Budget Management

Why Budgets Matter

A budget is your organization’s financial roadmap. It:

Sets Expectations: Shows planned income and expenses for the year
Enables Oversight: Board members can monitor spending against plan
Supports Decisions: Helps determine if you can afford new programs
Demonstrates Accountability: Shows members where dues and donations go
Satisfies Requirements: Many PTAs require an approved budget

Budget Lifecycle

BeeKeeper budgets move through three states:

1. Working (Draft)

Fully editable
Use for planning and adjustments
Not visible as “official”

2. Proposed

Locked from editing
Presented for board/membership approval
Can be unlocked if changes needed

3. Approved

Officially adopted budget
Locked with snapshot preserved
Used for comparison to actual spending
Changed through amendments (an admin can also withdraw approval to send it back to Proposed)

Creating a Budget

Step 1: Start a New Budget

Go to Budgets
Click Add Budget
Choose how you want to start:
- Start fresh: An empty budget you fill in account by account
- Copy a previous budget: Prefill with the accounts and amounts from a prior budget
- Use last fiscal year: Prefill with the income and expense accounts that had activity last fiscal year, using those totals
- Import from a file: Upload a budget file (see Step 1b)
If your organization uses Team Edition, choose whether this budget belongs to the whole organization or to a single team
Enter a Name (required—a default is filled in for you) and select the fiscal year
The budget opens in Working status

Step 1b: Import a Budget from a File

Instead of entering everything by hand, you can import a budget:

On the Budgets page, click Add Budget and choose Import from a file
Upload a MyPTEZ Budget Report or a spreadsheet of accounts and amounts
Any accounts that don’t yet exist are created for you automatically

Step 2 & 3: Add Income and Expense Line Items

The budget form has two separate sections—Income and Expenses—each with its own list of line items. For each expected income source or planned expense:

In the matching section, click Add Item
Select the account
Enter the budgeted amount

A budget line doesn’t have a name of its own. Each line shows the name of the account you pick, so the dropdown lists your Income accounts in the Income section and your Expense accounts in the Expenses section. There is no box to type a line name.

Need a line that isn’t in the dropdown? Add it as an account first:

Go to Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts (admins only)
Click Add Account
Choose Income or Expense as the Account Type, give it the name you want on your budget, and click Save
Go back to your budget and click Add Item. The new account is in the dropdown. If you already had the budget open, reload the page first.

See Chart of Accounts for more on adding accounts.

To change a line on a budget you’ve already saved, open the budget and click Actions > Edit while it’s still Working. Once a budget is approved, change it with an amendment instead.

Example Items:

Membership Dues (income): $5,000
Fall Fundraiser (income): $15,000
Spring Auction (income): $20,000
Donations (income): $2,000
Teacher Grants (expense): $10,000
Student Programs (expense): $8,000
Family Events (expense): $5,000
Administrative (expense): $2,000

Step 4: Review Totals

Each section (Income and Expenses) shows a live running section total that updates automatically as you add, edit, or remove items. Below both sections, a Net Total shows income minus expenses and updates the same way—no need to save or leave the page to see it.

Aim for a balanced or slightly positive net budget.

Step 5: Save

Click Save to preserve your work. You can return and edit anytime while in Working status.

Proposing a Budget

When your budget is ready for review, open it and click Propose—it’s the highlighted button on the budget’s page, since it’s the one decision a working budget is waiting on. Confirm the action and the budget is now:

Locked from editing
Marked as “Proposed”
Ready for board/membership vote

Need Changes After Proposing?

If the board requests changes:

Open the proposed budget
Click Unlock (next to Approve)
Make requested changes
Propose again

Approving a Budget

After your board/membership votes to approve, open the proposed budget and click Approve—now the highlighted button, since it’s the decision a proposed budget is waiting on. Confirm the action and the budget is now:

Marked as “Approved”
A snapshot is saved for historical reference
Locked (changes require amendments)
Used for budget vs. actual comparisons

Working with an Approved Budget

Viewing

Open the approved budget to see:

Income and Expenses shown as separate sections, each with a section total
Line items within each section grouped by Account Group (if your chart of accounts uses them), with a subtotal for each group
A Net Total combining both sections
Beginning balance, this budget’s net impact, and projected ending balance in a small table of their own, right below the account sections
All line items with Budget, Actual, and Variance columns
Approval date and approver

Budget Page Actions

The budget’s page leads with the one action it’s waiting on as a highlighted button—Propose for a working budget, Approve for a proposed one (with Unlock right beside it, in case it needs more edits first). Everything else you can do with a budget—Edit, Download PDF, Export, Withdraw Approval, and Delete—lives in the Actions menu next to it, so the page always makes clear what to do next.

Budget vs. Actual

To compare the approved budget to actual spending:

Run the Budget vs. Actual report, which compares the current approved budget to actual activity. For each account it shows Budget, Actual, Remaining, and % Used. The PDF export’s footer notes who generated it and when—handy for a copy that lands in a board packet.
You can also see per-line Actual and Variance columns right on the budget’s page

The report only lists accounts that have a line in the approved budget. To see an account there, give it a line (even $0) when you build the budget, or add it later with an amendment.

Making Changes

Approved budgets cannot be edited directly. To change an amount, or to add or remove a line:

Create a Budget Amendment (see Budget Amendments)
Follow the amendment approval process
Once approved, the amendment updates the budget

Renaming a Line

Renaming a line doesn’t need an amendment. A budget line shows the name of its account, so you rename the account instead:

Go to Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts (admins only)
Click the pencil icon next to the account
In Edit Account, change the Name and click Save

The new name shows right away on the budget, in Present mode, on the PDF and Excel export, and in every report. The amount, the Approved status, and the approver stay as they are. An amendment can’t rename a line, so don’t add the line to an amendment just to change its name.

