{"id":148466,"date":"2026-09-25T15:10:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/docs.daftra.com\/tutorial\/%d8%a2%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d9%85%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%ba%d9%84-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%a3%d8%ab\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T13:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T13:03:52","slug":"how-the-work-order-budget-works-and-what-affects-it","status":"publish","type":"tutorial","link":"https:\/\/docs.daftra.com\/en\/tutorial\/how-the-work-order-budget-works-and-what-affects-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Work Order Budget Works and What Affects It"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\">The system lets you set a budget for each work order, and automatically track its &#8220;Total Spent&#8221; and &#8220;Remaining Budget.&#8221; However, this calculation doesn&#8217;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&#8217;t deducted from the budget despite being linked to the work order.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; gap: 10px; background: #f6f8fb; border-left: 4px solid #1a56db; border-radius: 6px; padding: 14px 16px; margin: 0 0 18px;\">\n<p><span style=\"flex: 0 0 auto; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.6;\">\ud83d\udec8<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Note:<\/strong> &#8220;Total Spent&#8221; and &#8220;Remaining Budget&#8221; are two figures calculated directly every time you open the work order screen, not a stored number that updates automatically the moment any transaction is added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #111827; margin: 32px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 8px; border-bottom: 2px solid #eef0f3;\">How the Remaining Budget Is Calculated<\/h2>\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\">The calculation method depends on the &#8220;Budget Tracking Method&#8221; setting within the work orders settings, and it has only two options:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin: 0 0 16px; padding-left: 26px;\">\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Expenses (the default option):<\/strong> the total of &#8220;Expense&#8221; records whose work order field is set to that specific work order is deducted from the budget.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Invoices:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #111827; margin: 32px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 8px; border-bottom: 2px solid #eef0f3;\">Where This Data Actually Appears (or Doesn&#8217;t) on the Work Order Screen<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"margin: 0 0 16px; padding-left: 26px;\">\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\">&#8220;Budget&#8221; and &#8220;Total Spent&#8221; aren&#8217;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.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\">The &#8220;Budget&#8221; chart doesn&#8217;t appear at all unless the calculated &#8220;Total Spent&#8221; (using the default &#8220;Expenses&#8221; method) is greater than zero. So if there isn&#8217;t yet any &#8220;Expense&#8221; record linked to the work order, the chart disappears entirely from the page, even if the budget value itself is set and filled in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #111827; margin: 32px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 8px; border-bottom: 2px solid #eef0f3;\">What Isn&#8217;t Deducted from the Budget Despite Being Linked to the Work Order<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"margin: 0 0 16px; padding-left: 26px;\">\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Purchase invoices<\/strong> (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.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Manual journal entries:<\/strong> linking a journal entry to a work order makes it appear within the work order&#8217;s journal entries tab for display purposes only, and its value is not deducted from the budget under either calculation method.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #111827; margin: 32px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 8px; border-bottom: 2px solid #eef0f3;\">How to Make a Cost Actually Reflect on the Budget<\/h2>\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\">If your tracking method is &#8220;Expenses&#8221; (the default), and you want the cost of an unpaid purchase invoice or any other transaction to be reflected in the work order&#8217;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&#8217;s budget \u2014 this is the system&#8217;s current behavior, not a technical bug.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #111827; margin: 32px 0 14px; padding-bottom: 8px; border-bottom: 2px solid #eef0f3;\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"margin: 0 0 16px; padding-left: 26px;\">\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Why doesn&#8217;t the work order&#8217;s budget decrease when an unpaid purchase invoice is added?<\/strong> Because the budget calculation never reads purchase invoices at all under either of the two available calculation methods, regardless of payment status.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Why doesn&#8217;t the budget decrease when a journal entry is added to the work order?<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">How do I make an actual cost deducted from the work order&#8217;s budget?<\/strong> Record it as an expense and specify the work order on it, making sure the budget tracking method in the settings is &#8220;Expenses.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">What&#8217;s the difference between the two budget calculation methods?<\/strong> &#8220;Expenses&#8221; relies on the total of expenses linked to the work order, while &#8220;Invoices&#8221; relies on the amount collected from sales invoices linked to it.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Where exactly does the budget chart appear on the screen?<\/strong> At the top of the screen, directly above the tabs bar, not as a tab or inside any tab.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 1.9; font-size: 16px; color: #1f2430;\"><strong style=\"color: #111827;\">Why don&#8217;t I see a &#8220;Purchase Invoices&#8221; or &#8220;Journal Entries&#8221; tab at all?<\/strong> 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&#8217;t been recorded, not just a display issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[2074,2089,2070,2075,2090],"tags":[18995,18996,19113,19112,4452,19114,4312,18997,19115,19111,18993,18994],"class_list":["post-148466","tutorial","type-tutorial","status-publish","hentry","category-work-orders","category-workflows","category-operations","category-manage-work-orders","category-manage-workflow-records","tag-allocated-budget","tag-budget-tracking-method","tag-does-the-journal-entry-get-deducted-from-the-work-orders-budget","tag-does-the-purchase-invoice-get-deducted-from-the-work-orders-budget","tag-expenses","tag-how-do-i-deduct-a-cost-from-the-work-orders-budget","tag-journal-entries","tag-unpaid-purchase-invoices","tag-where-does-the-budget-chart-appear","tag-why-doesnt-the-work-order-budget-decrease","tag-work-order","tag-work-order-budget"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How the Work Order Budget Works and What Affects It - Daftra Knowledge Base<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.daftra.com\/en\/tutorial\/how-the-work-order-budget-works-and-what-affects-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the Work Order Budget Works and What Affects It - Daftra Knowledge Base\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The system lets you set a budget for each work order, and automatically track its &#8220;Total Spent&#8221; 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