> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.msportal.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Read a budget monthly breakdown

> Understand scheduled costs, recurrence, overrides and running totals across January to December.

**Audience:** Company users with budget read access and MSP staff. Changing amounts requires additional budget edit permission and an editable budget.

## Open the monthly schedule

1. Open **Budgets**, find the budget and choose its row's **View** action.
2. Select **Monthly Breakdown** in **Budget Details**.
3. Read each **Line Item** and its recurrence, then scroll the table horizontally to review **Jan** through **Dec** and **Year Total**.
4. Review category subtotals, the **Monthly Total** row and **Running Total**.
5. Return to **Overview** to check the line's status, quantity, unit price, currency and billing start month.

The columns run January through December. Do not assume the first column moves to your company's fiscal-year start month. This is a planned spending schedule, not a record of payments or invoice reconciliation.

## Understand recurrence

The starting amount is quantity × unit price. Charges begin in the line's start month, with January used when none is supplied.

| Recurrence    | Scheduled charge                              |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| **One-time**  | Once, in the start month.                     |
| **Monthly**   | Every month from the start month.             |
| **Quarterly** | Every three months from the start month.      |
| **Annual**    | In the start month within the displayed year. |
| **Custom**    | At the configured interval in months.         |

A configured term can stop recurring charges before December. For example, a USD 100 monthly line starting in March with a three-month term schedules USD 100 in March, April and May. A saved monthly override replaces that month's calculated amount, including when the override is zero.

## Read the totals carefully

**Year Total** adds the displayed schedule for a line or category. **Monthly Total** adds all scheduled line amounts in each month. **Running Total** is cumulative planned spend through that month; it is not remaining budget or an account balance.

The schedule includes lines regardless of their approval status, including rejected lines. It is not an approved-only forecast. Check Overview when deciding which costs are authorized.

Monthly cells display rounded whole-currency amounts; totals retain cents. Adding the visible rounded cells can therefore differ slightly from a total. A dash represents no positive displayed amount, not proof of a paid or settled invoice.

## Editing and troubleshooting

Draft and Pending Approval budgets can allow month-cell editing for users with budget edit permission. Approved and Archived budgets are locked. Opening a cell and changing its amount can save when you leave the field; there is no separate page-level Save for that change. Company readers should ask their MSP to correct assumptions or overrides.

If an override needs to return to the calculated schedule, an authorized editor clears that cell's value rather than typing the calculated number. Zero is an explicit override. A saved zero currently opens as a blank input, and leaving that input can remove the override. Press Escape if you are only inspecting it. See [Adjust a budget amount for one month](/user-guides/budgets/edit-monthly-overrides) for the save, cancel and reset steps and current zero-value limitations.

If the tab reports no line items unexpectedly, compare Overview and ask the MSP to check loading or access problems. Do not interpret an unexpected empty schedule as a verified zero-cost budget.

## FAQs

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Where can I see a budget's costs by month?">
    Open the budget with View, then choose Monthly Breakdown. Scroll horizontally for all twelve months and Year Total.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why is Year Total different from Overview Total?">
    Overview sums quantity times unit price once per line. Monthly Breakdown applies recurrence, start month, term and saved monthly overrides across the year.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does Monthly Breakdown show only approved lines?">
    No. It includes all line statuses, including rejected lines. Check Overview for the approval status of each line.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is Running Total the remaining budget?">
    No. It is cumulative planned spending through that month, not the remaining budget or cash balance.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the schedule start with our fiscal-year starting month?">
    The displayed columns run from January to December. They do not shift to a different fiscal-year start month.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why can I not change a month cell?">
    Editing requires budget edit permission and a Draft or Pending Approval budget. Approved and Archived budgets are locked. Ask the MSP about access or changes.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does entering zero remove an override?">
    No. Zero replaces that month's computed charge with zero. An authorized editor clears the field to restore the calculated schedule.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why do rounded month cells not add exactly to the total?">
    Monthly cells show whole-currency amounts while totals retain cents. Rounding can account for the difference.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

For document contents, saved-data rules and print limitations, see [Download or print a budget](/user-guides/budgets/export-and-print-budgets).