Automatic forecasting
Everything you need to know about manual and automatic forecasting in budgee
Budgee’s forecasting tools help you turn historical cash flow into an editable future forecast.
They are designed to help you:
- Generate an initial forecast from past activity
- Review forecasted amounts at different levels
- Adjust forecast assumptions
- Drill into the transactions behind the numbers
A simple way to think about it:
- Forecasting tool: helps you browse the forecast
- Dialog: where you review and edit it
- Graph: helps you sense-check what is happening
Before you start
The forecasting tool appears in grouped board views where:
- The main grouping is Type
- The next grouping is Category or Contact
1. Generate your first forecast
If forecasting has not been set up yet, you will see the setup widget. Generating the first forecast, it is fine to choose any method as it is simple to change later.
Forecast method
This sets the starting rule Budgee uses to estimate future monthly amounts. You can change this later for the whole forecast or for smaller parts of it.
Prefer Xero repeating invoices & bills
Turn this on if you want Budgee to use matching Xero repeating invoices or bills wherever they exist, instead of generating a repeat pattern itself.
2. Using the forecasting tool
Once forecasting is active, the forecasting tool becomes a drill-down view of your forecast.
At the top, you will see Forecast assumptions (mth ave). Selecting this opens the full forecast dialog for the whole forecast.
Below that, each row shows the aggregated monthly average for everything inside that branch of the forecast.
3. Use the forecast dialog
The forecast dialog is the main place for reviewing and editing the forecast.
From top to bottom, it usually includes:
- A summary comparison of actuals vs. forecast
- The forecast graph
- The forecast assumptions table
- A breakdown table for drilling deeper
4. Use the forecast graph
The graph combines 12 months of historical actuals and 12 months of future forecast items in one view.
Unpaid invoices / bills toggle
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Original dates | Keeps unpaid actuals on their original dates |
| Today | Moves unpaid actuals onto today for easier visibility |
5. Edit the forecast assumptions table
The assumptions table is where most forecast editing happens.
Monthly amount rescaling
Changing the Monthly amount rescales the forecast for that row’s scope. Budgee keeps the existing ratio between nested items where possible.
6. Use the breakdown table
Use the breakdown table to drill deeper into your forecast structure (Type → Category → Contact).
If there are items that do not yet have forecast assumptions, use the Add row at the bottom.
Forecasting reference
Forecast methods
| Method | What it means |
|---|---|
| Last month’s amount | Uses paid actuals from the immediate last month |
| 3/6/12-month average | Converts recent historical ranges into a monthly average |
| Repeat last 365 days | Preserves yearly patterns and seasonality |
| Use imported repeats | Uses matching Xero repeating invoices or bills |
| Custom | Uses a manually entered monthly amount |
Practical tips
- Start broad: Adjust top-level rows first, then drill deeper only where needed.
- Seasonality: Use Repeat last 365 days to preserve yearly patterns.
- Targets: Use custom amounts when you want a specific target rather than a history-based estimate.