Every event has costs, and many also have income: ticket sales, sponsorship, a contribution from the client. Budgets puts all of them on one page, so you always know what your event will cost, what it brings in and what is left at the end. It is part of the event software of eventplanner.net, and every event gets its own budget.

You build the budget line by line. A budget line is one cost or one source of income, such as "Walking dinner" or "Ticket sales". Lines that belong together are grouped per category (catering, venue, staff, ...), and the totals at the top add up everything for you.

Want to see what Budgets can do for you before you start? Have a look at the overview page first.

Where to find it: log in, choose event software in the main menu and open Budget in the menu of your event.

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1. Start with an event

A budget always belongs to an event, so the first time you open Budgets you are asked to create one. Click Add your first event, fill in a name, a date and the type of event, and save.

Three settings of your event matter for its budget, so check them before you add your first line:

• Number of people - the number of guests you expect. Budgets uses it to calculate every price per person (see section 2).
• Currency - the currency all amounts of the budget are in.
• Work with prices ex VAT in Budgets (advanced mode splitting up VAT for business events) - leave it off to work with prices including VAT, tick it to work with prices excluding VAT. Read section 6 before you decide: once it is on, you cannot turn it off again.

You find these settings when you create the event. To change them later, click Event settings at the bottom of the menu on the left.

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2. Add a budget line

Click Add line (in a budget without lines yet: Add first line). A window opens with these fields:

Click Add line at the bottom of the window to save it. The line appears in its category straight away.

How the total of a line is calculated

The total of a line is its fixed price plus its unit price times the number of units. You can use either price or both: a band that charges 1,500 for the evening plus 10 per guest for the extra sound system gets a fixed price of 1,500 and a unit price of 10.

Good to know: a line that uses the number of people as its Units follows your event. If the number of guests changes, update Number of people in the Event settings of your event and every line that is calculated per person changes with it. Lines where you typed your own number of Units keep it.

Add the supplier to your supplier list

Working with the Suppliers tool? Type a name that is not one of your suppliers yet, and switch on Also add this name to the event's suppliers under the supplier field to add the supplier to the supplier list of your event at the same time. Lines that are linked to a supplier also show up in the budget block on the page of that supplier, so you see at a glance what you have planned with them.

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3. Read your budget

At the top of the page are two cards with the results of the budget, with everything you have added below them, one card per category.

• The first card shows the Total cost of your event. As soon as you add revenue, it shows the Balance instead: your revenue minus your costs, with your margin: the balance as a percentage of your revenue. Below that, a bar for Revenue and one for Cost let you compare them at a glance, and the card shows the cost per guest of your event.
• The second card, Budget distribution, shows how your costs are spread over the categories, each in its own colour, and which two categories cost the most.
• Every category has its own card with its lines and its subtotal at the top. Costs are shown as plain amounts, revenue in green with a plus sign. Click the name of a category to fold its card or open it again. Click Add line in a category to add a line that is already in that category.
• Every line shows its description, its supplier, its price the way you would say it ("€ 38,00 × 220") and its total.
• To change or delete a line, move your mouse over it: the pencil (Edit line) and the bin (Delete line) appear at the end of the row. A click anywhere else on the line opens it too. Deleting a line asks for confirmation first, because it cannot be undone.
• To find a line, type a word in Search lines and suppliers, or click Filter to show only costs or revenue, only some categories, or only the lines that are or are not linked (section 5).

Tip: on your phone, the two result cards are stacked: swipe up or down, or tap the dots, to bring the other card to the front. Tap a line to open it: Delete line is at the bottom of its window.

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4. Compare scenarios with budget versions

A budget version is a complete budget of its own for the same event. On the page, every version is simply called a budget. Use versions to compare scenarios side by side: a realistic and a worst-case budget, a version with and one without the evening programme, or the budget you sent to your client next to the one you are working on now. You can also save a copy now and then to keep track of how your budget changed.

Your first budget version is created automatically with your first line, and is called Budget v1. To add another one, click New budget at the top of the page (once your event has two budgets, the + after their tabs):

1. Give the budget a name under Budget name, such as "Worst case".
2. Under Copy lines from, choose Start with an empty version or pick the budget whose lines you want to copy.
3. When you copy lines, Link all copied lines to the source version is switched on. Leave it on to keep the copies in sync with the originals (see section 5), or switch it off to make an independent copy.
4. Click Create budget.

Once an event has more than one version, they appear as tabs at the top of the page. Click a tab to switch to that budget. Every version has its own lines and totals. Budgets opens on your first version, unless you switched to another one since you logged in. The overview of your event shows every budget that has lines, one at a time, starting with your first: use the dots to switch. The list of your events always shows your first version.

To rename, copy or delete a budget, open its tab and click the three dots (Budget options) next to it: Rename budget, Duplicate budget (a new budget with the same lines, linked or not) or Delete budget. You can only delete a budget without lines: delete its lines first. These options are on the tabs, so they appear once your event has a second budget.

