It is wise to project your expenses and earnings each year to set the bar for yourself. As the year proceeds, you can measure your business against your expectations. Use QuickBooks Budgets and Forecasts to record these predictions and goals. You can use QuickBooks for real estate and property management to forecast monthly tenant payments and maintenance and overhead expenses. These QuickBooks reports show how your company fares to your predictions.

The Budget Overview report summarizes your budgets for income and expenses or account balances. Then, double-click the amount to view the transactions.

The Budget vs. Actual report shows how your business fares compared to your determined budget. The Over Budget column shows the difference amount difference between the budgeted amount and the actual amount. A negative amount means you were under budget, while a positive amount means you were over budget. The % of Budget column is the percentage margin of your budget that was earned or spent. Under 100% means you were under budget, and over 100% means you were over budget. Further, this report is a great tool to assess how your business compares to your predictions.

The Profit & Loss Performance report shows how your actual income and expenses compare to your monthly and year budget.

The Budget vs. Actual Graph puts this data in a visual format. The top graph shows how your company fared for the month. The blue bars are favorable, and the red bars are unfavorable. The graph at the bottom shows the budget by account. The yellow represents the actual, and the green represents the budget prediction. Moreover, the greatest difference is the bars.

The Forecast Overview shows the company’s forecasted monthly income and expenses. This is similar to the Budget Overview.

Meanwhile, the Forecast vs. Actual report shows how the company’s income and expenses compare to the forecasted amounts.