This article will guide authorized users through the process of creating budgets within the Custodia Web platform. These budgets will later be used to fund activities (spend permissions) across your organization.
Budget creation is typically limited to users with the following roles:
• ADMIN
• FINANCE
Budget Creation Overview
To create a new budget in Custodia, please follow the steps below
Navigation Path: Finance & Accounting > Budgets > Budgets
➕ Starting a New Budget
1. On the Budgets page, click the orange plus (+) button in the bottom-right corner.
2. This will open the full Budget Creation form.
Budget Details
You’ll be prompted to enter the following information:
- Granularity: Choose from Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, or Custom. (Required)
- Year: The year this budget applies to. (Required)
- Month / Quarter: Dependent on selected granularity. (Required)
- Amount: Total budgeted amount. (Required)
- Currency: Currency of the budget; can differ from your default currency. (Required)
- Allow Prepaid Expenses: Choose Yes if the budget can be used for post-transaction approvals.
- Budget Owner: Select who will own and approve the budget. (Required)
- Default Account: Driven by your company’s Chart of Accounts. (Required)
- External ID: Link this budget to an external accounting system.
- Description: Describe the purpose of the budget.
- Tags: Tag the budget for easier filtering and reporting.
Defining Budget Rules
Budgets must include at least one rule line item to define how and when the budget can be used. These rules limit the budget by criteria such as employee, department, or project.
Adding Budget Rules
1. Click the orange plus (+) button under the Budget Rules section.
2. In the new rule row, define the applicable parameters:
- Business Activity: Limits usage to a specific activity type.
- Line Item Category: Refines use within that activity.
- Expense Category: Based on merchant expense categorization.
- Subsidiary: Applies to a specific organizational entity.
- Cost Center: Tied to financial cost tracking.
- Org Team: Limits use to a defined internal team.
- Employee: Assigns budget to specific individuals.
- Project: Restricts use to approved projects.
- Customer: Allows spend only for specific clients.
- Product: Ties budget to a specific product line.
- Class: Another level of cost tracking.
3. Select your values for each applicable field.
4. Click the green check mark ✅ on the far-right of the row to save the rule.
5. Once all rules are added, click Save to finalize the budget.
Final Tips
- Every budget must include at least one valid rule to be used.
- You can create multiple rule lines to allow broader usage.
- Archived or expired activities will return unused funds to the budget owner for reallocation.
- For more detail on managing budget please see Managing Budgets in Custodia