# Budget template

Download the budget CSV for your fiscal year and fill monthly amounts against existing revenue and expense accounts.

Canonical: https://demo.qixcount.com/help/checklists-and-templates/budget-template

Who can do this: Owners, or people with *View budgets*, *Create budgets* and *Edit budgets*

Where: Books, then Budgets

You'll need: Budgets enabled in Features; monthly fiscal periods and active revenue or expense accounts

## Download for the year you will use

1. Open **Books**, then **Budgets**.
2. Select **New Budget**.
3. Select **Fiscal Year**.
4. Select **Import from CSV**.
5. Select **Download template**.

This file belongs to your business and selected fiscal year. It includes existing active revenue and expense accounts, with blank monthly amounts. It is separate from the public list-import templates.

| Column | How to fill it |
| --- | --- |
| `account_code` | Keep the existing account code. A matching code takes priority over the name. |
| `account_name` | Keep the existing account name. If no code matches, QixCount tries the name without regard to letter case. |
| Month headings | Enter each month's planned amount. Keep the downloaded headings and order. |

For a January-start year, the months run from `Jan` through `Dec`. Other fiscal years start with their first fiscal month. The available monthly periods determine the file's columns, so download again if you change the year.

## Fill, upload and review

Enter nonnegative amounts so the imported grid can be saved through the budget editor. Properly quoted values can contain dollar signs and thousands commas. Recognized numbers are rounded to two decimal places.

Unmatched accounts are skipped. Blank or unreadable amounts leave a cell at zero unless another row supplies a recognized amount for it. If repeated rows supply numbers for the same account and month, the last recognized value wins. Importing does not create missing accounts or provide a skipped-row report.

Enter **Budget Name**, choose the completed **CSV File** and select **Create Budget**. The new draft opens for review. Check the entire grid before approving it.

Follow [Import a budget from the template](https://demo.qixcount.com/help/budgets-and-projects/import-a-budget) for the complete workflow.