Who asked: the controller of Canal Street Coffee, a chain of thirteen cafes with a fourteenth opening in May (made up for practice). She needs the 2026 budget by month, and in July she will need the first variance pack.
The data: on the Budget sheet, the drivers by month (days, transactions per store per day, stores open), the price and cost assumptions in rows 25 to 31, and the actual results for January to June in rows 18 to 22.
What done looks like: a monthly budget from revenue down to store EBITDA with full-year totals; a variance pack for January to June with variances, percentages and F or U flags; a full-year forecast; and the one line that's hurting profit most, with the full-year EBITDA gap.
Most finance teams build the budget once a year and live with it every month after. This project does both halves in one workbook, ten steps that carry over:
- the ticket price by month, with a mid-year price rise;
- monthly revenue from four drivers;
- costs that follow revenue;
- costs that follow the number of stores;
- store EBITDA and the full year;
- year-to-date budget and actual;
- variances and percentages;
- favorable or unfavorable flags;
- a full-year forecast: six months of actuals plus six months of budget;
- the biggest drag on profit and the full-year gap.
Steps 6 to 10 build the variance pack on its own Pack sheet, linked to the Budget sheet. The budget is phased: each month carries its own days, footfall and store count, so the shape of the year is in the plan, not just its total. Every step is checked again on different inputs, so point each formula at its drivers.