Budgeting & Forecasting in Business Central: A Complete Guide
Microsoft Dynamics 365 | Simplify your IT footprint and make decisions faster.
- September 9, 2025
Introduction
For small and mid-sized businesses, managing budgets and forecasts is often a challenge. Spreadsheets are time-consuming, prone to errors, and difficult to scale as companies grow. That’s why many finance leaders are turning to Dynamics 365 Business Central budgeting and forecasting tools to streamline planning, improve accuracy, and gain real-time insights.
With budgeting in Business Central and forecasting in Business Central, CFOs and finance teams can build multiple budget versions, run what-if scenarios, and automate variance reporting. Unlike static Excel models, Microsoft Business Central budgeting tools integrate directly with financial data, ensuring every number, from sales to cost of goods sold, is accurate and up to date.
This blog, paired with our video walkthrough, will show you how to set up budgets, forecast performance, and use Business Central financial planning to support smarter business decisions. Whether you’re looking to improve budget vs actual reporting in Business Central or explore AI forecasting in Business Central, this guide is designed to help business leaders, CFOs, and finance teams take control of their financial strategy.
Why Budgeting and Forecasting Matter
For business leaders, budgeting and forecasting are more than routine finance task, they are the foundation for strategic decision-making. Without clear financial visibility, it’s nearly impossible to plan for growth, manage cash flow, or respond to changing market conditions. This is where Business Central financial planning offers a real advantage.
Traditional budgeting methods, often done in spreadsheets, can lead to delays, errors, and siloed information. For small and mid-sized businesses, this approach becomes unsustainable as operations expand. By contrast, budgeting in Business Central centralizes financial data and connects directly with your ERP system, eliminating manual consolidation and improving accuracy.
Traditional vs Modern Financial Planning
- Traditional approach: Disconnected spreadsheets, limited collaboration, and static numbers.
- Modern approach: Integrated planning in Microsoft ERP, with real-time financial insights, automated workflows, and built-in reporting tools.
With Dynamics 365 Business Central budgeting and forecasting, leaders can run multiple scenarios, automate updates, and compare budgets to actual results in real time. This shift empowers CFOs to move from reactive reporting to proactive planning.
Budgeting in Business Central
One of the most powerful features of Dynamics 365 Business Central budgeting and forecasting is the ability to create, manage, and compare multiple budgets directly within the system. Instead of relying solely on spreadsheets, finance teams can use Microsoft Business Central budgeting tools to build structured financial plans that integrate seamlessly with the general ledger.
In the video walkthrough, the process starts by navigating to GL Budgets in Business Central. From here, users can create a new budget—such as a 2025 plan—and set up multiple versions (e.g., 2025 V1, first pass, or additional “what-if” scenarios). This flexibility allows businesses to test different assumptions and compare outcomes without overwriting existing plans.
Budgets can be structured by dimensions, such as department or customer group, giving leaders detailed visibility into costs and revenues across the organization. The Business Central planning worksheet displays monthly views by account, making it easy to enter budget figures for areas like cost of goods sold, income, and overheads.
Using Excel with Business Central Budgeting
While data can be entered directly in the budget matrix view, many organizations prefer to use Excel integration with Business Central budgeting. This feature allows budgets to be exported to Excel, distributed to department heads for collaboration, and then re-imported into Business Central. The system validates entries during import, ensuring data accuracy while preserving the familiarity and flexibility of Excel.
Key Budgeting Features in Business Central
- Budget versioning in Business Central for scenario planning.
- Dimensional tracking by department, customer group, or region.
- Dynamics 365 budget control to keep spending aligned with approved limits.
- Collaboration through Excel with secure re-import into the ERP.
By combining structured ERP-based planning with Excel flexibility, budgeting in Business Central offers both control and convenience, helping finance leaders prepare accurate, actionable budgets without the inefficiencies of manual spreadsheets.
Forecasting in Business Central
Budgeting sets the foundation, but forecasting brings agility. With forecasting in Business Central, finance teams can look beyond static annual plans and adapt to changing business conditions. Dynamics 365 Business Central budgeting and forecasting tools make it possible to project future sales, expenses, and cash flow using real-time financial data.
In the video demo, forecasts are created by entering expected values for income accounts, such as sales of finished goods. Using dimensions like customer group (small, medium, large) or department, Business Central allows leaders to build forecasts with granular detail. This makes it easier to understand how different segments of the business will contribute to revenue over time.
Rolling Forecasts in Dynamics 365
Instead of relying on a single annual budget, companies can implement rolling forecasts in Dynamics 365, updating projections monthly or quarterly. This ensures plans stay relevant, even as market conditions shift.
AI Forecasting in Business Central
With the introduction of AI forecasting in Business Central, organizations gain predictive insights powered by machine learning. These tools analyze historical trends and generate projections for sales, demand, and expenses. For CFOs and finance leaders, this means moving from reactive reporting to proactive, data-driven decision-making.
Forecasting Tools in Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Scenario planning by customer group or department.
- Predictive sales and revenue insights.
- Integration with Business Central financial planning workflows.
- Alignment between forecasts and actual results.
By combining structured budgets with flexible forecasts, Business Central financial forecasting empowers organizations to stay agile, plan confidently, and make smarter business decisions.
Budget vs Actual Reporting in Business Central
Creating budgets and forecasts is just the beginning, the real value comes from comparing them against actual financial results. With budget vs actual reporting in Business Central, finance leaders can quickly see how their plans align with real-world performance.
The income statement illustrates how the system displays both monthly and year-to-date actuals alongside budgeted figures, automatically calculating variances. This side-by-side comparison gives businesses a clear view of performance, helping them quickly identify areas where they are on track, exceeding expectations, or at risk of overspending.
Business Central for CFOs
For CFOs and executives, this level of visibility is critical. Instead of waiting for month-end reports, leaders can track performance in real time with Microsoft Business Central budgeting tools. Variance analysis can be applied across income, cost of goods sold, and departmental spending, enabling faster and more informed decisions.
Integrated Planning in Microsoft ERP
- Combines budgets, forecasts, and actuals in a single platform.
- Supports automated budgeting in Business Central, reducing manual effort.
- Connects with Power BI for advanced visualization and dashboards.
- Provides a holistic view of financial performance across the organization.
With Dynamics 365 budget control and real-time variance reporting, companies can stay proactive, adjusting strategies quickly when actual results deviate from plan. This transforms budgeting and forecasting from static tasks into an ongoing cycle of continuous financial planning.
Conclusion: Smarter Financial Planning with Microsoft ERP
For small and mid-sized businesses, effective financial planning is no longer about static spreadsheets, it’s about agility, accuracy, and collaboration. With budgeting and forecasting in Business Central, finance leaders can move beyond manual processes and embrace a system that connects directly to real-time financial data.
By leveraging tools such as budget versioning in Business Central, Excel integration with Business Central budgeting, and AI forecasting in Business Central, organizations gain the flexibility to plan multiple scenarios, empower department heads to contribute, and compare budgets to actuals instantly. For CFOs, this means better visibility, faster decision-making, and tighter financial control.
At Volt Technologies, we help businesses unlock the full value of Dynamics 365 Business Central budgeting and forecasting. Whether it’s setting up your first budget, automating financial workflows, or connecting ERP data with advanced reporting in Power BI, our expertise ensures your organization can plan with confidence.
Contact us now to streamline your budgeting and forecasting with Volt Technologies.