How to calculate budget vs actual variance in Excel
Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)
=C2-B2Subtract the budget from the actual: =C2-B2. Divide by the budget for the variance as a percentage.
- Result on the example
- one result per row in
D2, filled down toD7 - Works in
- Every current version
- Google Sheets
- Same formula
See it work
The formula is already in D2, filled down to D7. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.
How it works
Actual minus budget gives a positive number when a cost came in over budget and a negative one when it came in under. Travel is $1,410 over and Marketing $1,360 under. The percentage version, (actual − budget) / budget, makes categories of different sizes comparable.
=C2-B2Result2150
C2$86,150The value in C2.
B2$84,000The value in B2.
C2-B22150The - operator subtracts.
In Google Sheets
The same formula works in Google Sheets: =C2-B2. We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.
Other ways to do it
Each one was run on the same example sheet.
| Formula | Result | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| =B2-C2 | -$2,150, $0, $580…Different result | Budget minus actual, the convention some teams use for costs, so that under budget is positive. The same amounts with the signs flipped. |
Common mistakes
- Agree on the sign convention. For costs, over budget is bad; for revenue, over budget is good. Label the column so readers know which way is which.
- A zero budget makes the percentage #DIV/0!. Use
=IF(B2=0,"",(C2-B2)/B2).
Try it yourself
Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.
Calculate budget vs actual variance
D2, calculate how far the actual spend is from the budget for each category (positive means over budget), and fill down to D7.Questions
How do I show the variance as a percentage?
Divide by the budget and format as a percentage: =(C2-B2)/B2 gives 29.4% for Travel and -15.1% for Marketing.
How do I flag categories more than 10% over budget?
Test the percentage: =IF((C2-B2)/B2>10%,"Over","").
How do I calculate the total variance?
Use the totals: =SUM(C2:C7)-SUM(B2:B7).
Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.