Budget breakdown.

What story this chart tells

The story is composition. One or two line items usually dominate (almost always salaries for any team-shaped org); the question for the reader is "what comes next, and is anything growing faster than I expected?" Sort descending and the top three bars become the headline. If you're comparing to last year, append a small "vs prior year" delta in the speaker notes.

Adapting it to your data — checklist

• Decide the unit (thousands, millions) and put it in the title — never make the reader guess.
• Sort descending; budget readers expect rank order.
• Keep "Other" small (no more than 5–10% of total). If it's bigger, break it down further.
• Use one neutral color. Color-coding budget lines reads as editorializing.
• If a category is being scrutinized this cycle (e.g., reducing travel), call it out by coloring just that bar.
• Round to whole units in the labels; budget charts don't need decimals.