How to Prepare a Company Budget in Excel – 2 Methods

Method 1 – Prepare a Budget for a Company Manually

Step 1: Creating Basic Outlines to Prepare a Budget for a Company

  • Open a new workbook and create a worksheet: Budget.
  • Enter the header: Budget for “X” Company.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Insert 3 tables for Income, Expense, and Summary.

making outline

Enter the entities of income in the first table on the left side:
Here, Total Income as the header of the first table and 4 columns: Source, Actual, Expected, and Difference. Source of income includes: Revenue, Incentive, and Extra Income.

making outline

  • The table below is the Total Expense table with 5 columns – Department, Source, Actual, Expected, and Difference.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

The last table on the right side, is a Summary table with 3 rows: Expected Balance, Actual Balance, and Difference.

making outline

In the Expense sheet, all expenses of different departments are listed.

making outline

Read More: How to Prepare Annual Budget for a Company in Excel


Step 2: Calculate the Income

Calculate the total income and determine the differences between the actual income and the predicted income.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Enter the actual and expected income from different sources in the Actual and Expected column.

calculation of incomes

  • Use the following formula in E5 and drag down the Fill Handle tool.
=C5-D5

C5 is the Actual Income and D5 is the Expected Income (a subtraction is made)

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

This is the output.

calculation of incomes

Use the AutoSum option to calculate the total income values automatically (if you add or delete any values, the total value will be updated).

  • Select C8 to see the result.
  • Go to the Home Tab >> Editing>> AutoSum.

calculation of incomes

The following formula will be displayed in the cell.

=SUM(C5:C7)

The SUM function calculates the sum in C5:C7.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Press ENTER and drag the Fill Handle to the right.

calculation of incomes

This is the output.

calculation of incomes


Step 3 – Creating a Dropdown List for Different Departments of Expenses

Calculate the total expenses and the differences between the actual and expected values.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Select all cells in the Department column and go to the Data Tab >> Data Tools  >> Data Validation >> Data Validation.

dropdown list

In the Data Validation wizard:

  • Select List in Allow.
  • In Source, enter the name of the departments separated by commas (here, Production, Sales, Miscellaneous).
  • Click OK.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Click the dropdown arrow in the Department column.
  • Select a department from the list (here, Production for the first cell).

dropdown list

Production will be displayed in B12.

dropdown list

Repeat the procedure for other departments.

dropdown list

Read More: How to Create a Business Budget in Excel


Step 4: Creating a Dropdown List for Different Sources of Expenses

  • To create a dropdown list for the Source column, select the column.
  • Go to the Data Tab >> Data Tools >> Data Validation >> Data Validation.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • In the Data Validation wizard, select List in Allow.
  • In the Source box, enter the following formula.
=IF($B12=Expense!$E$4,Expense!$B$4:$B$6,IF($B12=Expense!$E$7,Expense!$B$7:$B$9,Expense!$B$10:$B$15))

the IF function is used 2 times to create the Nested Loop effect.

  • The first IF function checks if the value in $B12 matches the value in $E$4, in the Expense sheet. If there’s a match, it will return the values in $B$4:$B$6, in the Expense sheet. Otherwise, it will move to the next loop.
  • The second IF function checks if the value in $B12 matches the value in $E$7, in the Expense sheet. If there’s a match, it will return the values in $B$7:$B$9, in the Expense sheet. Otherwise, the values in $B$10:$B$15 in the Expense sheet.
  • Click OK.

dropdown list

  • Click the dropdown arrow in the Source column.
  • Select a department from the list (here, Raw Materials for the first cell).

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

If you click the dropdown arrow in C16, whose corresponding cell in the Department column is Miscellaneous, you will see the source of expenses of this department in the list.

  • Choose an option from the list (here, Office Rent).

dropdown list

Office Rent will be displayed in C16.

dropdown list

Selected different sources to see the output.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel


Step 5: Calculate Expenses to Prepare a Budget

  • Enter the following formula in D12 and drag down the Fill Handle tool.
=VLOOKUP($C12,Expense!$B$4:$D$15,2,FALSE)

$C12 is the lookup value in the Source column, Expense!$B$4:$D$15 is the lookup range in the Expense sheet, 2 is the column number of this range, and FALSE is used for an exact match.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

The actual expenses are displayed in the Actual column.

calculation of expenses

Use the following formula to get the Expected Expenses from the Expense sheet.

=VLOOKUP($C12,Expense!$B$4:$D$15,3,FALSE)

$C12 is the lookup value in the Source column, Expense!$B$4:$D$15 is the lookup range in the Expense sheet, 3 is the column number of this range, and FALSE is used for an exact match.

calculation of expenses

  • Use the following formula in F12 and drag down the Fill Handle tool.
=E12-D12

E12 is the Expected Expense and D12 is the Actual Expense (to calculate the difference, subtract the expected value from the actual value).

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

The differences are displayed in the Difference column.

calculation of expenses

  • Select D19 to see the total result and go to the Home Tab >> Editing>> AutoSum.

calculation of expenses

  • Press ENTER and drag the Fill Handle tool to the right.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

Total expenses are calculated.

calculation of expenses


Step 6: Budget Summary Calculation

Calculate the remnant balance.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Enter the following formula in J4.
=D8-E19

D8 is the Expected Income and E19 is the Expected Expense, their difference will return the Expected Balance.

budget summary calculation

  • Use the following formula in J5.
=C8-D19

C8 is the Actual Income and D19 is the Actual Expense, their difference will return the Actual Balance.

budget summary calculation

  • To see the differences between these balances, use the following formula in J6.
=J5-J4

J5 is the Actual Balance and J4 is the Expected Balance, their difference will return the Difference.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel


Step 7: Plotting Income and Expense Values

  • how to prepare budget for a company in excelFor the income, select the actual and expected income values with their sources and go to the Insert Tab >> Charts>> Insert Column or Bar Chart >> select a column chart (here, 2-D Column).

plotting chart

  • Name the chart: Income.

This is the output.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

Select the values of the expenses and create an Expense chart:

plotting chart


Method 2 – Prepare a Budget for a Company Using an Excel Template

  • Open a new workbook and go to the File tab.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Select New.
  • In the right pane, select Budgets.

Excel template for budget

  • Select an option. Here, Monthly Company Budget.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • Select Create.

Excel template for budget

  • A new workbook will be created with 4 sheets – Monthly Budget Summary, Income, Personnel Expenses, Operating Expenses.
  • The first sheet contains the summary budget with its graphical representation. Enter the company name and date.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

  • In the Income sheet, change numbers and sources.

Excel template for budget

  • Change expenses in the Personnel Expenses sheet.

Excel template for budget

  • In the Operating Expenses sheet, change sources and values.

how to prepare budget for a company in excel

This is the output.

Excel template for budget

Because the values in the Income sheet were changed, the Monthly Budget Summary sheet and the total balance also changed.

The company name was added, as well as the current date (05/07/2022).

Excel template for budget

Read More: How to Create an Operating Budget in Excel


Download Workbook


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Tanjima Hossain
Tanjima Hossain

TANJIMA HOSSAIN is a marine engineer who enjoys working with Excel and VBA programming. For her, programming is a handy, time-saving tool for managing data, files, and online tasks. She's skilled in Rhino3D, Maxsurf C++, MS Office, AutoCAD, and Excel & VBA, going beyond the basics. She holds a B.Sc. in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from BUET and is now a content developer. In this role, she creates tech-focused content centred around Excel and VBA. Apart from... Read Full Bio

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