Here’s a test to see how nerdy you are. If below are three budget lines, which one is the worst:
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | |
| A | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 83.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 100.00 |
| B | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.37 | 100.00 |
| C | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 8.33 | 99.96 |
For me, A is by far the worst because, if you tried to add up all the numbers for each row, it wouldn’t add up to 100.00. C is the next worst. Chances are, $100.00 was approved for the annual budget for that line…not $99.96.
For the past 20 years, I would normally change the December amount so that everything adds up to the approved annual budget amount (Option B). Within the last month, I finally developed a better way. You can watch the video to see exactly how. Here are the formulas for that first line:
- Jan: =ROUND($N5/12,2)
- Feb: =ROUND($N5/12*C$1,2)-SUM($B5:B5)
- You can then drag the formula in February over to December
I also have the sample budget that I used linked below.