Budget question

[Ian X Waddington]

Hi

 

For me there are two type of budget items, those that occur monthly and
those annually, let me explain.

 

Monthly items like diesel or food would be a set amount each month and do
not carry forward in anyway, if the budget is not spent then the opportunity
is lost.  So for example, if I set a budget of £100 a month for 12 months
but only spend £50 in month one my remaining budget at the beginning of
month 2 would be  £1100, not £1150. The opportunity to spend the £50
underspent in month one is lost forever.

 

On the other hand, I want to budget some items as an annual amount. This is
because I do not actually know when I will spend the money, for example if I
budget £1000 as my annual holiday budget I am unaware when I will actually
book the holiday, so using the above example, if my budget at the start of
month one is £1000 and I do not spend any money against annual holidays in
month one my budget going into month two would be still £1000. The
opportunity to spend this money remains and rolls forward throughout the
year.

 

So to my question, can I do the above in GNUCash budgeting, my early look
suggests not and if not is there any intent to create a more sophisticated
budget setting and reporting tool.

 

Incidentally, the tool in MS-Money 2005 UK is useless so I do the above in a
spread sheet, the formulas are quite complex but I’ve now got it just as a
like it and can now forecast my year end position against budget with a
frightening  degree of accuracy.

 

Sad I know

 

Ian