How a plan works in Symfio
- Structure. A plan is a monthly table for one company covering whole calendar years. Rows have up to 6 levels (dimensions), typically Type › Category › Subcategory of the income statement.
- Actuals. Symfio loads the history from your accounting itself, based on the account mapping, and fills in the Actual columns. You don’t supply these.
- Plan. The planned months follow on from the actuals. Values are entered at the lowest level; higher levels are totals.
- Evaluation. The plan is compared with actuals both in the plan detail and in the Income statement, including a full-year estimate (ACT + Plan).
You can plan the income statement (P&L plans) and cash flow (Cash flow forecast). Balance sheet accounts do not enter the income statement plan.
1. Basic plan parameters
Each plan belongs to one company, so for a group we create one plan per company. For each one we need the following:
| Parameter | What we need | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Name and company ID of the company connected to accounting in Symfio | ABC Engineering s.r.o. |
| Plan type | Budget (fixed, approved at the start of the year) or Forecast (an outlook re-planned on an ongoing basis) | Budget |
| Name | What the plan should be called in the list and in the statements | Budget 2027 |
| Period | From year – to year, always whole calendar years | 2027 (12 months) |
| Fiscal year | If it is not the calendar year, give the first month. We then set the plan up across both years concerned. | April–March |
| Currency | The company’s accounting currency. A plan in another currency needs to be converted. | CZK |
| Last month of actuals | Up to which month the accounting data is valid and from which month you are planning | up to 09/2026 |
| Scenarios | The main scenario and any variants, each with its own figures | Main, Optimistic |
Billing: each plan created is billed from the following week according to the price list, so we agree the number of plans in advance. Scenarios within a plan are part of it.
2. Line structure and link to mapping
Every line of your plan must have a counterpart in the categorisation in Symfio, otherwise it can’t be compared with actuals. That’s why we need a line conversion table:
| Line in your plan | Income statement type | Category | Subcategory | Accounts (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project revenue | Revenue | Sales | Service revenue | 602xxx |
| Wages and contributions | Costs | Overheads | Personnel costs | 521xxx, 524xxx |
| Subcontracting | Costs | Gross costs | Production costs | 518xxx |
- The recommended structure is Type › Category › Subcategory of the income statement. The plan then shows up in the statement on the same lines as actuals.
- A less detailed plan (only Revenue and Costs) appears in the statement on the lines “Unassigned revenue / costs”.
- A plan by account is possible, but there tend to be many lines. Choose it only where you really manage by account.
- Several lines for one subcategory are not possible. Either add them up before hand-over, or we add a new subcategory and remap the accounts.
- A new item with no history (a new type of revenue) is added as a custom line. It must exist in the category list, so please mark it.
- Account mapping is checked before we create the plan. Accounts without an income statement type don’t make it into actuals.
The same applies to a cash flow plan, with cash flow categories and subcategories.
3. Dimensions and breakdown
If you also want to plan by cost centre, project or customer, decide the order of levels. A plan has at most 6 levels, and the first is always the income statement type. More in the article How to choose dimensions.
| Dimension | What it means | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|
| Category / Subcategory | The management structure of the income statement | The conversion table from chapter 2 |
| Account | An account from the chart of accounts | Account numbers for each line |
| Cost centre | Cost centre analytics from accounting | Cost centre codes exactly as in accounting |
| Project / Activity | Project or activity analytics | Project / activity codes from accounting |
| Company name | Business partner from documents | Names or company IDs of key customers and suppliers |
Example: Type › Category › Subcategory › Cost centre. The plan is entered for each cost centre and adds up upwards.
- Dimension values are taken from the code lists in accounting. A new cost centre or project must first be created in accounting.
- The structure cannot be changed once the plan is created. A change means a new plan.
- We recommend at most 4 levels, otherwise the plan is hard to read and slow to fill in.
4. Plan data
We need the figures in Excel: one row for each lowest-level line, one column for each month. Symfio calculates the totals itself.
| Type | Category | Subcategory | Cost centre | 2027-01 | 2027-02 | 2027-03 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Sales | Service revenue | 100 Prague | 4 500 000 | 4 500 000 | 4 800 000 |
| Revenue | Sales | Service revenue | 200 Brno | 1 200 000 | 1 200 000 | 1 300 000 |
| Costs | Overheads | Personnel costs | 100 Prague | 2 100 000 | 2 100 000 | 2 100 000 |
| Costs | Gross costs | Production costs | 100 Prague | 900 000 | 900 000 | 950 000 |
Sample plan file (amounts in CZK, illustrative).
