Budgets in Odoo 18
Odoo provides a flexible budgeting system based on analytic accounts, allowing detailed planning and real-time tracking of expected, actual, and committed expenses. It supports multiple budget versions, integrates budgets with Profit & Loss reports, and enforces spending limits on purchase orders with alerts. The improved interface simplifies budget management, while customizable approval workflows and fund reservations enhance financial control. Advanced reporting and dashboards offer clear insights into budget performance and variances, making budgeting more efficient and transparent.
Features
- Track income and expenses using both analytic accounts (for projects, departments, or transaction groups) and general ledger accounts (for financial reporting).
- Help measure profitability, performance, and overall financial health with detailed and high-level insights
- Budgets include essential details like name, period, budget type, and multiple budget lines linked to accounts.
- Budget lines have budgeted amounts assigned to either analytic accounts or general ledger accounts.
- When budgets are opened, they display key amounts: Budgeted (planned amount), Committed (confirmed purchase orders not yet billed, mainly for analytic budgets) , Achieved (confirmed journal entries) and Theoretical (optional, based on expected progress over time)
- Purchase orders linked to analytic accounts show budget status with a Budget smart button and highlight overspending in red.
- You can generate periodic budgets (monthly, quarterly, yearly) based on selected plans and date ranges.
- Budgets can be created and managed directly in Profit and Loss reports for financial accounts.
- Budget reports allow tracking, filtering, grouping, drilling down, and exporting data for analysis.
- Multiple budgets can be created to compare different scenarios and perform real-time updates.
- Budget approval workflows, audit trails, and budget imports are supported for better control and large-scale planning
Budget Management Workflow
Budget Management are categorized as
- Financial Budgets
- Financial Budgets in Profit and Loss
- Analytic Budgets
Financial Budgets
Overview
Financial budget creation in Odoo allows users to plan and allocate expected income and expenses by setting budget amounts for specific accounts within a chosen period. Created budgets are directly chosen from profit and loss report. Once created, budgeted amounts can be assigned to relevant accounts, and the budget appears alongside actual figures for easy comparison. This process supports effective financial planning, monitoring, and compliance with reporting requirements.
Process Flow
Business Rules / Features
- Each financial budget must have a unique name that reflects the purpose or period
- Budget lines must be created for relevant financial accounts (e.g., Current Assets, Bank)
- Each budget line must have a valid date within the budget’s overall period
- Budget amounts must be positive numbers and represent planned income or expense for the account
Screenshot
Financial Budgets Tree View
Financial Budgets Form View
Financial Budgets in Profit and Loss
Overview
Financial budgets in Odoo help plan and track income and expense accounts for official financial reporting. They are created directly within the Profit and Loss report by selecting a period and naming the budget. Budgeted amounts are assigned to specific accounts, and the budget appears as a new column next to actual balances. A percentage column shows how the budget compares to actual results. Multiple budgets can be created for comparison and analysis.
Process Flow
Business Rules / Features
- Direct linkage to income and expense accounts for official financial reporting
- Budget creation and management via the Profit and Loss report interface
- Naming and period assignment for each financial budget
- Manual entry of budgeted amounts per account and period
- Side-by-side display of budget and actual values in reports
- Automatic percentage calculation to show budget vs. actual performance
- Support for multiple budgets to enable scenario planning and version control
Screenshots
Financial budgets create view
Financial budgets edit button view
Financial budgets edit form view
Analytic Budget
- Analytic Budget Creation and Monitoring
- Generate Budgets
- Revise Budgets
Analytic Budget Creation and Monitoring
Overview
In Odoo, an analytic budget is a tool used to plan and monitor income and expenses for specific projects, departments, or activities using analytic accounts. Unlike financial budgets tied to general ledger accounts, analytic budgets focus on the detailed tracking of financial performance at a granular level. It helps monitor performance and profitability at a detailed level, separate from overall financial budgets.
Process Flow
Business Rules / Features
- A unique and descriptive name must be given to each budget
- The responsible person must be assigned to the budget
- The budget type must be specified as either Expense or Revenue
- The budget must have a valid start date and end date (budget period)
- The budget must be linked to a specific company
- The department or project field must be filled to ensure proper classification
- All budget lines must be linked to valid analytic accounts
- The system must automatically calculate achieved amounts based on actual analytic entries
- Cancellation is only allowed in the Draft stages
- Deletion is only allowed in the Draft and Cancelled stages
Screenshot
Analytic Budgets Tree View
Analytic Budgets Form View
Analytic Budgets Lines in tree View
Analytic Budgets Lines View
Generate Budgets
Overview
The Generate Budget feature in Odoo allows users to automatically create monthly, quarterly, or yearly budgets based on selected Analytic Plans and a specified date range. It splits one master budget into multiple periodic budgets, making it easier to track and manage performance across time periods
Process Flow
Business Rules / Features
- Automatically generates budgets for each period between the start and end dates
- Supports monthly, quarterly, and yearly period types
- Budgets are created in Draft status and require user confirmation (Open)
- The analytic accounts used must be active and assigned to the selected plan(s)
- A separate budget is generated for each period within the selected date range
- Users must manually enter the budgeted amounts in each generated budget
Screenshots
Generate Budgets button view
Split Budgets wizard view
Generated Budgets tree view
Revise Budgets
Overview
In Odoo, once a budget is set to open, it can’t be edited directly. To make changes, users can either Reset to o update the original or use Revise to create a new version. The revised budget includes a “Rev” label, while the original is marked as Revised, ensuring clear version control and traceability.
Process Flow
Business Rules / Features
- Budgets in Open status cannot be edited directly
- Users must either Reset to Draft or Revise to modify an open budget
- Revise creates a new draft budget based on the original, preserving the original as a historical record
- The revised budget’s name includes a “Rev” reference to distinguish it from the original
- The original budget is automatically marked as Revised and becomes read only
- Only one active version of a budget should be used for reporting and control
- Revision history is maintained for audit and tracking purposes
- The revised budget must be explicitly set to Open to become active
Screenshots
Revise Budgets button view
Revised New Budgets form view
Revised Budgets tree view
Budgets Report Management
- Budget Report
Budget Report
Overview
The Budget Report in Odoo Accounting allows users to track, analyze, and compare budget data efficiently. Accessible via accounting ‣ Reporting ‣ Budget Report, it provides flexible filtering and grouping options to customize views. Users can drill down into detailed actual amounts and transactions for deeper insights. Additionally, the report data can be exported for further analysis or external reporting needs
Features
- Track and compare budget versus actual amounts in one place
- Filter and group data dynamically for customized reporting views
- Drill down into detailed transactions supporting the budget figures
- Export reports in various formats for offline analysis or sharing
- User-friendly interface accessible directly from the Accounting module
Screenshot
Budget Report Pivot View
