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 Apr 2026
Net hire revenue
USD 12.73M
−0.31M vs budget
EBITDA
USD 2.78M
−0.47M vs budget
EBITDA margin
21.8%
Budget 24.9%
Net result
USD −0.03M
−0.42M vs budget
Fleet utilization
93.0%
Budget 94.7% · 67 off-hire days
TCE per on-hire day
USD 14,256
Budget 14,351
Running cost per vessel-day
USD 3,625
Budget 3,510
G&A as % of revenue
6.3%
Budget 6.1%
EBITDA bridge · From budget to actual
Commentary · Generated automatically from the variances
- ▸YTD Apr 2026: EBITDA missed budget by USD 0.47M (-14.4%), at USD 2.78M against USD 3.24M.
- ▸Off-hire days took away USD 0.29M. Main drivers: MT Boreas (+9 days) and MT Calypso (+7 days).
- ▸Running cost took away USD 0.11M. Largest overruns: repairs & maintenance (USD 0.06M) and lubricants (USD 0.03M).
- ▸Crew took away USD 0.04M. Reflects the 4% wage agreement effective from April.
- ▸Fleet utilization was 93.0% vs 94.7% budgeted; running cost per vessel-day USD 3,625 vs 3,510.
- ▸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.