What are budget check periods?

What are budget check periods?

On the Budget Checking page, the Organisation Administrator can set a check period for the budget:


Let's see how a budget is calculated for each period, taking into account the respective Xero settings.
The overall budget is 20 USD per month for the account Cleaning (408):


The financial year starts on 1 January:


The available options for budget periods are:

  • 1 month
    Bills/Purchase Orders are checked against the particular budget set for the month in which the Purchase Orders/Bills were created:


    The Purchase Order in our example was created in May. The overall budget in Xero for October for account 408 - Cleaning is 20 USD:

  • Financial quarter (three-month period which includes the month of Purchase Order/Bill creation, counting from the start of the financial year):


    The Purchase Order in our example was created in October. Starting from the beginning of the financial year (1 January in this case), the financial quarter that includes October is the one comprising the months of October, November, December. In Xero, the overall budget for October, November, December for account 408 - Cleaning is 60 USD (20 USD for each month):


  • Half of financial year (period of six consecutive months counting from the start of the financial year):


    The Purchase Order in our example was created in October. Starting from the beginning of the financial year (1 January in this case), the half of financial year which includes October is the one comprising the months of July, August, September, October, November, December. In Xero, the overall budget for the half of financial year for account 408 - Cleaning is 120 USD (20 USD for each month):


  • Financial year (a 12-month period counting from the start of the financial year):


    The Purchase Order in our example was created in October, the financial year starts in January. In Xero, the overall budget for the whole financial year for account 408 - Cleaning is 240 USD (20 USD for each month):


  • YTD (rolling budget from the beginning of the financial year to the month of Purchase Order/Bill creation):


    The Purchase Order in our example was created in October, the financial year starts in January. YTD therefore refers to the period of January-October. In Xero, the overall budget for this period for account 408 - Cleaning is 200 USD (20 USD for each month):


  • Year with a particular start month (12 months from the selected start month):


    In our example, the budget is set for only the year 2023. For January 2024 the budget is set to 0.
    The period is from February 2023 to January 2024. In Xero, the overall budget for this 12-month period for account 408 - Cleaning is 220 USD (20 USD for each month in 2022 starting from February plus the budget for January 2024, which is 0):


  • YTD starting from a particular month (rolling budget from the selected month, here it's March, to the current month):


    The Purchase Order in our example was created in October. So, the YTD period is March- October. In Xero, the overall budget for this period for account 408 - Cleaning is 160 USD (20 USD for each month):


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