USA Moving budgets from month to month

[kelley forsythe]

I know GAAP only allows you to deduct an expense if the amount is fixed (by an outside third party) and determinable. So creating a journal entry to expense an item not purchased yet would not be allowed by GAAP.

So does anyone have any work arounds they use when :
Lets say I budget 5000 for March in advertising. I budgeted that because an employee wants the following:

2500 for business cards
1000 for brochures
1500 for a new banner stand

So by 3/31 the banner stand is either not invoiced or not yet purchased but that 1500 was explicitly for it. Can I expense ( in a journal) that $1500 and put in a an account ( prepaids or maybe I need another acct just for things like this) and then in April I would basically make the opposite journal- thus giving them the budget $$ to cover the invoice ( that arrives in April lets say) …

 

[Martin86]

I would say if there has not been a commitment to purchase e.g a purchase order then you should not accrue the cost for it, you should not move actual costs about to match the budget but to reflect the current trading activity of the business and upon a review of the accounts to note that the banner was not ordered as anticipated when creating the budget