FP&A · Budget control
Actual vs budget
Monthly budget control for Northwind Shipping (fictional), an 8-vessel fleet of tankers, bulk carriers and offshore supply vessels. Actuals are closed through Sep 2026. All names and figures are synthetic; the structure mirrors a real budget-control model I ran in shipping.
Key figures · YTD Feb 2026
Net hire revenue
USD 6.50M
−0.05M vs budget
EBITDA
USD 1.69M
−0.04M vs budget
EBITDA margin
26.0%
Budget 26.3%
Net result
USD 0.22M
−0.06M vs budget
Fleet utilization
96.8%
Budget 96.6% · 15 off-hire days
TCE per on-hire day
USD 14,233
Budget 14,375
Running cost per vessel-day
USD 3,481
Budget 3,503
G&A as % of revenue
6.1%
Budget 6.1%
EBITDA bridge · From budget to actual
Commentary · Generated automatically from the variances
- ▸YTD Feb 2026: EBITDA missed budget by USD 0.04M (-2.1%), at USD 1.69M against USD 1.73M.
- ▸Charter rates took away USD 0.06M. Tanker rates ran above plan (MT Calypso +3% TCE), partly offset by weaker dry bulk and offshore contracts.
- ▸Off-hire days added USD 0.01M. Main drivers: MT Delphine (+1 day) and OSV Gaia (+1 day).
- ▸Running cost added USD 0.01M. Largest overruns: certificates & surveys (USD 0.00M) and communications & it (USD 0.00M).
- ▸Fleet utilization was 96.8% vs 96.6% budgeted; running cost per vessel-day USD 3,481 vs 3,503.
- ▸Full-year outlook: EBITDA USD 9.33M, below the USD 10.24M budget by USD 0.91M, assuming current rate levels, the wage increase and higher lubricant prices persist through December.
Rule-based: the engine ranks the EBITDA bridge drivers, finds the vessels and cost lines behind each one and writes the sentences. The analyst reviews and edits instead of starting from a blank page.
Synthetic data for a fictional company, for illustration only.