Budget Variance
The difference between budgeted amounts and actual spending or revenue in a given period, used to monitor financial discipline.
What is Budget Variance?
Budget variance compares what you planned to spend or earn against actual results. Payroll budget variance of +$3,000 means you spent $3,000 more than planned. Revenue budget variance of -$8,000 means you earned $8,000 less.
Tracking budget variance monthly reveals drift before it becomes structural. Tool subscriptions creeping up, contractors extending beyond plan, or revenue missing forecast all show up as variances.
Severity matters: a 5% favorable variance on a small line item differs from a 20% unfavorable variance on payroll. Effective teams review variances by category, document causes, and adjust future budgets.
Why it matters
Budgets set intent. Variance measures execution. Without variance tracking, you discover overspending when runway compresses, not when the first extra dollar was spent.
Monthly budget variance review is one of the highest-leverage financial habits for growing businesses.
How RunwayCal helps
RunwayCal's variance engine tracks budget vs actual by category with color-coded severity, drill-down, and notes on each variance.
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