Our committed costs are missing from reports. Why does that matter?
Incomplete obligation reportingUnpaid commitments can consume future budget even when actual expenditure remains low. Show commitments separately from paid or accrued costs and reconcile overlaps with finance.
What to do now
- Inventory approved orders and obligations
- Separate committed and actual amounts
- Avoid counting the same obligation twice
- Update the available-budget view
When to escalate
Escalate when
Existing obligations already exceed remaining authorized funding.
Who decides
The budget owner and authorized finance representative
Example
A report includes an approved supplier order that has not yet been invoiced.
Mistake to avoid
Assuming unspent budget is uncommitted budget.
Prevent a repeat
Review remaining cost and commitments, not only money already spent; reconcile with the authorized finance source.
Related cases
- The team forgot recurring software and support costs. How do we correct the business case?Missing lifecycle costs
- How should we allocate shared costs across projects?Inconsistent cost allocation
- Our PMO collects reports but adds little value. What should it focus on?Administrative PMO without decisions
- Our reports hide missing data by showing zero. What should change?Unknown mistaken for none