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 · Apr 2026
Net hire revenue
USD 3.19M
−0.14M vs budget
EBITDA
USD 0.59M
−0.29M vs budget
EBITDA margin
18.5%
Budget 26.4%
Net result
USD −0.11M
−0.26M vs budget
Fleet utilization
92.9%
Budget 96.7% · 17 off-hire days
TCE per on-hire day
USD 14,318
Budget 14,375
Running cost per vessel-day
USD 3,943
Budget 3,521
G&A as % of revenue
6.5%
Budget 6.0%
EBITDA bridge · From budget to actual
Commentary · Generated automatically from the variances
- ▸Apr 2026: EBITDA missed budget by USD 0.29M (-33.0%), at USD 0.59M against USD 0.88M.
- ▸Off-hire days took away USD 0.17M. Main drivers: MT Boreas (+9 days) and MT Aster (+1 day).
- ▸Running cost took away USD 0.10M. Largest overruns: repairs & maintenance (USD 0.06M) and spare parts (USD 0.02M).
- ▸Crew took away USD 0.04M. Reflects the 4% wage agreement effective from April.
- ▸Fleet utilization was 92.9% vs 96.7% budgeted; running cost per vessel-day USD 3,943 vs 3,521.
- ▸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.