Monitor project financials, track expenses, and manage budgets with precision
✓ Free to download · ✓ Excel 2016+ and Google Sheets · ✓ Custom version in 24h
Project budgets go wrong between the committed and the spent. This tracker holds both against each cost line so the forecast at completion updates as the project runs, rather than at the post-mortem.
The actual columns, with sample rows
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Line | Budget | Committed | Actual | Forecast | Variance |
| 2 | Design | 24,000 | 24,000 | 24,000 | 24,000 | 0 |
| 3 | Development | 96,000 | 112,000 | 78,400 | 112,000 | -16,000 |
| 4 | Infrastructure | 18,000 | 9,200 | 9,200 | 14,000 | +4,000 |
| 5 | Contingency | 20,000 | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | +12,000 |
Why each one is written the way it is
=MAX([@Committed], [@Actual], [@Budget]*[@[% complete]])
Forecast at completion. Taking the highest of committed, spent and earned-value projection stops a forecast quietly reverting to budget when it should not.
=[@Budget]-[@Forecast]
Variance at completion, which is the number that matters. Variance to date flatters every project that is behind schedule.
=SUMIFS(Costs[Actual],Costs[Line],[@Line])/[@Budget]
Budget consumed, to compare against percentage complete. Consuming 70% of budget at 40% complete is the signal; either number alone is not.
=[@Budget]*[@[% complete]]-[@Actual]
Cost variance in earned-value terms — what the work completed should have cost, minus what it did.
A worked example with real numbers
A software build reported "on budget" for four months because invoices lagged the work. Adding committed spend showed development already at 117% of its line — the contractor extension had been signed but not billed. Contingency absorbed most of it, but the finding moved the conversation with the client from month nine to month five, when scope could still be traded.
Tab by tab
| Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| Costs | Budget, committed, actual and percentage complete per line. |
| Invoices | Received invoices matched to cost lines. |
| Commitments | Signed orders and contracts not yet invoiced. |
| Forecast | Forecast at completion and variance by line. |
| README | How percentage complete is assessed and by whom. |
What is included, and what to look at next
Specific to this workbook, not generic
Committed is money you are contractually obliged to spend; actual is money invoiced. A project that tracks only actuals discovers overruns when the invoices arrive, which is too late to act.
As its own line, drawn down explicitly with a reason. Contingency spread invisibly across other lines means you cannot tell a well-run project from one that has quietly consumed its buffer.
By deliverable, not by effort spent. "We have used 60% of the hours" is not 60% complete, and conflating the two is the single most common reason forecasts are optimistic.
"This budget tracker has transformed our project financial management. We now have complete visibility of our expenses and can make informed decisions to keep projects within budget."