Job cost reports and cost-to-complete

The job cost report answers one question per cost code: will this scope finish on budget? This page explains the columns, how cost-to-complete is maintained, and how the Budget tool keeps it current instead of rebuilt at month-end.

The columns

A job cost report lines up, by cost code, everything known about cost:

Column	Meaning	Source
Original budget	As estimated at award	Budget
Approved changes	Budget changes from approved change orders	Change records
Revised budget	Original + approved changes	Calculated
Committed	Subcontracts and POs, including approved commitment changes	Commitments
Actual cost	Posted invoices, labor, equipment and other costs	Accounting
Cost to complete	Estimated remaining cost	Forecast
Estimate at completion	Actual + cost to complete	Calculated
Variance	Revised budget − estimate at completion	Calculated

Pending changes can appear as an extra column so you can see exposure next to the budget without mixing it into approved numbers. See Change events and potential change orders.

In the app

The Budget tool is the job cost report. Its Budget tab shows, per cost code and cost type: Original Budget, Modifications, Approved Budget Changes, Revised Budget, Pending Budget Changes, Projected Budget, Committed Costs, Direct Costs, Pending Cost Changes, Projected Costs and Projected Over/Under. The Forecast tab adds Forecast to Complete and Est. Cost at Completion. Lines roll up by division to a grand total.

This project report uses project financial records such as direct costs and commitments. Company Accounting separately records supported posted job-cost actuals and provides a job-cost forecast; do not assume all project activity is automatically posted to the ledger.

Reading a line

Cost code	Revised budget	Committed	Actual	Cost to complete	EAC	Variance
26 Electrical	$4,780,000	$4,971,200	$2,690,000	$2,281,200	$4,971,200	($191,200)
23 HVAC ductwork & dampers	$2,938,100	$2,838,000	$1,710,000	$1,228,100	$2,938,100	$0

26 Electrical is forecast at about 4% over its revised budget. The committed column is the early warning: when committed cost is already at or above the revised budget (26 Electrical is committed $191,200 over), or when invoices are exceeding commitments, the line is heading for a variance before actual cost shows it.

How cost-to-complete is set

There are a few common ways to forecast remaining cost on a line. In the Budget tool’s Forecast tab, the default is calculated (projected budget minus projected costs, never below zero), and the PM can type a manual number on any line to override it. Clearing the override returns the line to automatic. The common methods:

• Manual: the PM enters the remaining cost. The most common and, with good judgment, the most accurate.
• Remaining commitment: for fully bought-out scopes, cost to complete is what’s left on the commitments plus anything not yet bought. Enter it as a manual forecast.
• Budget remaining: revised budget minus actual. Simple, and only honest when the line is tracking to budget. This is close to the app’s automatic forecast.
• Productivity-based: for self-performed labor, remaining quantity at current productivity. Planned.

Whatever the method, the result is the PM’s number to own.

Updating the forecast

Forecast history

A single month’s estimate at completion tells you little. The trend tells you whether a job is fading. Today, monthly budget snapshots and the Variance tab give you the trend; a per-line forecast history chart is Planned.

Flags (Planned)

Planned: the report flags lines worth a look, rather than leaving every line for a person to scan. Today, a negative Projected Over/Under shows in red.

• Forecast is stale: actual cost moved materially since the last forecast update.
• Over commitment: invoices exceed the remaining commitment on a line.
• Committed above budget: commitments exceed the revised budget.
• Progress disagrees: cost-to-cost percent complete differs from the PM’s physical percent complete by more than a set amount.
• Cost ahead of approval: costs posted against changes that aren’t approved.

A Risk agent that summarizes flagged lines is Planned. See How agents work.