Instrumentl Spenddown provides a single, up-to-date view of how grant funds are being spent. Through a secure, one-way sync with your accounting system, it automates Budget vs. Actuals (BvA) tracking so you can clearly see what’s been spent, what remains committed, and what is still available — without manual exports or repeated data pulls from Finance.

This shared visibility makes it easier for Grants, Finance, and Program teams to stay aligned on restricted funding throughout the post-award process.

* Spenddown is available on Instrumentl’s Advanced Plan and supports one way, read-only syncs with Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online.

Instrumentl Spenddown brings your approved budget, actual expenses, and planned costs into one shared system so everyone can see the full financial picture in real time.
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With Spenddown, you can:

By centralizing your grant budget and expense data in one place, Spenddown makes it easier to generate accurate reports and answer key questions like:
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“How much do we have left to spend?”

Spenddown connects three core components to give you a complete Budget vs. Actuals view:

Upload your approved award budget (PDF or spreadsheet), and Instrumentl will parse it into structured categories.

This becomes your working budget inside Instrumentl — organized, editable, and ready to sync.

Spenddown connects to:

The integration uses a secure, one-way sync. Instrumentl pulls expense data from your accounting system but never writes data back, so Finance remains in full control of the general ledger.

During setup, you’ll map your accounting categories to your Instrumentl grant budget categories. After that, expenses sync automatically going forward.

You can log expected or committed costs that have not yet appeared in your accounting system.

This allows your team to see:

Together, these components give you an accurate view of your grant budget at any point in time, not just a snapshot once the books are closed.

To set clear expectations, Spenddown does not:

Spenddown is a translation and visibility layer. It helps your team understand and track grant-level financial data but it relies on clean accounting practices upstream.

Spenddown provides visibility into grant-level financial data by translating your accounting information into an organized Budget vs. Actuals view. This is reliant on accurate setup and clean accounting practices within your accounting system.

Spenddown typically requires two stakeholders:

Your Instrumentl Customer Success Manager is here to support you through initial setup and onboarding. After implementation, Spenddown is built to support smooth, self-serve management over time.

If you’re just getting started, follow this recommended order:

Each of these steps has a dedicated Help Center guide to walk you through setup.

If you have any questions about Spenddown or need help with setup, we’re here for you. Message our friendly support team via the chat bubble when logged into your account, or email us at hello@instrumentl.com.