QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

Filling in Budget Values

Regardless of which type of budget you create, filling in and editing values is the same. To add values to an account, in the Account column, click the name of the account. QuickBooks automatically selects the cell in the first month column in that row. If you're filling in the entire year's worth of numbers, type the value for the first month, press Tab to move to the next month, and continue until you've entered values in all twelve months, as shown in Figure 18-2.

UP TO SPEED : The Set Up Budgets Buttons

In the Set Up Budgets dialog box, several buttons help you manage the work you do on your budgets. Although you're probably familiar with their functions based on similar buttons in other dialog boxes, here's a review:

• Clear. Click this button to clear all the values for a budget—in every account and every month. This is the button to click if you want to start over.

• Save. When you've added or updated all the values in a budget, click Save to save your work on that budget. You can also click Save so you don't lose the work you've done so far. Don't worry if you forget to click Save. If you click OK or choose another budget, QuickBooks asks you if you want to record a budget.

• OK. Clicking this button records the values you've entered and closes the dialog box.

• Cancel. Clicking this button closes the dialog box without saving your work.

Tip

If the account names are hopelessly truncated and you have screen real estate to spare, widen the Set Up Budgets dialog ...