There are so many items that cross your desk every day for approval. Purchase orders, stores requisitions, credit card requests, safety equipment requests, contractor inductions. And all these requests are of priority.

You ask yourself:

“How do I know if these items are in my budget? How can I approve them with any level of confidence?”

“My contractor costs are higher than planned, but they include people who are filling some roles which are vacant at the moment. Doesn’t that mean my labour costs should be lower. Where do I find those? Why don’t we just add the two together?”

By the time you find all the pieces of the jigsaw, you have no energy left to try and piece them together. No wonder you can’t seem to explain why your costs are fluctuating every month.

As a result, you dread talking costs. Especially when your manager asks you the question, “Where do you think your spend will be at the end of the month?”

All the data you are given is based on invoices for works that were completed 3 months ago. How can you predict where your spend will land without any data which gives you a view to the future?

How can you forecast with confidence if you don’t know what’s been paid and what has not been paid?