This article explains how to review your Actual v Budget results under the Analysis tab after importing actual results. It covers the available comparison options, display settings, and export formats so you can tailor reports for your needs.
Use this report when you want to:
• Compare actual results to budgets or forecasts.
• Analyse year-to-date or prior-year performance.
• Review results across divisions, segments, or groups.
• Export formatted reports for client or management reporting.
The Actual v Budget report lets you analyse performance across multiple periods and reporting levels using flexible comparison and display options.
Go to Analysis → Actual v Budget.
Once you’ve imported your latest actual results, the report displays Actual and Budget figures side by side for the selected period.
Use the With drop-down to compare the actual v budget results for the selected period to either:
Blank - no comparison (use this when you want to view results for a single period to simplify the presentation)
YTD – compares to Actual v Budget for the current financial year to date.
Last Year - includes results for the same period last year to compare Actual v Budget v Last Year.
The Actual and Budget columns includes a drop down which allows you to select which data you would like displayed.
Forecast
• Creates a full-year forecast by combining actual results to date with budget values for the remaining months.
• Useful to compare the forecast is to the current budget.
• Example: If actuals exist to December 2025 and you select July 2025 – June 2026, Magnifi uses actuals to December and budgets from January to June.
Budget Next Yr
• Compare's next year’s budget to the current year’s forecast (actuals to date + budget for the remaining period). This is useful when reviewing next year's budget.
Original Budget
• Compares actual results to your Original Budget (if it has been saved). It might also be useful to compare the current budget or forecast with the original budget.
Use the expand / collapse icons to switch between summary and detailed account views.
Choose how broadly you want to view results by expaning the "All Divisions" filter at the top of the page:
• Division – shows results for a single business unit.
• All Divisions – shows consolidated totals for all divisions within a single file.
• Segment – combines selected divisions into a single view.
• Group – consolidates multiple files (organisations) and can be exported for group-level reporting.
• Print to PDF – prints exactly as displayed. If Income is expanded and Expenses collapsed, the PDF keeps that format.
• Export to Excel – includes both Summary (by category) and Detailed (by account) worksheets.
At the All Divisions level, the export also includes:
• Divisions Actuals – summary of actual divisional results side by side.
• Divisions Actuals Detail – same as above, at account level.
• Divisions Budgets – summary of budgeted divisional results.
• Divisions Budgets Detail – detailed budget accounts.
• Actual v Budget Summary per Division – each division appears as a separate worksheet.
Tip: You’ll see an Unallocated line for accounts not assigned to a division.
Use this as a quick integrity check or to explain why the sum of divisions may not equal the organisation total.
At the Group level, the export includes:
• Organisation Actual – summary of actual organisation performance.
• Organisation Actuals Detail – detailed account results.
• Organisation Budgets – summary of organisation budgets.
• Organisation Budgets Detail – detailed account results.
Go to Dashboard for a high-level summary.
The Overview and Profit pages show Actual v Budget by category with interactive drill-downs. Click a category to view the top 5 over- or under-performing accounts.
• To compare Actual v Budget using your original projections, save an Original Budget before updating forecasts.
• If you use inter-entity or inter-group transactions, export report under Profit → Profit and Loss. The export includes a worksheet showing these balances, which should reconcile to nil. If you include actuals in the report it will include the actual inter-entity balances which is a good month end check to confirm they balance to nil.
• The reporting layout follows how your accounts are structured in the Chart of Accounts. See Account Categories for more detail.