Track actuals automatically
Every budget line can be connected to a source of real figures. Once connected, the actual and variance columns fill in on their own — no monthly copy-paste from another system. ## Connect a line Click a line name in the grid to open its settings in the right-hand rail, then choose an **actuals source**. Lines default to **No source**, which means the line is plan-only: you can still type figures into the plan, but the actual column stays empty. ## The sources ### From your records - **Count** — how many records of a type exist in each period. Good for headcount, deals won, tickets closed. You can narrow it to certain statuses and choose which date field decides the period. - **Sum** — adds up a numeric field on those records, e.g. total deal value. - **Average** — the mean of that field instead of the total. Average lines are deliberately **excluded from column totals**, because adding averages together produces a meaningless number. They still show their own figures and variance. ### From activity - **Activity count** — how many logged activities happened in each period. Filter by activity kind, record type, channel, internal vs customer-facing, or a specific person. Useful for planning outreach volume or support load. ### From money movements - **Stripe** — captured payments from your connected Stripe accounts. Choose **gross** (captured amount) or **net** (captured minus refunds), and restrict it to one connected account if you run several. - **Bank ledger** — hand-logged bank transactions assigned to this line. Choose whether the line counts money **in**, money **out** (as a positive figure, to match a positive plan on a cost line), or the **net** of both. - **Cash balance** — the real closing balance of your bank accounts at the end of each period: opening balances plus every movement dated up to that point. - **Xero cash actuals** — cash payments imported from Xero, allocated by payment date using the Xero categories you choose. Figures include tax and are cash-basis (not accrual). This source requires a Finance-admin account and an active Xero banking sync. See *Connect Xero banking and view categorised transactions* to enable the feed. Cash balance is a **running balance, not a per-period total**, so it's excluded from the income and payment totals in the same way averages are. It's there to show the cash position beneath the plan, not to be added to it. **Xero cash actuals** require the following to produce a complete result: - The Xero banking sync must have completed its initial history import for the relevant accounts. - Each budget line must be mapped to non-overlapping Xero categories. Overlapping category mappings across lines block calculation. - Figures are marked **Incomplete source** for any period before Xero's history start date, or when coverage cannot be confirmed. - The source type is only available for currency budgets, and requires Finance administrator access to read. ### From invoices and bills - **Invoices / bills** — records on any object type with a finance role. Pick whether you're tracking money owed to you (**receivable**) or money you owe (**payable**), then the measure: | Measure | What it counts | Bucketed by | | --- | --- | --- | | **Invoiced** | Open and paid records | Issue date | | **Paid** | Paid records only | Date settled | | **Outstanding** | Open records, minus payments already received | Due date | Void records never count towards any measure. ### For income statements and balance sheets - **Reviewed statement actuals** — available only for income statement and balance sheet budget lines. Enter the reviewed figure directly into the line and supply an evidence reference. Cash imports cannot substitute for reviewed accrual or closing-balance actuals. ## Reading variance With a source connected, each period shows plan, actual and the variance between them. Variance is the actual minus the plan, so a cost line running under budget and a revenue line running over budget both read as positive. If the variance column isn't visible, turn it on with **Display → Variance shown** in the left rail. ## Incomplete source states Some periods may show **Incomplete source** or **Actuals unavailable** rather than a figure. This happens when: - The source data is incomplete for that period (for example, Xero has not yet imported all transactions). - The Xero cash mapping overlaps with another line's mapping. - The period is in the future (shown as **Pending**). - No actuals source is mapped (shown as **Map actuals source** in the cell). Known included transactions are still shown as a recorded subtotal even when completeness cannot be confirmed. Click the incomplete-source indicator on a line to open its settings and review the issue. ## When actuals look wrong Work through these in order: 1. **Check the period and date field.** A record counts towards the period its chosen date falls in. An invoice raised in March but paid in April lands in different periods depending on whether the measure buckets by issue date or settled date. 2. **Check the status filter.** A count restricted to *Won* won't include deals still open. 3. **Check the currency.** Stripe, ledger and cash-balance sources only count movements matching the budget's currency. 4. **For Xero cash actuals**, open the **Source review** disclosure in the budget to see exactly which Xero transactions were included and which are blocked. Use **Review Xero transactions and account links** to investigate missing accounts or category problems. 5. **Check budget health.** The chip in the tab strip flags incomplete sources — a line set to Sum with no field chosen, for example — with a direct link to the line. ## A note on permissions Stripe figures are readable by admins and owners. If you don't manage payments, Stripe-backed lines show an *admins only* badge instead of a figure. Trends still work for everyone, because daily snapshots are captured server-side. Xero cash actuals are readable by Finance administrators only. Non-admin users will not see these figures. ## Next steps To plan forward rather than just measure backwards, see *Model the future with drivers, scenarios and rollups*. To set up verified opening bank cash and reviewed commitments for the cash flow view, see *Review cash and manage commitments*.