Budgeting & Financials

Financials and Budget Forecasting are currently handled by a combination of Google Sheets and a connected AppSheet.

Credit card receipts for purchases must be reconciled through Bill.com. When I am notified that a receipt needs reconciliation, I follow these steps:

• Get the receipt from the supplier (Google, Amazon, Home Depot, etc.)
• Save the receipt as a PDF in the appropriate month’s folder. Example: File Explorer >> Google Drive >> My Drive >> Financials & Budgets >> Credit Card Receipts >> [Current FY] >> [Current Month]
• I name these with the following convention: “[vendor/supplier name]-month-day-year”
• In Bill.com, make sure you are on the “WYSO” page (dropdown at the top left)
• Attach this receipt to the appropriate transaction
• Enter the business purpose and confirm that entry
• Select the correct Account and Class. It is possible to split a transaction (in a web browser) for any transaction that may fall into multiple Accounts

Vendor invoices are handled differently.

• Invoices are downloaded and saved to the Bill Scans folder as a PDF via the following pathway: File Explorer >> Google Drive >> My Drive >> Financials & Budgets >> Bill Scans >> [Vendor or Service] >> [Current FY] >> [Current Month]
• I name these with the following convention: “[vendor/supplier name]-month-day-year”
• These invoices are mailed to the following address: wysoaccountaspayable@bill.com
• After the accounting team has submitted these invoices to Bill.com, you will get notified that the transaction needs approval
• In Bill.com, navigate to the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras company under the top-left dropdown menu
• Navigate to Approvals >> Bill Approvals and approve any outstanding invoices

Whether it is a credit card purchase, or an invoice, to properly track expenses and budget performance, and forecast for future years, all expenditures should be entered in to the AppSheet.

Financial tracking and calculations (AppSheet)

Each transaction, whether it’s a credit card purchase or an invoice, should be entered into the AppSheet to track budget expenditures and project properly future budgets. Click the “Add Transaction” link and enter the appropriate information. Credit card receipts and invoices can be attached as either images or PDFs. Once the information is added and saved, the app will automatically update FY budget tracking, along with creating future budget projections. This methodology utilizes current expenditures to inform future budget projections.

Current budget performance can be tracked via the “Current Active Budget” tab. Forecasting is under the “Budget Forecast” tab. This tab allows insight into what the future budgets could look like, and allows for adjustment of factors like inflation and contingency. **PLEASE NOTE: This app currently sets inflation and contingency amounts at the line item level. If something other than this is needed for budget presentations, I would recommend setting the inflation percentage and then zeroing out the contingency amount. In a separate spreadsheet, the line items could be displayed, with category totals. It would then be possible to add a “Contingency” line, after the total of all categories, which calculates the contingency amount. There will most likely be some continued manual work on the actual budget spreadsheet to clarify things for the board or committee presentation.