To create a new budget year:

1. In Membership PLUS click Accounting.
2. Click Accounts.
3. Select the Budget tab.
4. Click the New Year button.

   

5. Select the appropriate year to add a budget for.
6. Select the starting values for the new budget year.

   You can initialize the new budget year to have all amounts reset to $0.00 or select the budget from a previous year to copy. If your budget is staying the same as a previous year or increasing by a percentage, it is best to copy the budget from a previous year. If all of the budget amounts will be completely different, it will be easier to begin with $0.00 amounts.

   

7. Click OK.

   The new budget year has been added. Now you are ready to enter budget amounts for each of the accounts.

To enter budget amounts:

1. Click the Edit button at the top of the screen.
2. Use the drop down list to select one of the following options to adjust the budget amount:
   1. Increase/Decrease base amount by
      If you want to increase the amount, enter either a dollar amount or a percentage in the appropriate field below the Apply Budget Options field. The specified amount is then added to the base amount and put in the second highlighted field; the increase amount is then added to the number in the second field and put in the third field, and so on to the end of the selected periods. For example, if you enter $100 in January and increase by $10, you would wind up with $100 in January, $110 in February, $120 in March, $130 in April, and so on.

      If you want to decrease the amount, enter the amount or percentage as a negative number, that is, put a minus sign in front of it. The specified amount is then subtracted from the base amount in the first highlighted field and the result is placed in the second field; the decrease amount is then subtracted from that number and put in the third field, and so on to the end of the selected periods. For example, if you enter $100 in January, highlight January, February, March, and April, and then specify -$10, you would wind up with $100 in January, $90 in February, $80 in March, and $70 in April.

   2. Amortize
      If you're amortizing a $10,000 car loan beginning in January and want to amortize it over the entire year, you would enter $10,000 in January, select February through December (or do not make a selection), and then amortize. The reason for not including January is that it is assumed that the loan is being paid in arrears, which means that even though the loan was taken out in January, the first payment isn't due until February 1. If you were calculating a loan payable in advance, you would then include January in the amortization period.
   3. Copy Base Amount
      You must enter an amount into the Base Amount field then select Copy Base Amount in order to fill in each budget period with the Base Amount.
   4. Divide Base Amount
      In the Base Amount field enter the total budget that is to be divided equally between your budget periods. For example, if the budget period is set to Monthly and the budget for each month should be $100.00, the amount entered into the Base Amount field would be $1200.00. When the Apply button was clicked the budget for this particular account will show $100.00 for each month (1200/12=100).
   5. Set Budget to Zero
      If you want to set all account budgets to zero, use the Set All Account Budgets to Zero.

      Use this command with care; all previously entered budget information for the current fiscal year is erased and the operations cannot be undone.

   6. Copy Actual Amount
      If you wish for the budget amounts to match what you actually spent from the previous years this option will work best. It will copy the actual balances from this account based on the year you select. You can also select to adjust the amount after copying it from the previous years.
3. Click Apply.