Understanding Your Monthly Expense Totals
How to use the AskBiz Expenses tab to find your total spending for any month, understand the list footer total, and track month-over-month trends.
Key Takeaways
- Set the date range filter to a calendar month to see the total for that month in the footer.
- The footer total updates dynamically whenever you change any filter, showing the sum of all visible rows.
- Comparing monthly totals over several months reveals spending trends and cost creep early.
Finding the Total for a Month
To see your total expenses for a specific month, use the date range filter. Tap the From input and select the first day of the month — for example, 1 June 2025. Then tap the To input and select the last day of that month — 30 June 2025. The expense list updates to show only June expenses. At the bottom of the expenses list, a footer row displays the total amount for all visible entries. This total is the sum of every expense in June across all categories.
How the Footer Total Works
The footer total is a live aggregate that reflects the current state of the expense list, including all active filters. If you also have a category chip active — for example, Software/SaaS — the footer shows the total for Software/SaaS expenses in June only, not the full June total. If you type a vendor name in the search bar, the footer total shows only the sum for that vendor in June. The footer is labelled Total or Total Expenses and typically displays in a larger or bolder font than the individual row amounts to make it easy to spot.
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Start for free →Comparing Month to Month
To compare spending across months, note the footer total for one month, then change the date range to the previous month and note that total. For a more systematic comparison, work through the last three to six months and write down each total. A consistent month-on-month increase in total expenses without a corresponding increase in revenue is a warning sign of cost creep — spending that grows gradually without being driven by deliberate business decisions. AskBiz does not currently display a side-by-side month comparison view, so this manual comparison is the available method.
Monthly Category Totals
To understand monthly spending within a specific category, combine the date range and category chip filters. Set the date range to the desired month, then tap the category chip for the category you want to analyse. The footer total now shows spending for that category in that month. For example, to see how much you spent on Professional Services in May, set the date range to May and tap the Professional Services chip. The footer shows the sum. Repeat with the date range set to April to get the April figure and compare the two.
Expenses and the Monthly Fixed Costs Card
The Monthly Fixed Costs card visible on the main CFO dashboard shows a configured estimate of your fixed costs, as set in the Cost Configuration drawer. This figure does not automatically match the Expenses tab total for the month because the card uses configured values rather than recorded transactions. The goal is to close this gap over time: as you log all your expenses consistently, the Expenses tab total becomes your actual spend, and you can use that actual figure to update the configured values in Cost Configuration for more accurate forecasting.