ClearEvent's Budget section enables your team to manage and track revenue and expenses across your entire event.
Overview
ClearEvent's integrated Budget goes beyond spreadsheets by taking care of tracking, and aggregation, of revenue & expenses traditionally associated with managing an event budget.
Integrated features like Smart Budget Line Items free you and your team to focus on delivering a great event, without sacrificing accuracy or clarity around the financial state of your event.
ClearEvent's Budget section has everything you need to allow your team to stay on top of event financials.
ClearEvent's Budget section automatically tracks registration fees received. Your event team can update budgeted and actuals amounts for their part of the Budget, and the Budget automatically rolls it all up and shows the latest information.
You no longer need to spend hours reconciling spreadsheets!
You can quickly import your existing budget and actuals to get going. It's easy to make edits and changes so the data exactly matches your event. As needed, you can export your budget and actuals for use in accounting systems.
Key Budget Elements and Concepts
This is a typical view of an event Budget in the early stages of planning an event.
Columns:
Item Description column - This column describes the budget row.
Budgeted columns - These columns are used to capture the amount you want to budget for the related row. You may enter a Qty (Budget Quantity) and Unit Cost (Budget Unit Cost). The Total (Budget Total) column is calculated by multiplying the Qty and Unit Cost fields.
Actuals columns - These columns are used to capture the actual amounts you received or spent for the related revenue or expense row. You may enter a Qty (Actuals Quantity) and Unit Cost (Actuals Unit Cost). The Total (Actuals Total) column is calculated by multiplying the Qty and Unit Cost fields. If the row is a Smart Budget Line Item type, the Actuals columns are disabled since these columns are calculated automatically for you.
Difference column - This column contains the difference between the Budget Total and Actuals Total columns.
Budget Sections:
Header or Roll-up section - This section is displayed at the top of the budget and is always visible. It aggregates all the details and shows an overall roll-up of total revenue and expenses for the budget and actuals columns.
Revenue - This section contains all revenue budget line items for money flowing in to your event.
Expenses - This section contains all expense budget line items for money flowing out of your event.
Budget Line Item Types:
There are three types of budget line items.
Categories - Categories can be used to help related revenue or expense rows together. Categories can be expanded and collapsed by clicking the '+' or '-' at the left side of the Category. Each Category aggregates and displays the line items contained under it. A category can contain regular Budget Line Items or Smart Budget Line Items.
Budget Line Items - Budget Line Items can be added to record either a revenue or expense budget item. You have complete flexibility in naming line items. Standard Budget Line Items allow both the Budget columns and the Actuals columns to be edited. You can also edit a standard Budget Line Item to add detail items. This allows you to track detailed revenue or expense details associated with the Budget Line Item Total.
Smart Budget Line Items - These Smart Budget Line Items (shown as a light yellow row) are automatically added to your budget whenever you add a registration form fee, product, or ticket to your event. You may specify the Budget column values only. ClearEvent automatically tracks revenue received for any Smart Budget Line items and updates the Actuals columns for you. Smart Budget Line Items save you time and money by connecting the registration process with your event Budget and Dashboard. Say goodbye to wondering what is happening with registration and ticket revenue!
Who has access to the Budget?
You have complete control over who on your event team can access the Budget section of the Event Manager App using our role-based security features.
Budget Rollover - Ready for next time!
When your event is over, your event team can roll it over so that your budget will be ready for next time.
Whenever you roll over your event, here's what happens to your budget:
All current event details, including your budget will be archived as a past event. You will always be able to view past event details.
Your current event budget will carry forward. All Budget columns values from the Qty and Unit Cost columns will be retained.
All Actuals column values will be reset, ready for the new event.
Once rollover is complete, we recommend that you revise your budget by adjusting the Budget column values with any updated estimates for your next event. For example, if you expect vehicle fuel expense costs will rise you can increase the corresponding expense line item Budget columns.