- Granularity: months. Quarterly or annual amounts need to be spread across months (chapter 5).
- Signs: revenue and costs both positive, as in the Actual column. Net profit = Revenue − Costs.
- Units: whole amounts in the accounting currency, not in thousands. No subtotals or annual totals between the months.
- Values, not formulas: save the final version as values so the numbers don’t change during transfer.
- Scenarios and companies: each scenario and each company on a separate sheet with the same lines.
- Naming: category names and dimension codes exactly as in the conversion table.
- Assumptions: put a note on a number (source, assumption) in a separate column. We will add it as a comment to the cell.
5. Calculations and rules
In a plan, Symfio calculates only totals and net profit. Other calculations stay in your model, and we take over their monthly results into Symfio.
| Item type | Example | What we need |
|---|---|---|
| Annual amount | Insurance CZK 240,000 a year | Spread across months: evenly, as a one-off in the month of payment, or by seasonality |
| Driver | Wages = headcount × average wage | Calculated monthly amounts, assumption in a note |
| Percentage of a line | Commission 5% of revenue | Calculated monthly amounts |
| One-off item | Sale of assets in 06/2027 | The amount in the specific month and the line it belongs to |
| New activity | New product line | Category assignment and the month it starts from |
When the assumptions change, you recalculate the model and send new monthly values, or overwrite them directly in Symfio. The plan table works like Excel.
6. Group, intercompany and currencies
The group plan is created by adding up the plans of the individual companies in the statements. For it to add up correctly, we need the intercompany items marked.
- Intercompany lines: for each one, state the counterparty in the group, e.g. “Rent from ABC Property”. In Symfio we mark them with the intercompany level and the statement can exclude them.
- Both sides the same: one company’s revenue must match the other’s cost in the same month and amount, otherwise the elimination won’t net to zero.
- Holding: the holding’s plan contains only its own accounting, not its subsidiaries.
- Foreign currency: we enter the plan in the company’s accounting currency (e.g. EUR). The consolidated statement converts it into the group currency at a fixed annual rate.
- Intercompany in a foreign currency: the EUR amount must match the counterparty’s CZK amount converted at the same annual rate. We will tell you the rate in advance.
7. Responsibilities and updates
For each plan we need to know who owns it, who approves it and how often it will be updated.
| Role | What they do | Who at your company |
|---|---|---|
| Plan owner | Supplies the figures and answers questions about lines | name, email |
| Mapping contact | Confirms the line and account conversion table (accountant or controller) | name, email |
| Approver | Confirms that the plan in Symfio matches the approved version | name, email |
| Users with access | View and edit the plan of the given company | list of names |
- Budget does not change after approval and serves as the benchmark for performance.
- Forecast is updated after each month-end close. We will agree whether you overwrite it yourself in Symfio or send us a new file.
- Versions: save a significant change as a new scenario (e.g. “Forecast 10/2026”), so the original version remains for comparison.
8. Hand-over checklist
As soon as your list is complete, we can create the plan.
| Material | Chapter |
|---|---|
| ☐ List of companies, plan type, name and period | 1 |
| ☐ Last month of actuals and list of scenarios | 1 |
| ☐ Conversion table from lines to categories in Symfio | 2 |
| ☐ Order of dimensions and cost centre / project codes | 3 |
| ☐ Excel with monthly values for each company and scenario | 4 |
| ☐ Spreading of annual amounts and notes on assumptions | 5 |
| ☐ Marked intercompany lines with counterparty | 6 |
| ☐ Owner, approver and users with access | 7 |
Implementation steps
- Hand-over of materials. Send us the files according to the checklist.
- Mapping check. We check the conversion table against the account mapping and add any missing categories.
- Plan creation. We create the plans and scenarios with the structure from chapter 3.
- Data upload. We enter the monthly values, custom lines, intercompany items and comments.
- Review with you. We compare the annual totals in Symfio with your model and go through the plan in the Income statement.
- Approval and training. Once you confirm, we show your team how to update and evaluate the plan.