21. Real-World Project Briefs

21.2 Budget vs Actual Report

By Ravindra Bagale · Last updated: 6 October 2026

The ask. Shraddha Bagale runs finance for a fictional Pune dark store. She needs a monthly budget vs actual sheet: the variance for each cost head, the variance %, and a flag for any head that is more than 5% over budget.

Sheet Costs, A1:C6 (November, fictional):

What to deliver (one under the other):

1. Make the range a Table named tblCosts.
2. Add Variance (₹) = Budget − Actual. Positive means under budget. Write this rule in a note above the table.
3. Add Variance % = Variance ÷ Budget.
4. Add Flag: "Over budget" when actual is more than 5% above budget, "Under budget" when actual is below budget, else "On budget".
5. Add totals with SUM, and total variance % = total variance ÷ total budget.
6. Highlight Over budget rows in light red.

Key formulas (row 2; copy down or let the Table fill them):

D2: =[@Budget]-[@Actual]
E2: =[@Variance]/[@Budget]
F2: =IF(([@Actual]-[@Budget])/[@Budget]>5%,"Over budget",IF([@Actual]<[@Budget],"Under budget","On budget"))
Total variance %: =SUM(tblCosts[Variance])/SUM(tblCosts[Budget])

Expected result (check your numbers):

Total budget ₹3,14,000, total actual ₹3,24,500. The store is ₹10,500 over budget in total, but Rider wages alone are ₹16,500 over. The total hides the problem.

Checks before you send it:

1. The sign rule (positive = under budget) is written on the sheet.
2. Variance % uses the budget as the denominator.
3. Rider wages and Packaging are flagged.
4. The total row does not add the percentages.