How do the budget creation methods affect sign handling in the Budgeting module?

This article covers the Budgeting module's 'Create' options and how each one handles positive and negative signs (also called sign reversal). It applies when you select 'New' from the Budgeting screen and choose a value in the 'Create' field.

Where to find this

Go to 'Budgeting', select 'New', then choose an option from the 'Create' field on step one of the wizard.

The three creation methods

New Budget

Creates a completely new budget dataset. Values appear exactly as entered, with no automatic sign reversal. Any sign changes (positive to negative or negative to positive) must be made manually.

Based on Budget (Budget module)

Uses the legacy Budgets module as its source. This is the only creation method that still applies automatic sign-reversal logic from the old module, and the only one where you can reverse signs on the structure screen as in the legacy workflow.

Budget on Template

Creates a budget from a template that was itself built using 'New Budget'. Signs behave the same way as 'New Budget' — as entered, with no automatic reversal - so adjust manually if needed.

Why this matters

Budget vs Actual variance calculations depend on signs being entered the way iplicit expects. If income is entered as positive when the system expects negative (or the reverse), variance figures will look distorted even though the underlying data is correct.