In practice, this means that you can record in advance which supplier costs you expect for a project, in what amount, from which contractor, and around which date. When the real expense arrives later, you can map it to the plan. This gives you a clearer overview of what you expected, what has already been received, and what is still missing.

Planned expenses are especially useful for agencies that need to keep future costs, cash flow, and project profitability under control. Instead of waiting until an invoice arrives, you can already include the expected cost in your planning.

Planned expenses help you answer questions such as:

The feature is suitable not only for client projects but also for internal or non-billable projects. You can use it, for example, to plan overheads, rent, leasing, salaries, recurring monthly costs, or other operational expenses.

Planned expenses create a bridge between the budget and reality. The budget tells you how much an item should cost, planned expenses show how this amount is distributed over time, and received expenses show what has actually arrived.

Planned expenses are recorded directly in the project detail, under specific budget items. You create a planned expense when you know or expect that a supplier cost will arrive for a specific budget item. This can be, for example, hosting, production costs, media credit, subcontractor work, a recurring monthly cost, or any other invoice you want to include in your planning in advance.

If planned expenses have been filled in, an indicator is shown next to the item to confirm that a plan exists.

If the same cost repeats across every line item (e.g. you've priced in a recurring monthly expense), you can use the Apply to all budget items button — Allfred will distribute the planned amount across all budget line items in that category.

In the Planned expenses window, you can see the following values at the bottom:

These values help you check whether you have planned the full expected buy price of the item.

Example:

The budget item has a Buy price of €700.

You expect two invoices:

When you enter the first planned expense for €350, Allfred shows that €350 still remains to be planned. After you add the second item via "+ new item" button, the values will be:

This allows you to quickly see whether the full buy price has been planned. If Remaining is higher than 0, it means that part of the expected cost has not yet been split into planned items.

You can create one or more planned expenses for a single budget item.

One planned expense is enough when you expect one invoice or one document.

Use multiple planned expenses when:

A typical example is a media or production cost that may be split between several contractors or several dates. Instead of one large amount, you divide it into specific expected items.

When you later receive a real invoice or document, enter it in Allfred as a regular expense. If this expense corresponds to one of the planned expenses, you can map it to the plan. This mapping is important because it confirms that the planned cost has already been fulfilled by a real expense.

After saving, the real expense is linked to the planned expense.

The Expense-to-plan Mapping window also shows the Remaining value.

This value shows how much of the expense amount is not yet linked to planend expense.

After a planned expense is successfully linked to a real expense, green indicator appears next to the expense to confirm the mapping is complete.

This lets the user know that the expense has already been assigned to the plan and does not need further action.

No, mapping is not required.

You can save an expense without linking it to a planned expense. In that case, however, the planned expense and the real expense remain separate.

The Planned expenses dashboard provides an overview of planned and received costs across projects. You can find it in the project section -> Planned expenses.

The dashboard is designed so that you do not need to check every project individually. Instead, you can see in one place how planned expenses are doing across the whole agency or within a selected group of projects.

The dashboard helps you check:

At the top of the dashboard, you can find summary boxes. These give you a quick overview of the selected projects or items. The values in the boxes are recalculated based on the current filters and search.

The Budgeted box shows the basic budget values:

These values help you compare how much the services was sold to the client for and how much it should cost on the supplier side.

The Planned expenses box shows how much has already been planned. The value is compared mainly against the Buy price, meaning the purchase price. If the planned amount is lower than the buy price, it means that part of the expected cost has not yet been planned.

The Received expenses box shows how much has already been received as real expenses. These are expenses that have already been recorded in the project. The percentage helps you understand what part of the expected costs has already been received. If received expenses are higher than the planned or expected buy price, we recommend checking whether the project is not exceeding the planned cost.

The Billing box shows invoicing:

The Profit box compares estimated and actual profit:

If the actual profit is negative, it usually means that the received costs are not covered by outgoing invoices or prepayments yet.

Below the summary boxes, you can find a table of projects and budget items.

The main row represents the project. When you expand the project, you can see the individual budget items that belong to it.

This allows you to work with the overview on two levels:

This detail is important because planned expenses are linked to budget items. A project can contain several items, and each item can have a different buy price, different planned expenses, different received expenses, and different profitability.

The PM column shows the project manager or the person responsible for the project.

It helps you quickly identify who owns the project and who to contact if planned expenses need to be added or if received expenses need to be checked.

The Project column shows the project, including its code and name, where applicable. When you expand the project, the related budget items are displayed.

The total client price of the item, including commission. This value represents the amount for which the item was sold to the client. It is used when calculating the estimated profit. If you do not need this column for your work, you can hide it in the table column settings.

The purchase price of the item. This is the amount you expect as the agency cost. In other words, it is the amount you should pay to the contractor or record internally as a cost. Buy price is the key value for expense planning. Based on it, Allfred knows how much should be planned in Planned expenses.

It is calculated as the difference between the total client price and the purchase price: Profit estimate = Total price with commission – Buy price

This value shows the profit expected according to the budget. It is a planned view, not reality. Reality is shown by the actual profit based on received expenses and invoicing.

