Enter your budget, forecast and scenario settings

The first step to creating your budget or forecast is to work through the three steps in the Task Settings section.

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Spotlight Forecasting displays your settings by default when you create your budget or forecast. Open and hide settings at any time by clicking the Show Settings link at the top of the screen.

Note: You can change the settings within the Show Settings option at any time. However, once your budget or forecast has been created you cannot change the data source options without resetting the budget or forecast.

1. From the Task Manager tab, click the Edit button for the budget or forecast you want to amend.
2. Click 'Show Settings' button on the top right of your Customise data page, this will then display the Task settings screen as an overlay on the right side of your customised data screen.  To save the changes on your task settings, click on the 'Apply' button then enter or check the following details:
   
3. Name of budget or forecast: Enter the name of your budget or forecast.
4. From date: Click the calendar icon to select the start date of your budget or forecast.
5. To date: Click the calendar icon to select the end date of your budget or forecast.
6. Last month of actuals: Click the calendar icon to select a period-end date your budget or forecast will display actuals data until.
7. If you are creating a forecast, select your GST, VAT or sales tax basis, and the schedule on which GST, VAT or sales tax and the payroll taxes should be paid. You can also choose whether you want your Cashflow to display inclusive (default option) or exclusive of sales tax.

If at a later stage you need to change the settings in step 1, for example to change the start or end date of the forecast, you may need to sync data to ensure that you have the required information for the new date range. To do this, first ensure you've imported any updated information within the Task Manager, then open the budget or forecast, click Sync Data and sync the required actuals or budgets. Once synced, click the Refresh Profit and Loss link to update your data grid.

Elsewhere in Help Centre:

Select a data source
Select which data to use
Customise your budget, forecast and scenario data