How the Work Order Budget Works and What Affects It

The system lets you set a budget for each work order, and automatically track its “Total Spent” and “Remaining Budget.” However, this calculation doesn’t rely on every transaction linked to the work order; only specific types of transactions are actually deducted from the budget, while other transactions are linked to the work order for display and reporting purposes only, without affecting the budget figure. This guide explains the calculation mechanism precisely, and what is and isn’t deducted from the budget despite being linked to the work order.

How the Remaining Budget Is Calculated

The calculation method depends on the “Budget Tracking Method” setting within the work orders settings, and it has only two options:

• Expenses (the default option): the total of “Expense” records whose work order field is set to that specific work order is deducted from the budget.
• Invoices: the amount actually collected from sales invoices (and anything derived from them, such as refunds and credit notes) issued with the work order specified on them is deducted from the budget.

Where This Data Actually Appears (or Doesn’t) on the Work Order Screen

• “Budget” and “Total Spent” aren’t a tab; they are two small pie charts that appear at the top of the screen, directly above the tabs bar, next to a similar chart for the expense breakdown.
• The “Budget” chart doesn’t appear at all unless the calculated “Total Spent” (using the default “Expenses” method) is greater than zero. So if there isn’t yet any “Expense” record linked to the work order, the chart disappears entirely from the page, even if the budget value itself is set and filled in.

What Isn’t Deducted from the Budget Despite Being Linked to the Work Order

• Purchase invoices (whether unpaid or fully paid): linking a purchase invoice to a work order makes it appear among its linked transactions for display and reporting purposes only, and its value is not deducted from the budget under either calculation method. The payment status (unpaid or paid) changes nothing here, because the budget calculation never reads purchase invoices at all.
• Manual journal entries: linking a journal entry to a work order makes it appear within the work order’s journal entries tab for display purposes only, and its value is not deducted from the budget under either calculation method.

How to Make a Cost Actually Reflect on the Budget

If your tracking method is “Expenses” (the default), and you want the cost of an unpaid purchase invoice or any other transaction to be reflected in the work order’s budget, record its value as a separate expense and specify that same work order on it. There is currently no way to make purchase invoices or manual journal entries automatically deducted from the work order’s budget — this is the system’s current behavior, not a technical bug.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why doesn’t the work order’s budget decrease when an unpaid purchase invoice is added? Because the budget calculation never reads purchase invoices at all under either of the two available calculation methods, regardless of payment status.
• Why doesn’t the budget decrease when a journal entry is added to the work order? Because manual journal entries never enter the budget calculation at all; linking them to the work order is only for display purposes in the journal entries tab.
• How do I make an actual cost deducted from the work order’s budget? Record it as an expense and specify the work order on it, making sure the budget tracking method in the settings is “Expenses.”
• What’s the difference between the two budget calculation methods? “Expenses” relies on the total of expenses linked to the work order, while “Invoices” relies on the amount collected from sales invoices linked to it.
• Where exactly does the budget chart appear on the screen? At the top of the screen, directly above the tabs bar, not as a tab or inside any tab.
• Why don’t I see a “Purchase Invoices” or “Journal Entries” tab at all? Because these two tabs only appear if a purchase invoice or an entry is actually already linked to the work order; their absence is a sign that the link hasn’t been recorded, not just a display issue.