The amount of costs that have already been planned for the item in the projects. If an item has a buy price of 700 € and you create two planned expenses of 350 € each, the Planned expenses column will show 700 €.

The amount that still needs to be planned. It is calculated as:

To plan = Buy price – Planned expenses

If To plan is higher than 0, it means that the full purchase price has not yet been planned.

Example:

In this case, planned expenses of 400 € still need to be added.

Real received expenses. This column shows how much has already been recorded as expenses for the given item. It is a reality-based view - not what you expect, but what has actually arrived.

The amount already invoiced to the client for the given item. This value helps you track whether revenue is being invoiced in line with costs and the budget.

The amount that still needs to be invoiced to the client. If this value is high and costs have already been received, the project may temporarily show a lower or negative actual profit until the revenue is invoiced.

It is calculated as: Actual profit = Invoiced – Expenses received

This value shows the current real state. If you have already received costs but have not yet invoiced the client, the actual profit may be negative.

Example:

This does not automatically mean that the project is loss-making. It means that the cost has already arrived, but the revenue has not yet been invoiced.

Search in the Planned expenses dashboard works not only by project name, but also by budget item name.

For example, if you enter ppc in the search field, Allfred will show projects that contain budget items with this term. When you expand a project, you can see the specific items that match the search.

This is useful when you want to review the same type of cost across multiple projects - for example PPC, media, production, or recurring services. This allows you to quickly check:

This view is especially helpful for agencies that use recurring or consistently named budget items. They can easily filter a specific type of service and check its status across projects.

If you want to check a specific project, use the filter -> option Project.

You can filter the dashboard using the available filters.

Typical filters include:

Filters are useful when you want to work only with a specific subset of projects.

Examples:

First, check whether the project has correctly filled-in budget items.

For items where you expect supplier costs, the Buy price should be filled in. This value is the basis for expense planning.

If the buy price is missing or incorrect, planned expenses may not provide an accurate picture of what still needs to be planned.

For each item where you expect a cost, open Planned expenses.

Enter:

If you expect several invoices or several parts of the cost, split them into multiple rows.

While planning, monitor Remaining in the Planned expenses option within each budget item in the project. In the dashboard, monitor the To plan column.

Both values tell you whether anything still needs to be added. If Remaining or To plan is higher than 0, it means that part of the expected buy price has not yet been planned.

When you receive the real document from the contractor, record it as a regular expense. Select the correct project and budget item so that the cost appears in the right place in the report.

If the expense corresponds to a planned expense, map it to the plan. This confirms that the specific planned expense has been covered by a real document.

This step is not required, but it is recommended. It helps keep your data clean and easy to understand.

After planning and receiving expenses, monitor the Planned expenses dashboard.

Check especially:

The dashboard serves as a control point for project managers, the finance team, and agency management.

Planned expenses are planned or expected costs that you record before you actually receive an invoice or document. They help you prepare an overview of future expenses and better track how the plan turns into reality.

They are useful for cost planning, budget control, cash flow preparation, and profitability tracking. They allow you to know in advance what costs the agency can expect, instead of relying only on invoices that have already arrived.

Yes. You can have multiple planned expenses for one budget item. This is useful when you expect several invoices, several contractors, or gradual cost usage.

Buy price is the purchase price of the item. It represents the amount you expect as the agency cost. In other words, it is the amount you will pay to the contractor or record internally as a cost.

Remaining shows how much of the amount is still left to be planned or mapped.

During planning, it shows how much of the buy price has not yet been split into planned expenses.

During mapping, it shows how much of the expense amount is not linked to the planned expenses yet.

To plan is the amount that still needs to be planned. It is calculated as the difference between buy price and planned expenses. If To plan is higher than 0, it means that more planned expenses should be added to the item.

No, it is not required.

However, we recommend doing it whenever it is clear which planned expense the real expense belongs to. Mapping helps maintain a more accurate overview of which planned expenses have already been fulfilled.

Planned expenses are costs you expect.

Expenses received are costs that have already arrived and have been recorded as expenses.

Planned expenses are the plan; Expenses received are the reality.

Profit estimate is the expected profit based on the budget.

It is calculated from the total price for client and buy price.

Actual profit is the current profit based on what has already been invoiced and which costs have already been received.

Actual profit can be negative when costs have already been received, but the corresponding amount has not yet been invoiced to the client.

This does not automatically mean that the project is loss-making. It may only be a temporary state until the project or item is invoiced.

Yes. You can use Planned expenses also for internal non-billable projects. This is useful for planning overheads, rent, salaries, leasing, or other recurring operational costs.

No. Search also works by budget item names. This allows you to find the same type of item across multiple projects.

Yes. As in other Allfred tables, you can customise columns based on the data you need for your work. You can hide some columns if you do not use them.

In some workspaces, Client price may also be displayed in Planned expenses.

This value is used in specific cases where an agency needs to track planned usage also from the client price perspective, not only from the agency cost perspective.

For standard cost planning, the most important value is Buy price, because it represents the real expected cost for the agency.

If you need to work with Client price in Planned expenses, contact support. This option can be enabled based on your workspace settings.