Heads up! Only account Owners and Admins are able to create budgets on Qonto. If you’re a Manager tasked with a budget, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered - check out this article on how to manage it!
What is the Budgets feature on Qonto?
Budget is a new feature on Qonto, specifically designed to save you time and let you focus on running your business by providing real-time tracking of your team expenses. Located in the Team Expenses section via your desktop and on the More section via your phone, this feature empowers owners/admins to create a new budget, assign it to a team and manager, and monitor team expenses in real time.
❗ Good to know: Up to one budget can be created per team. However, a budget can include 2 periods (current year and next year). Budgets can always be set up for the current year, however, if a budget is being created after September 1st, Qonto gives users the added possibility to plan ahead and set a budget for the upcoming year.
Budget periodicity can be either yearly or monthly.
How do I create and assign a new budget?
Only available via web application 💻
Creating and assigning a new budget is straightforward. In the Budgets section, click on 'Create a budget'. You will then be prompted to select or create a team to allocate the budget to.
For an existing team, simply select the team, assign a manager, define the budget period, and enter the overall or monthly budget amount. Once you’ve filled in these details, click ‘Continue’ to create the budget.
To create a new team, select “Create a team” then give it a name. Then you will be able to assign a manager to this team, define the overall budget amount and once you filled in all the details you’ll be ready to go!
How to make changes to a Budget after its creation?
Only available via web application 💻
Budget editing allows for the modification of budget amounts for any budget period in the future. Budgets can be edited and archived by members with the Admin and Owner roles only.
To edit a Budget follow the steps below:
Go to Team Expenses > Budgets
Click on the 3 dots of the budget card you want to edit
Select “Edit”
Chose the period you want to edit*
Edit your budget then click on “Save”
*From this section, you can also add a new budget period (Next year or current year)
⚠️ It is not possible to change the budget frequency (monthly to global nor global to monthly). if you need to, you have to delete the current budget and create a new one with the frequency needed (and manually reallocate expenses to the new budget if necessary).
To archive a Budget follow the steps below:
Go to Team Expenses> Budgets
Click on the 3 dots of the budget card you want to archive
Select “Archive”
❗ Archiving a budget is a permanent action. All data pertaining to that budget cannot be recovered once the budget has been archived.
How to manually reallocate a transaction to another or no budget?
You can manually reallocate individual transactions to a different budget or remove them from any budget by navigating to transaction details on the History tab.
Members possessing the Owner or Admin roles can reallocate a transaction to any budget. On the other hand, Managers can only reallocate transactions to the budgets to which they are assigned.
To do this, select the transaction you wish to reallocate. Then, dive deeper into the transaction details and go to the budget section. From there, you can select the new budget you want to associate with this transaction.
How does the real-time tracking of team expenses work?
With the Budgets feature, you get real-time updates on team expenses. Each time a budget member makes a transaction using their Qonto card or initiates a transfer, the expense is automatically deducted from the team's budget. You can view these transactions and the remaining budget in the Budgets section.
How can I get the most out of the Budgets feature?
To make the most of the Budgets feature, you might want to:
Keep an eye on your team's expenses regularly. Stay updated on your team's expenses in real-time, which can help with budget management and planning. This can help you spot any trends or areas where spending is higher than expected.
Communicate with your team. Ensure your team understands their budget and the importance of adhering to it. Regular communication, in person or whether through Slack messages or other channels, can promote more efficient spending.
Make use of the manager function. Assigning a manager to each budget can help keep spending under control, giving you more control over your business expenses.