Best practices for Budget management
A well-managed Budget is a readable, reliable and compliant Budget. This page brings together the best practices learned from many communities that use Unisoft on a daily basis.
General principle: less, but better
The temptation, when discovering the Budget module, is to multiply booklets to track everything in detail. It is rarely a good idea.
| Anti-pattern | Consequence |
|---|---|
| One booklet per expense | The Budget becomes unreadable (20+ cards) |
| One booklet per month | You multiply accounts without gaining clarity |
| One booklet per manager | You mix Business Units (team logic) and booklets (project logic) |
| Best practice | Benefit |
|---|---|
| One booklet per project or per permanent fund | Immediate readability |
| Maximum 5 to 10 active booklets | Overview at a glance |
| Business Units for responsibility, booklets for flows | Clear separation of concepts |
Organizing booklets
When to create a booklet
Create a booklet only if at least one of these conditions is met:
- ✅ You want to isolate donations earmarked for a specific project
- ✅ You want to track the progress of a collection
- ✅ You want to reserve funds for a future use
- ✅ You want to report to a sponsor or an authority
Do not create a booklet if:
- ❌ You just want to filter a view (use Business Units or Payments module filters)
- ❌ You want to track a type of expense (use the categories of the relevant module)
- ❌ You want to separate by fiscal year (keep the booklet and archive at year-end)
Naming convention
Adopt a clear convention and stick to it:
| Style | Example | Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Thematic prefix | WORKS – Hall renovationSOCIAL – Family assistance | Immediate visual sorting |
| Year in the name | Youth trip 2026 | Distinction of successive editions |
| Short acronyms | W-Renov, S-Fam-Aid | Concision (for narrow screens) |
Avoid:
- ❌ Vague names: "Booklet 1", "Cash flow account"
- ❌ Cryptic abbreviations: "LR2K26"
- ❌ Exotic accents or special characters
Frequency of checks
Weekly (5 to 10 min)
| Action | Why |
|---|---|
| Quick look at the Budget page | Detect a balance anomaly |
| Check new payments of the week | Confirm assignments |
Monthly (30 to 60 min)
| Action | Why |
|---|---|
| Review of each active booklet | Detect entry errors, duplicates |
| Bank reconciliation | Reconcile Budget and bank |
| Regularization of discrepancies | Maintain consistency |
Quarterly (1 to 2 h)
| Action | Why |
|---|---|
| Summary report at the board | Internal communication |
| Verification of honored pledges | Tracking of commitments |
| Preparation of a financial report | Transparency |
Annual (1 day)
| Action | Why |
|---|---|
| Accounting close | Legal compliance |
| Archiving of completed booklets | Keep the view clean |
| Complete export for the accountant | Annual report |
| Update of settings and rights | Security |
Bank reconciliation: non-negotiable
Bank reconciliation is the only guarantee that your Budget matches the reality of your bank account.
| If you never do it | Risk |
|---|---|
| Cumulative gaps between Budget and bank | Loss of confidence in the numbers |
| Bank fees not entered | Unisoft balances overestimated |
| Received transfers not identified | Money "lost" in the wild |
| Entry errors not detected | False accounting |
| If you do it monthly | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Reliable Unisoft balances | Decisions made on accurate numbers |
| Quick detection of anomalies | Easy regularization (fresh memory) |
| Partner trust | Donors, authorities, accountant reassured |
See Access bank reconciliation.
Life cycle of a project booklet
| Step | Action | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Creation | Define a clear name, a description | Create a booklet |
| 2. Active phase | Collect donations, track pledges | Link a payment to a booklet |
| 3. Usage phase | Commit expenses, transfer or allocate charges | Transfer funds |
| 4. Regularization | Empty the residual balance | Transfer to the Main cash register |
| 5. Archiving | Close cleanly | Archive a booklet |
Sharing with the accountant
The Unisoft Budget is an operational tool, not a legal accounting ledger. For official accounting:
| Action | Procedure |
|---|---|
| Monthly export | Use the export from the Payments module filtered on the month |
| Annual report | Full year export + Tax declaration |
| Expected format | XLSX compatible with Sage, Cegid, EBP and most accounting software |
| Possible anonymization | Remove sensitive columns (email, phone) if the recipient doesn't need them |
See Export for the accountant (internal page, accessible via direct link).
Security and access rights
| Best practice | Detail |
|---|---|
Limit gestion | Only treasurers and main administrators need the gestion right |
Limit bank.read | Bank reconciliation is reserved for trusted financial profiles |
| Log sensitive actions | Important transfers must be documented |
| Annual review of access | Check that permissions are up to date, remove former members |
See Permissions.
Ideal treasurer's checklist
- Maximum 10 active booklets visible on the Budget page
- Naming convention adopted and applied
- Bank reconciliation done each month (badge at zero)
- No booklet with red balance without justification
- No orphan payment (without reason) for 30 days
- Archiving of completed booklets done at least once a year
- Monthly export sent to the accountant
- Unisoft password renewed annually
- List of administrators reviewed annually
Annual Budget cycle
At each fiscal year close (usually December or a fiscal pivot month for your organization), plan an annual routine to start on a clean basis.
Before the close (November-December)
- 1
Do the last bank reconciliation of the year
All payments and all expenses of the year must be checked off against your bank statements. See Validate a bank transaction.
- 2
Check expected balances per booklet
For each booklet, check that the balance corresponds to what you expect. In case of discrepancy, identify the cause (poorly attached payment, forgotten expense).
- 3
Export a year-end statement
Export the operation history per booklet for your accountant.
At the close (January)
- 1
Archive booklets of completed projects
Any booklet corresponding to a project completed in year N (renovation, trip, one-off event) can be archived. It disappears from the Budget page but remains viewable in the archives.
- 2
Recreate annual booklets for N+1
For recurring booklets (annual budget, recurring expenses), create the versions of the new year: "2027 activity budget", "2027 salaries". See Create a booklet.
- 3
Carry over balances if necessary
If a booklet has a remaining balance that must be carried over to N+1, make an internal transfer from the old booklet to the new one, with an explicit label: "Carry-over of 2026 balance".
Throughout the year
- Monthly: bank reconciliation
- Quarterly: export to the accountant
- Semi-annually: review of all open booklets (are they all still active?)
- Annual: routine above