The budget feature lets Owners and Admins set spending limits per team and assign a Manager to oversee each one ✨.
Expenses are tracked in real time as team members spend, giving you full visibility over team costs without blocking payments.
Until the new packaging goes live in October 2026, this feature remains available through the current Account Payable and Expense & Spend Management add-ons. From October 2026, budget management for teams will be included in Essential+ plans.
Budget creation and management is available on 💻 web only; Managers can view their assigned budgets on both 💻 web and 📱 mobile.
What is the budget feature and what can I do with it?
From Team Expenses > Budgets, Owners and Admins can:
- Create a budget and assign it to a team
- Track expenses linked to that budget in real time
- Assign a Manager to oversee and follow up on the budget
Before creating a budget, keep the following in mind:
- You can create up to one budget per team
- Budgets can be set as monthly or global (covering the full period)
- A budget can include up to two 12-month periods, which can overlap across calendar years
- Budgets can be planned up to 12 months in advance
☝️ Reaching or exceeding the budget limit does not block future payments — it only triggers a notification to the assigned Manager.
What is a Manager's role in budgets?
As a Manager, you are responsible for overseeing a specific budget assigned to your team by the Owner or Admin. Your role is to monitor spending, ensure the team stays within the budget, and flag any adjustments needed to the Owner or Admin.
You can view your assigned budgets and track real-time spending, but you cannot create, edit, or archive budgets — those actions are reserved for Owners and Admins.
What are the roles on Qonto and which one should I assign?
How do I access the Budgets section?
On 💻 web:
- Go to Team Expenses > Budgets
On 📱 mobile:
- Go to Menu
- Tap Team Expenses, then Budgets
☝️ Managers will only see budgets that have been assigned to them by an Owner or Admin.
How do I create a budget?
Available to Owners and Admins on 💻 web only.
- Go to Team Expenses > Budgets
- Click Create a budget (top right)
- Select an existing team and assign a Manager — or create a new team by clicking Create a team
- Define the budget period and enter the total or monthly amount
- Click Continue to confirm
How do I edit a budget?
Available to Owners and Admins on 💻 web only.
You can update the period and amount of a budget at any time.
- Go to Team Expenses > Budgets
- Click the budget, then select Edit budget (top right)
- Choose a new period or amount — you can also add a new budget period at this stage
- Click Save
☝️ It is not possible to change the budget frequency (monthly ↔ global) on an existing budget. To change it, archive the current budget, create a new one with the desired frequency, and manually reallocate any existing expenses to the new budget.
How do I archive a budget?
Available to Owners and Admins on 💻 web only.
- Go to Team Expenses > Budgets and click the budget
- Click Archive (top right)
⚠️ Archiving is permanent — all data linked to that budget cannot be recovered once archived.
How are transactions allocated to a budget?
Once a budget is created for a team, the following transactions are
automatically assigned to it:
- Card payments made by team members
- Transfers initiated by team members
- Expense reimbursement requests submitted by team members
Each transaction is allocated to the budget period in which it was successfully executed. Transactions can also be manually reallocated after the fact.
How does real-time budget tracking work?
As soon as a team member makes a transaction with his or her Qonto card or via a transfer, the expense is automatically deducted from the team's budget. You can view a budget's transactions and the remaining allocated amount simply by clicking on the corresponding budget in the Budget section. You can then browse by period for further details.
How do I manually reallocate a transaction to a different budget?
- Go to Business Account > Transactions
- Click the transaction you want to reassign
- In the transaction details, go to the Budget section and select the new budget (or remove it from any budget)
- Owners and Admins can assign or reassign any transaction to any budget
- Managers can only reassign transactions within the budgets assigned to them
Can a Manager adjust the budget?
No — only Owners and Admins can create or adjust budgets. If you believe the budget needs to be increased or decreased, raise this with the Owner or the Admin in charge of finances.
What should I do if my team is close to exceeding the budget?
Reaching or exceeding the budget limit does not block future payments, but it is important to act promptly. Review upcoming expenses with your team and determine which ones are necessary. If an adjustment is needed, contact the Owner or Admin — only they can edit the budget amount.
How do budget notifications work?
Assigned Budget Managers receive push and email notifications at two thresholds:
- When spending reaches 80% of the budgeted amount
- When spending reaches 100% of the budgeted amount
Notification settings can be customized in the Qonto app settings.