Budget variance practice workbook

Practice turning a monthly budget comparison into commentary you can explain and check. The example uses a fictional service business for September 2026, with every amount in US dollars. No real company data or macros are included.

What is included

• BvA: live variance calculations, current-period profit effects, operating margin, and a reconciled profit bridge.
• Inputs: six editable budget/actual lines, the two fictional evidence notes, and the source context.
• Workflow: instructions, three copyable prompts, a checked editorial example, and space for your own draft.

How to use it

1. Save a copy of the workbook. Start with the unchanged sample.
2. Open BvA. Budget profit is USD 20,000; actual profit is USD 12,000. The profit bridge difference is 0.00.
3. Copy Inputs A9:D15 and notes N1–N2, plus BvA A11:G19, into the fact-table prompt in Workflow A13. Replace the bracketed instruction before sending it. Include margin from BvA B21:D21 if drafting outside the original example.
4. Compare the AI fact table with the workbook. Reconcile profit and check the evidence for each explanation.
5. Use Workflow A16 to request commentary and A19 to review it. Put your reviewed draft in A27. The sample in A22 is an editorial illustration, not a captured response from a named service.
6. In a practice copy, change only the yellow numeric cells in Inputs B10:C15. Calculations update; evidence notes and sample commentary do not. Review those against your new inputs.

Use the six existing account rows for practice. Adding or inserting accounts requires extending the formulas and checking totals; this is not an automatically expanding reporting template. Keep September 2026 and USD as the original exercise context. For a different period or currency, adapt the labels, notes, and prompt context together in a copy.

Calculation conventions

Variance is actual minus budget. Higher costs reduce profit, so their profit effect reverses the variance sign. Negative amounts display in parentheses. Display rounding does not alter stored calculation precision. Margin differences use percentage points.

A zero budget returns the text N/A for the percentage. A negative budget returns Review baseline rather than an automatically interpreted percentage. Blank or nonnumeric inputs make the dependent results unavailable. Nonpositive revenue makes operating margin N/A.

This fixed-budget exercise does not identify price, volume, or efficiency effects. Payroll note N1 explains the sample overrun; contractor note N2 explains a delay, not a permanent saving. Other causes remain unknown.

Practice checks

• Increase actual revenue from 92,000 to 93,000: actual profit becomes 13,000 and the revenue variance becomes −7,000. The profit bridge still reconciles.
• Set the software budget to zero: its percentage becomes N/A.
• Set it to −1: its percentage becomes Review baseline.
• Clear actual payroll: dependent profit becomes Missing input.
• Remove N2 from the prompt: the contractor cause should be unknown. This last check needs your chosen AI tool; it is not an automated workbook calculation.

The original file was validated in the artifact calculation engine and all sheets rendered for visual review. Native Excel/Google Sheets recalculation and an end-to-end AI service run have not been performed. Usage terms and the publication download location need owner approval before public release.