Variance Comparison
Variance Comparison answers the question every producer asks between drafts: how far has each account moved since the version we agreed on? It adds two columns — Original (a saved baseline) and Variance (current Total minus Original) — to the Topsheet and Account levels.
Turning it on
Budget menu → Show Variance Comparison. The same item hides it again. The setting is remembered per budget, so a budget you baselined reopens with the columns showing.
- Available on the Topsheet and Account levels; the menu item is grayed out while you're on the Details level, and in Goalpost budgets.
- The columns appear on both levels together — you can't show them on one and not the other.
The Original column — your baseline
Original holds a snapshot of each account's Total.
- A brand-new budget starts with Original = 0, so Variance shows the full total until you set your first baseline.
- A budget imported from Movie Magic starts with Original equal to the imported totals — zero variance out of the box.
Re-baselining
Click the sync icon in the Original column header (Topsheet, Edit Mode on) to copy every account's current Total into Original — on the Topsheet and every account beneath. All variances reset to zero: "this is the new agreed version."
⚠️ The reset is silent and budget-wide. There is no confirmation dialog and no undo — one click re-baselines everything. If you're circulating a locked number, protect it: turn on Budget Preferences → View Options → "Lock Original totals column during Variance Comparison." With the lock on, clicking the sync icon does nothing.
The sync icon only exists on the Topsheet; the Account level shows the same Original values but can't trigger a reset.
Reading the Variance column
| Variance | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Positive | The account has grown since the baseline. |
Negative — shown in parentheses (1,234) (or with a minus sign, per your negative-number preference) | The account has come down. |
| 0 | Unchanged since the last baseline. |
Variance recalculates live as you edit, and follows your currency and separator preferences. It's an on-screen tool — variance columns don't appear in printed reports.
Variance Comparison vs Compare Budgets
They share the same columns but answer different questions:
- Variance Comparison measures the budget against its own saved baseline (the Original column).
- Compare Budgets (Budget → Compare Budgets: "Select up to two budgets to compare against your active budget") measures it against another budget. In Compare Mode the Variance column switches meaning to active total − compare budget's total (rows are matched by account number; a missing row compares against 0), the Original snapshot is ignored, and the Variance header tints red. With two compare budgets loaded, radio buttons in the Compare 1 / Compare 2 header cards choose which one drives Variance; Options reopens the picker and Close Compare returns you to normal (baseline) variance.
A suggested workflow
- Build your draft, get it approved.
- Turn on Variance Comparison and click the sync icon — this stamps the approved version as the baseline.
- Turn on the lock preference so nobody re-baselines by accident.
- Keep working. The Variance column now tracks exactly what's drifted — and by how much — for your next review.