If there’s no pencil icon next to an account, it’s a built-in account and can’t be renamed.

Un-approving a Budget

If a budget was approved too soon, an admin can withdraw the approval:

Open the approved budget
Click Actions > Withdraw Approval
Confirm. The budget goes back to Proposed.

To edit its line items, click Unlock to return it to Working. When you’re done, Propose and Approve it again.

For changes during the year, an amendment is usually the better choice. It keeps a record of what changed and why.

Team Budgets (Team Edition)

If your organization uses Team Edition, a budget can belong to a single team instead of the whole organization - pick which one in Step 1 when you create it. A team’s budget only covers its planned spending, and its beginning balance is that team’s own fund balance rather than the organization’s cash, so the projected ending balance reads as “what this team has to spend.”

Copying a previous budget, using last fiscal year, and everything else on this page works the same way for a team’s budget as for the organization’s. A team’s current budget is also what shows on its own page when you publish to it - see Team Edition.

Multiple Budgets

You can have multiple budgets for planning purposes:

Draft budgets for different scenarios
Historical approved budgets for past years
Only one budget per fiscal year should be marked Approved

Filtering Budgets

The budget list supports filtering to help you find what you need quickly:

Status: Show only Working, Proposed, or Approved budgets
Fiscal Year: Show budgets for a specific fiscal year
Search: Search by budget name

Filters can be combined. For example, show only Approved budgets for the 2025 fiscal year.

Budget Best Practices

Start with Last Year

Review last year’s actual income and expenses
Use those numbers as a starting point (the Copy a previous budget and Use last fiscal year start options do this for you)
Adjust for planned changes

Build in Contingency

Don’t budget 100% of expected income
Include a small reserve line (5-10%)
Unexpected expenses happen

Be Specific

Instead of “Miscellaneous: $5,000”:

Teacher Appreciation: $1,000
Volunteer Recognition: $500
Office Supplies: $800
Contingency: $2,700

Get Input

Survey chairs about their program needs
Review multi-year trends
Consider membership feedback

Document Assumptions

Budget line items don’t have a notes field, so keep the reasoning behind your numbers in your meeting minutes or planning notes—for example:

“Based on 200 members at $25”
“Vendor quoted $3,500 for DJ”
“Same as last year - principal request”

Presenting Budgets

Present Mode

BeeKeeper offers a presentation view for approved budgets. Once a budget is approved, a Present button appears on its page:

Open the approved budget
Click Present
Clean view suitable for meetings
Works well on projected screens

Beginning balance, net impact, and projected ending balance appear in the same small table of their own here, too.

Download a PDF

Share budgets outside BeeKeeper:

Open the budget
Click Actions > Download PDF
Use the PDF for board packets, newsletters, or archives

Export to Excel

Next to Download PDF in the budget’s Actions menu, click Export to download the budget as a spreadsheet. The export mirrors the sections shown on screen—Income and Expense groups with subtotals, section totals, and the Net Total—so you can further analyze or reformat the numbers outside BeeKeeper.

Tips for Treasurers

Start early: Begin drafting 2-3 months before fiscal year starts
Communicate: Keep board informed of budget development
Be realistic: Underestimate income, overestimate expenses
Track history: Save approved budgets for year-over-year comparison
Reconcile monthly: Compare actual to budget throughout the year

Limitations

One approved budget per fiscal year
Approved budgets cannot be deleted. An admin can first click Actions > Withdraw Approval to send it back to Proposed. Deleting a draft or proposed budget also deletes its amendments.
Line items must map to existing accounts

Common Questions

Can I copy last year’s budget? Yes—when creating a budget, choose Copy a previous budget to start from a prior budget’s accounts and amounts, or Use last fiscal year to prefill from last fiscal year’s activity totals.

How do I add a budget line that isn’t in the dropdown? Every budget line is an Income or Expense account, and the line shows that account’s name. To add a new one, an admin goes to Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts, clicks Add Account, and creates an Income or Expense account with the name you want. It then appears in the budget’s dropdown when you click Add Item. See Chart of Accounts.

How do I rename a line on an approved budget? Rename its account. An admin goes to Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts, clicks the pencil icon next to the account, changes the Name, and clicks Save. The new name shows on the budget and in every report, and the budget stays approved with the same amounts. You don’t need an amendment. See Renaming a Line above.

What if we overspend a line item? The budget is a plan, not a restriction. Track variances and explain to your board. Consider an amendment if significantly different.

Do I need to budget every account? No. But the Budget vs. Actual report only lists accounts that have a line in the approved budget. To see an account there, give it a line (even $0), or add it later with an amendment.

Can I have multiple budgets for one year? You can have multiple drafts, but only one should be Approved. Use different drafts for scenario planning.

What’s the difference between Proposed and Approved? Proposed is presented for vote. Approved means the vote passed and it’s now official.

Can I un-approve a budget? Yes. An admin opens the budget and clicks Actions > Withdraw Approval. The budget goes back to Proposed. Click Unlock to return it to Working if you need to edit it.

Where did the Import Budget button on the budgets list go? It’s still there, just folded into Add Budget—choose Import from a file in the start chooser. The two used to point at the same place, so we removed the duplicate.