# Follow spending against a budget

Find the budget lines near or over their ceiling, open one to read its pace, list the entries behind its actual amount, and compare budgets in the pivot or from an analytic account.

A budget in service keeps its figures up to date on its own. Following it means finding the lines that need attention and understanding where their money went. Everything below reads; nothing changes a budget.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Any access right that shows the budgets is enough: **Administrator** or **Read-only** on **Accounting**.

## Read all the lines at once {#budget-items}

Open **Accounting/Accounting/Budgets/Budget Items**. Every line of every budget is there, grouped by budget, with its **Planned**, **Actual** and **Available** amounts, its **Consumption** and its **Expected to Date**. A line is drawn in orange when its consumption reaches the budget's **Alert At (%)**, and in red when its actual amount passes the planned one.

![Every budget line, grouped by budget, with its planned, actual and available amounts and its consumption.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9810-cce4f1b4/budgets-follow-items_list-en.png)

## Find the lines that need attention {#filters}

1. Open the search panel with the arrow at the end of the search bar.
2. Choose **Approaching Ceiling** for the lines past their alert threshold, or **Over Budget** for the lines whose actual amount passed the planned one.

![The Approaching Ceiling filter, next to Over Budget, in the search panel.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9814-63a794a7/budgets-follow-near_filter-en.png)

On a phone, the search bar and its filters open from the magnifier at the top of the list.

**Covering Today** and **Budgets in Service** narrow the list further, and **Group By** offers one entry per analytic plan, such as **Departments**.

3. Open the group of the budget. On the demo data, the **Legal** line of **Departments 2026** has spent 46,000.00 of its 50,000.00: 92%, past the 90% alert.

![The Legal line of Departments 2026, in orange, past its alert threshold.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9816-661c2bd5/budgets-follow-near_line-en.png)

## Open a line {#line}

Click the line. Its form shows:

- A ribbon in the corner: **Near Ceiling** in orange, or **Over Budget** in red.
- **Pinned To**: the budget, the analytic account in each dimension and the note.
- **Period**: the dates, what it **Applies To** and the stage of its budget.
- **Commitment**: **Planned**, **Actual** and **Available**.
- **Pace**: **Consumption**, **Expected to Date** and **Period Elapsed**. A consumption well above the period elapsed means the money goes out faster than the calendar.

![The budget line with its Near Ceiling ribbon, its amounts and its pace.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9820-8c21af64/budgets-follow-line_form-en.png)

## See the entries behind the actual amount {#entries}

Open **Actions** and choose **Entries Behind This Line**. The analytic entries the line counts are listed: here the legal research subscription and the court fees. Spending entries carry a negative amount; the budget shows them as a positive actual amount. The magnifier at the end of a line in the lists opens the same entries.

![The analytic entries that make up the actual amount of the line.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9824-cb6e2ffb/budgets-follow-line_entries-en.png)

**Re-read Consumption**, in the same menu, reads the actual amount again. The figures already follow every posted or removed entry; the button, and a nightly job, catch an entry changed outside the usual screens (see [Budget automations](budgets-automations)).

## Compare budgets {#compare}

Switch the **Budget Items** list to the pivot view. **Budget Analysis** puts one row per budget and one column per month in which the budgets start, with **Planned**, **Actual** and **Available** in each cell. The graph view draws one bar per budget for **Planned**; choose **Actual** under **Measures** to draw what was spent.

![The Budget Analysis pivot, one row per budget and one column per starting month.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9828-dc08c85a/budgets-follow-items_pivot-en.png)

## From the analytic account {#analytic-account}

Open **Accounting/Configuration/Analytic Accounting/Analytic Accounts**, open an account such as **Legal**, and open its **Budgets** tab. It lists every budget line pinned to the account, with its figures and its stage.

![The Budgets tab of the Legal analytic account, with every budget line pinned to it.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9832-ce90d094/budgets-follow-account_budgets-en.png)

## FAQ {#faq}

### A posted bill does not appear in the actual amount. Why? {#missing-bill}

A line counts an expense only when the entry is posted, dated inside the period, on an expense account (for a spending budget), and its analytic distribution matches the line exactly. A line pinned to **Legal** alone ignores an expense tagged with **Legal** and a project. [How budget figures are counted](how-budget-figures-are-counted) gives the full rule.

### Does an over-budget line stop anyone from posting? {#blocking}

No. Whatever the budget's **Enforcement**, posting goes on; the line turns red and shows in the **Over Budget** filter.

### How do I see the lines of one budget only? {#one-budget}

Open the budget and click its **Budget Items** button, or open its group in the **Budget Items** list. The lines of a cancelled or superseded budget stay in the list; the **Budgets in Service** filter keeps the open budgets only.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/budgets/follow-a-budget
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Budgets 19.0.1.1.1
- Verified: 2026-10-23