Where is the HISTORICAL DATA menu?

The HISTORICAL DATA menu is located at the top right of the application, in the horizontal menu bar of the company.

If you have already linked a bookkeeping software to Budgeto, the HISTORICAL DATA menu icon will change to the logo of your software provider (in this example, we see the QuickBooks Online logo).

Why use the HISTORICAL DATA menu?

What is the HISTORICAL DATA menu?

The HISTORICAL DATA menu allows you to import the historical accounting data of a company in Budgeto. You can import as many years of historical data as you want. To ensure that you import reliable and truthful information, it is strongly recommended that you obtain this information from an accounting software.

Why import HISTORICAL DATA in Budgeto?

1. To identify the existing assets and liabilities of your business.

When creating a budget for an existing business, you must enter your most recent balance sheet in Budgeto. This step is necessary so that we are able to perform all the calculations arising from the existence of these assets and liabilities.

For example, if you have an existing debt, Budgeto must have all the information relating to this debt in order to perform the following calculations:

The interest expense to be recognized in the results;
Principal and interest payments to be recognized in the cash budget;
The balance of the unpaid debt to be carried over to the balance sheet.

2. To create a financial projection for an ongoing fiscal year

Budgeto can be used to prepare budgets on an annual basis and/or to prepare financial projections during the year. The HISTORICAL DATA menu lets you enter your historical results monthly, allowing you to start building a budget at any giving time during a fiscal year.

For example, if your fiscal year is from April to March of each year, you can start a budget in October for the remaining months of your ongoing fiscal year:

Enter your results in the HISTORICAL DATA menu from April to September;
Start planning your financial projections in October.

3. To update your financial projection monthly

When entering your past results monthly, Budgeto automatically updates your budget and provides you with a clear vision of your future cash flow situation. Based on your real results, you can review and update your budget in the manner that you wish. Therefore, it will reflect exactly what happened in the past and what should happen in the future.

Where can I get my HISTORICAL DATA?

HISTORICAL DATA is the available accounting data of your company. To obtain this data, you must have accurate and up-to-date bookkeeping. From your bookkeeping software, for example, QuickBooks Online (QBO), you will be able to obtain the Income Statement and Balance Sheet that you will need to use the HISTORICAL DATA menu.

We STRONGLY recommend importing your Historical Data from a reliable accounting software, such as QuickBooks Online (QBO) or Xero. The reason we recommend this is because it greatly lowers the chance of having the wrong information in your Historical Data, compared to entering all your past accounting information by yourself manually.

You can find out how to import you Historical Data information from an accounting software (for example, QuickBooks Online or Xero) by referring to these useful articles below:

- How to link QuickBooks Online (QBO) to Budgeto?

- How to LINK Xero to Budgeto?

As previously mentioned, Your bookkeeping can be done by yourself or by a specialized subcontractor, such as;