Spreadsheet for a children's home

flyer · 16 July at 9:25AM

Vitor said:

https://create.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/business-budgets

Thank you. I'll have a look

PHK · 17 July at 12:49AM

flyer said:

elsien said:

Honestly, I’d be chucking this one back at the owner. If they want the manager to do a half decent job then they need to provide the tools for you to do so.
(Ex/care home manager here.)

I am the owner!

In which case, the software that you use to do your books will also have budgeting built in.

GDB2222 · 17 July at 6:12AM

PHK said:

flyer said:

elsien said:

Honestly, I’d be chucking this one back at the owner. If they want the manager to do a half decent job then they need to provide the tools for you to do so.
(Ex/care home manager here.)

I am the owner!

In which case, the software that you use to do your books will also have budgeting built in.

Exactly why I am finding this so puzzling. Isn’t the op in some danger of doubling up the paperwork, by entering stuff in the spreadsheet and then also in the proper books?

If you have an accountant you need to make sure that your records satisfy him and are compatible with his systems.

GDB2222 · 17 July at 6:20AM

How does a monthly food budget work, anyway? Say there’s a really great deal on canned tuna, so you buy a year’s worth. Do you then have to tell the children that they can’t have milk for the rest of the month, as you have used the food budget up buying tuna for the next year?

PHK · 17 July at 6:47AM

GDB2222 said:

How does a monthly food budget work, anyway? Say there’s a really great deal on canned tuna, so you buy a year’s worth. Do you then have to tell the children that they can’t have milk for the rest of the month, as you have used the food budget up buying tuna for the next year?

Accounts software would allow a business to show the cost of the tuna throughout the year.

A simple running total on a spreadsheet won't do that.

Normally, with regular expenditure (like meals) there is a budgeted overall cost to the business of buying ingredients (or constituent parts) but this is based on a budget of £x per meal. So when working out menus you have a target to aim for. You can then adjust the budget easily if the number of meals changes or food price inflation takes hold.

flyer · 17 July at 9:22AM

PHK said:

flyer said:

elsien said:

Honestly, I’d be chucking this one back at the owner. If they want the manager to do a half decent job then they need to provide the tools for you to do so.
(Ex/care home manager here.)

I am the owner!

In which case, the software that you use to do your books will also have budgeting built in.

We use Xero, which does have budget options but not in the way I need to use it. Let's say the manager has a budget of £400 per month for food. They go shopping twice a week, and she needs to be able to draw down the money she spends so she knows what she has left. Does that make sense?

GDB2222 · 17 July at 10:51AM

flyer said:

PHK said:

flyer said:

elsien said:

Honestly, I’d be chucking this one back at the owner. If they want the manager to do a half decent job then they need to provide the tools for you to do so.
(Ex/care home manager here.)

I am the owner!

In which case, the software that you use to do your books will also have budgeting built in.

We use Xero, which does have budget options but not in the way I need to use it. Let's say the manager has a budget of £400 per month for food. They go shopping twice a week, and she needs to be able to draw down the money she spends so she knows what she has left. Does that make sense?

A piece of paper stuck to the fridge will do that. Just keep a running total of what is remaining.

PHK · 18 July at 9:04PM

flyer said:

PHK said:

flyer said:

elsien said:

Honestly, I’d be chucking this one back at the owner. If they want the manager to do a half decent job then they need to provide the tools for you to do so.
(Ex/care home manager here.)

I am the owner!

In which case, the software that you use to do your books will also have budgeting built in.

We use Xero, which does have budget options but not in the way I need to use it. Let's say the manager has a budget of £400 per month for food. They go shopping twice a week, and she needs to be able to draw down the money she spends so she knows what she has left. Does that make sense?

That's an unusual way to do it.

Normally you set a cost per meal or serving. Doing it that way, it doesn't matter that some food will be bought in one month but eaten in another or that some packages are large enough to last multi months.

GDB2222 · 19 July at 9:17AM

@PHK do you mean that, having decided on the menu, you calculate the cost of all the ingredients? So, for example, the cake has 450 grams of sugar, which is 30% of a bag … You’d need to automate that calculation or there will be no time left for cooking. Besides that, the sort of person who likes cooking may not want to spend ages on the task, and will quickly find another job!