Once the operating budget is approved, the focus is on budget implementation. One of the most important tasks in this third phase of the budget cycle is monitoring actual revenues and expenditures with the purpose of anticipating unfavorable trends. For this Excel exercise, the analysis returns to the line-item budget for a city’s development department. The exercise involves projecting year-end expenditures (1) for each line item, (2) for total departmental expenditures, and (3) for each revenue source, and then comparing trends in actual expenditures and revenues with the totals in the adopted budget. Using these projections, not only can comparisons be made to the adopted and revised budgets, but projected revenues can be compared to projected expenditures to evaluate the potential impact on fund balance.

Download detailed instructions and data set for this exercise.