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Budget/Forecast Data Sheets

Take your budgeting and forecasting to the next level by creating custom calculations, incorporating external data, and building sophisticated financial models.

In this article:

Overview

Budget/Forecast Data Sheets provide a powerful way to enhance your financial planning in Reach Reporting. This feature allows you to create custom calculations with complex formulas, incorporate data from external spreadsheets, and build sophisticated "what-if" scenarios—all within your budget or forecast workflow.

Budget/Forecast Data Sheets are particularly useful for modeling scenarios like:

  • Payroll costs for new hires
  • Revenue per employee
  • New asset purchases and depreciation schedules
  • Loan and interest payment calculations
  • Custom revenue or expense drivers
  • Multi-variable financial scenarios
  • VAT/GST calculations

Accessing Budget/Forecast Data Sheets

To access Data Sheets within a budget or forecast:

  1. Open the budget or forecast you want to work with
  2. Navigate to the Data Sheets tab
  3. Here you can view existing calculations, add new rows, or link external data sources

Note: The Data Sheet in the Budget/Forecast is only used for that specific Budget/Forecast.

Creating Custom Calculations

Budget/Forecast Data Sheets allow you to:

  • Build complex formulas: Create calculations that reference other rows, use mathematical operations, and incorporate conditional logic
  • Copy budgeted values: Copy and paste data from your Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet to use in your calculations
  • Create scenario models: Build multiple scenarios to compare different planning assumptions

To create a custom calculation:

  1. In the Data Sheets tab, click Add Rows at the bottom
  2. Add a new custom row
  3. Enter your formula or calculation in the appropriate cells
  4. Give the row a descriptive name in the Account/Title column so it's easy to identify later

Simplifying Your View

When working with extensive calculations, you can streamline your workspace:

  • Hide unnecessary rows: Click the eye icon next to any row to hide it from view. This enables you to display only the rows you need to reference in your budget or forecast

  • Arrange rows: Drag rows to reorder them and create groupings for better organization

This keeps your Data Sheet clean and focused on the calculations that matter most.

Linking Data Sheet Calculations to Your Budget/Forecast

Once you've created custom calculations in your Data Sheet, you can link them directly to accounts in your Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet:

  1. In your budget or forecast, locate the account you want to link
  2. Click the gear icon next to that account
  3. Select Link to Data Sheet
  4. Choose the calculation you want to apply from the dropdown menu

This powerful feature allows your budget/forecast Data Sheet calculations to automatically populate in your budget/forecast accounts, making your planning more dynamic and integrated.

Incorporating External Data from Sheets

Google Sheets or Excel

You can bring data from Google Sheets or Excel files directly into your Budget/Forecast Data Sheets, adding even more flexibility to your planning.

Prerequisites:

  • You must already have a Google Sheet or Excel file added in the Sheets section (accessible from the left navigation bar when a company is open)
  • Make sure your external sheet follows Reach Reporting's formatting requirements (see our Google Sheet Data Sheets or Excel Data Sheets articles for details)
  • The external sheet must cover the same time frame as the budget or forecast you're working on

To add external data to your Budget/Forecast Data Sheet:

  1. Open your budget or forecast
  2. Navigate to the Data Sheets tab
  3. Scroll to the bottom and click Add Rows and select Data Sheets
  4. In the Data Picker, select your connected Google Sheet or Excel file
  5. Choose the specific rows of data you want to include
  6. Click Save

The selected data will now appear in your Budget/Forecast Data Sheet, where you can use it to drive calculations or reference it in your budget accounts. Google/Excel referenced rows are indicated by a table icon:

Data Sheets

Similar to Google and Excel Sheets, you can use Reach’s internal Data Sheets to incorporate data into your Budget/Forecast Data Sheets.

To add Data Sheet data to your Budget/Forecast Data Sheet:

  1. Open your budget or forecast
  2. Navigate to the Data Sheets tab
  3. Scroll to the bottom and click Add Rows and select Data Sheets
  4. In the Data Picker, select your Data Sheet
  5. Choose the specific rows of data you want to include
  6. Click Save

The selected data will now appear in your Budget/Forecast Data Sheet, where you can use it to drive calculations or reference it in your budget accounts. Data Sheet referenced rows are indicated by a table icon:

Important Note: You can only link custom rows from Data Sheets into your Budget/Forecast Data Sheets. You cannot link actuals directly. If you need actuals in your Budget/Forecast Data Sheets, you have two options:

  • Copy and paste actuals from your financial statements into the Budget/Forecast Data Sheets
  • Include actuals in your standard Data Sheets, perform calculations there, and then link those custom calculations to your Budget/Forecast Data Sheets:

You can also include budget/forecast data within the standard Data Sheets to perform calculations, and then link those custom calculations to your Budget/Forecast Data Sheets. If you are using budget/forecast data within the standard Data Sheets and the budget/forecast data has been updated:

  1. Open the budget/forecast where the data has been referenced and save
  2. Open the standard Data Sheet to refresh the budget/forecast reference data and save
  3. Open the budget/forecast, refresh the Budget/Forecast Data Sheet, and save:

Refreshing Referenced Data

If changes are made to your connected Google Sheets, Excel files, or Data Sheet references, you'll need to refresh the data in the Sheets tab, and then refresh the data in your Budget/Forecast Data Sheet. Check out our Knowledge Center article on Budgeting with Reference Data for more information on how to refresh the referenced data.

Best Practices

  • Name your calculations clearly: Use descriptive names in the Account/Title column to make calculations easy to identify and reference
  • Organize logically: Arrange rows in a sequence that makes sense for your workflow. You can also use the eye icons to hide unnecessary rows, allowing you to display only the rows you need to reference
  • Document your assumptions: Use comments or separate documentation to explain complex formulas
  • Test scenarios separately: Consider creating multiple versions of your budget to compare different planning assumptions
  • Keep external sheets updated: Regularly sync or refresh external data sources to maintain accuracy
  • Start simple: Begin with straightforward calculations before building more complex models

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