, gross profit, opex categories, and EBITDA. The Summary output aggregates the same lines year to date and reports dollar variance, percent variance, and threshold-based status.

### How do I add bookkeeping actuals?

Replace the formula-driven cells on the Actuals sheet with recorded bookkeeping values while preserving the Budget row layout. The Variance and Summary sheets draw from those cells, so their monthly and YTD outputs recalculate automatically.

### How is status determined?

The Summary applies user-set on-track and watch thresholds to absolute percent variance. Each line is labelled On track, Watch, or Off track, while the underlying dollar variance remains Actual minus Budget without sign flips.

### What assumptions drive the budget?

The supporting Assumptions sheet holds month-one bases for revenue and cost lines, monthly growth for revenue and opex, COGS percentages by stream, simulated actual-variance percentages, and the absolute-percent thresholds used by the Summary status logic.

### Does it include balance-sheet variance?

No. This is a P&L-only variance tracker covering revenue, COGS, gross profit, opex, and EBITDA. Use a linked three-statement model when you need balance-sheet, cash-flow, debt, or broader financial-position variance.

## Related dashboards

- [Financial Health Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/financial-health)
- [Board Reporting Pack Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/board-reporting)
- [Cash Flow Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/cashflow)
- [Income Statement Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/income-statement)