Even the best budgets rarely turn out exactly the way that planners expect. Whenever you're planning in advance for a period of time, you'll inevitably make some mistakes in your estimates, and it's ...

Let's face it: Even the best budgets can't always predict your actual expenses. Things happen. Unexpected costs arise. That's life. That's why it's so useful to review your budget after a project is ...

Daniel Jassy, CFA, is an Investopedia Academy instructor and the founder of SPYderCRusher Research. He contributes to Excel and Algorithmic Trading. David Kindness is a Certified Public Accountant ...

Identify budget overages and savings to forecast future costs more accurately. Use variance analysis to pinpoint operational areas needing financial adjustment. Regularly update budgets based on ...

Cost and schedule variance data are part of earned value analysis, which is a tool that small and large businesses use as an early-warning system to identify and manage problems in ongoing projects.

Even the best budgets rarely turn out exactly the way that planners expect. Whenever you're planning in advance for a period of time, you'll inevitably make some mistakes in your estimates, and it's ...

Review budgets post-project to understand expense variances and improve forecasting. Calculate over-budget percentages by subtracting budgeted amounts from actual costs. Analyze specific items in your ...