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How to use this Notion template
Your free Notion template is ready to use right away. You'll find instructions in the Notion page, but here are the basic steps:
Follow this link for access to the Notion template
Duplicate the page and add it to your workspace. (The original Notion page is locked and cannot be edited directly. Click the three dots at the top right to duplicate.)
Update the example details to match your own financial goals. This includes the total budget, expense categories, and set costs for each activity.
Check out the different database views and change them as required. You could choose to use monthly budgets (quarterly by default), group certain categories together, and more.
Share the budget planner with other teams and budget managers for input. The best Notion templates are collaborative - as is finance tracking.
Show other users how to duplicate the template for their own budgets, and lock your final budget to avoid unwanted changes.
What spending categories should be included?
Every company has its own costs, and certain types of expense will be more relevant to your particular business.
But as a starting point, your business budget might include:
Setup costs (for new startups)
Legal fees
Administrative costs
Office costs (furniture, stationery, food & beverages)
Payroll
Marketing & advertising
Research & development
Consultant & agency fees
Simply acknowledging and tracking these costs is one thing. But the proportion of available cash you allocate to each depends entirely on your business growth plan. More aggressive, modern startups might allocate significant amounts to marketing, trying to bring in new business as soon as possible. Brand new businesses might still be in the R&D phase, with most costs going towards product development and salaries.
Learn more about common business expense categories.
Track business expenses in real time
A company budget is a valuable, necessary tool for any startup, small business, or enterprise. But simply having a written budget doesn't actually ensure you keep spending in check. It's critical that you actually monitor what's spent, and put clear company guidelines in place.
The easiest way to do this is with smart company cards and spend management software. The cards let employees pay for approved expenses without using their own money. And spend management software (including an expense tracker app) logs every expenditure the moment it occurs.
Without these tools, you need to be highly vigilant and manual add each cost to your spreadsheet. You'll also need to check the company bank account to see what has actually been spent.
Spend management tools do this for you, so you stop worrying about finance tracking and focus on growth.
Common Notion template questions
Is Notion a good finance tracker tool?
Notion is a mix between a company wiki and project planning software. Used well, it contains both your big picture policies and roadmap, and the day-to-day.
Because every team can use and contribute to Notion, it's a great place to store vital information and share data with the whole company. And thus, it's perfect to communicate your company budget.
High-level budgets and quarterly updates should absolutely live in Notion.
But you may want to also have more hands-on budget tracking tools for your teams. You can't expect every team member to update the budget tracker template every time they spend at work.
This is why we recommend creating a plan in Notion (or Excel), then using spend management software like Spendesk to put that budget plan into action.
How do I create a budget template in Notion?
You can easily duplicate and re-use this Notion budget template. This saves you the effort of building your own budget tracker from scratch.
You can build on this template and add other features, including a to-do list, links to your company expense policies, common suppliers, and more.
This template serves as your starting point, for you to make your own.
Do I need a Notion account to use the template?
You don't need a Notion account to view this budget template. But if you want to duplicate the budget planner and tailor it to your company's need, you'll need your own workspace.
Notion has various pricing plans and packages, including a free plan for individuals.
How can we ensure our company budget is followed?
Managing company cash requires a mix of smart processes, good tools, and communication. The first step is to set clear goals and expectations from other teams. If budget managers don't know what's expected of them, they'll struggle to follow the rules.
Smart processes and good tools go hand in hand. For example, good spend management platforms set a monthly cap for each individual, tied back to their team budget. They can't spend more than allowed, and they stay on-budget by default.
You also need payment methods (including company cards and expense claims) that feed the finance team information in real time. It's no good waiting until the end of the month to see what's been spent. By that point, you may already be way over budget.
More resources on good budgeting and spend management:
Is this also a personal finance tracker?
This Notion budget template is designed for companies with multiple departments and business goals. But you could easily create a free Notion template, copy the format and replace the expense categories to match your spending habits.
