I think you have a fundamental problem here. Your notion of index is entirely man-made, by which I mean that there is no compelling reason to go one way rather than another beyond what is suggested by you intuition and business sense.
However you define your index, it must not be given by the same formula in all possible cases. E.g., from what you wrote I sense you won't be comfortable with a negative index in case of a positive actual and a negative budget, right? Something that goes way beyond your expectations must be big, very big, not negative.
The best advice I can give you is to not seek a single math expression that works in all cases. Formulas may be different depending on the signs of quantities involved. Or, perhaps, to describe a situation fully you need more than one attribute.
You may want to contact Edward MacNeal at macneal@erols.com, an expert on mathsemantics and business consultant.