Spreadsheet: 0e02a00b-237d-46e9-bdff-93ce5023971e
Sheet: Sheet1

Unnamed: 0
User Guide for Activity-Based Budget Template
Description of the Activity-Based Budget Template
Activity-based costing derives budgets from the levels of activities that drive expenses. The method provides more accurate and defensible budgets. Each cost center can have numerous expense accounts, and spending for each expense account can be driven by numerous activities. (Example: the number of sales orders and order line items drives expenses in the order processing unit.)
The model computes expense budgets from data for cost-per-activity count and budgeted activity counts.
You specify these essential inputs to model:
• A list of expense accounts, optionally assigned to cost centers
[NAME] of cost centers: order processing, credit and collections, general accounting
[NAME] of expense accounts: admin labor (order processing), admin labor (receivables), IT expense,    overhead
• A list of activities whose levels drive expenses
[NAME] of activity drivers: number of orders, number of order line items, volume of receivables
• The time range that is to be budgeted
[NAME] cost-per-activity unit for the budget time range.
You can optionally specify the following information.
• Historical data for comparison with budget
− The time range for historical expense data
− Actual expenses for each expense account for the historical time range
− Actual activity levels for the activity drivers of expense, for the historical time range
• Breakout of fixed and variable expenses, by expense account.    (Activity budgets determine only variable expense budgets.)
• Enter actual activity counts and expenses and compute variances from budget for activity counts and expenses.
Instructions for Using Activity-Based Budget Template
1  Let the template tell you how it works
The template has four main facilities to help you learn how it works.
•  Throughout the template, section titles, variable names and Excel comments provide information about the    template and the computations behind it. The Excel comment for each variable is repeated for each display    instance of a variable.
•  Worksheet “Labels” contains a glossary of variables and dimensions in the template.
− It lists all the variables in the model, accompanied on the right by the explanatory comment for each variable.
− It lists all the dimensions and their dimension items, accompanied on the right by the explanatory comment    for each dimension.
• The Excel workbook contains Excel collapsible groups that you can open to see detailed information or close    to get an overview of the information on each worksheet.
•  Worksheet “[NAME]” contains a list of the symbolic formulas that define values of variables in terms of    numerical constants and other variables.
The template is derived from these symbolic formulas by ModelSheet. Although these formulas are not executable in Excel, they often provide the quickest route to understanding what the computations are doing, avoiding the need to decode dozens of Excel formulas written in terms of cell addresses.
Of course, you can read the Excel cell formulas.
2  Editing Data in the Excel Template
You can enter input data in shaded input cells (usually dark blue). Most of the input data is on worksheet 'Inputs'. You can edit display names of variables and dimension items on worksheet '[NAME]' (and in some templates the input cell for Model Start Date is located at the top of worksheet '[NAME]').  Putting most inputs in one or two places eliminates the need to search the workbook for input cells.
The model provides weights that determine how to proportion the historical expense in each expense account among the activity drivers for that account. If you enter nothing, the inputs are zero, and the actual weights are equal for all drivers that you assigned to that expense account.
Names of Activities
You can change the names of activities in the Excel workbook. Here are some guidelines.
1. You can change the display names of 'Activities" on worksheet '[NAME]' to be any valid text strings
2. Do NOT change the name of 'Activity Drivers' on worksheet '[NAME]' (the default names are Driver 1, Driver 2, …).    Changing the names will not break anything, but it can be confusing because these names do not affect the    computations, whereas the names of the Activities do affect computations
3. The activity names you enter at the bottom of worksheet 'Inputs' (in the list of Activity Drivers) must be exactly      the same as you entered on worksheet '[NAME]'.  Here's why: The template makes string comparisons between     these two sets of Activity names . Even an extra leading space might cause a problem, though we attempt to     'trim' strings so this will not happen.
3  Customizing the Excel Template
You can customize the workbook further on the worksheet “Labels”.
[NAME] the display name of any variable, dimension or dimension item.
−  Edit the comment associated with any variable or dimension. The new comments will not propagate through     the workbook.
If you want to include these changes in a future version of the template, you can re-import them into ModelSheet, which will include them in any future version of the template exported from ModelSheet.
4  Further Customizations
This template has additional features that can be turned on or added, such as learning curve effects, lot size scale effects, recruiting costs and more.
In addition, ModelSheet Software can extend the template in new directions to meet your requirements, on  a project basis.
License Terms
You may use this Model(s) or Template(s) and any derivative works in the work of your firm, employer and one client or associate. You may not use, sell or transfer the Model(s) or Template(s) for the operation or analysis of an organization that is not your firm, your client or your employer or your associates. For a full description of License terms, see the license agreement on our website at
http://www.modelsheetsoft.com/template_eula.aspx
Please address queries to:
[EMAIL]
2009-12-25 00:00:00
Copyright © 2009 ModelSheet Software, LLC
ModelSheet and the ModelSheet logo are registered trademarks of ModelSheet Software, LLC.
Please visit our website at www.modelsheetsoft.com