Good to know: an event can have up to 10 budget versions, and up to 1000 budget lines in all its versions together.

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5. Linked lines: change once, update every version

Most lines are the same in every scenario: the rent of the venue does not change because you make a worst-case budget. A linked line is one line that is in several budget versions at the same time. When you change it in one version, it changes in all of them, so you never have to update the same price twice.

A linked line shows a chain icon next to its description, with the number of versions it is in. Move your mouse over it to see which versions they are.

What stays the same and what does not

Everything you fill in for a linked line is shared: category, description, cost or revenue, supplier, prices and VAT percentage. Only the number of units stays separate per version, because every scenario can count a different number of guests. When you edit a linked line, a message at the top of the window reminds you that saving changes it in all its versions, except the units.

Add a new line to several versions

As soon as your event has more than one version, the window to add a line asks Also add this line to, with a switch per other budget. The line always goes into the budget you are looking at, and the others stay off, so you never change another budget without noticing. Switch on more budgets to add the line to all of them at once. Keep these lines linked then appears, switched on: leave it on for linked lines, or switch it off to add independent copies. The window of an existing line offers the same for the budgets that do not have that line yet.

Unlink a line

Need a line to be different in one version? Unlink it there first. Open the line, click Unlink at the bottom of its window and confirm with Unlink. The line is then independent in this version, and the other versions stay linked to each other. To unlink every linked line of a category in one go, click the three dots (Category options) at the top of that category, choose Unlink all lines from other budgets and confirm.

Link a line again

Unlinked a line too soon, or typed the same line in two budgets? Open the line in one of the other budgets. When another budget holds the same line (the same description and category) and it is not linked, the window shows Link this line with, with a switch for that budget. Switch it on and save: the lines are linked again, and the line takes over the description, prices and the rest of the line you saved. Its number of units stays its own.

Delete a linked line

Deleting a linked line removes it from every version it is linked to. The confirmation tells you how many versions that is. Want to remove it from this version only? Click Unlink first in that same window: the line is unlinked, and the window now asks to delete it from this version only. Click Delete line to remove it here, while the other versions keep it.

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6. Work with or without VAT

By default, Budgets works with prices including VAT: you enter the prices you actually pay or receive, and every total is a total including VAT. That is the easiest way for most private events, such as a wedding or a party.

For business events, where VAT is usually recovered, it is often more useful to see prices excluding VAT. Tick Work with prices ex VAT in Budgets (advanced mode splitting up VAT for business events) in the settings of your event. Budgets then:

• adds a VAT percentage field to every budget line, where you fill in the VAT rate that applies to it,
• adds a VAT column to the lines of every category,
• shows every total excluding VAT, and adds the VAT and the Total incl. VAT to the first result card and to the end of every category.

Watch out: once you work with prices excluding VAT, you cannot switch back to prices including VAT for that event. The best moment to decide is when you create the event.

Already have budget lines when you switch? Their VAT percentage starts at 0, so open each line and fill in its rate. Do this in every budget version: a linked line only needs it once, but lines that are not linked have to be updated in each version separately.

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7. Work on it together

Budgets is useful when you plan alone, and even more when you plan with a team or a client. Add the people you work with in Team & access in the menu of your event. Under Set contact access, choose what each of them may do in Budgets:

A contact gets an invitation by e-mail and logs in with their own eventplanner.net account. Read more in how to manage users in the event software.

Tip: a budget holds sensitive information, such as your margin and the prices of your suppliers. Give Manage access only to the people who really work on the budget, and think twice before you give a supplier access.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I use Budgets for free? Yes. Budgets is part of the free event software, with all its features: budget versions, linked lines and the VAT mode.

What happens to my budget when the number of guests changes? Change Number of people in the Event settings of your event. Every line that uses the number of people as its units is recalculated straight away, in every budget version. Lines where you typed your own number of Units keep it.

Can I change a linked line in one version only? Only the number of units. For anything else, unlink the line in that version first (section 5). You can link it again later from the window of the same line in another budget.

Why can't I delete a budget version? A version can only be deleted when it has no lines left. Delete its lines first, then click the three dots next to its tab and choose Delete budget.

Can I turn off the prices excluding VAT again? No. Once an event works with prices excluding VAT, it stays that way. If you need a budget including VAT, create a new event without that setting.

Is my budget copied when I copy an event? Yes. When you create a new event from an earlier one, all its budget versions and lines are copied to the new event, with the link to their supplier when you copy that supplier too. The copied lines are not linked to the lines of the original event. In the copy wizard, you can choose again whether the new event works with prices excluding VAT.

Why can't I add more budget lines? An event holds up to 1000 budget lines, counted over all its budget versions together. Delete the lines you no longer need to make room. Adding one line to several versions at once counts as one line per version.

Why don't I see the buttons to add or change lines? You have Read access to this budget. Ask the owner of the event to give you Manage access in Team & access.