Budgets rarely fail in one moment. They drift. These five signs usually appear first:
- Costs are reported against spend to date, not against progress.
- Change requests are approved without an updated forecast.
- Contingency is being used without a clear record of why.
- The forecast at completion has not changed in months.
- Different teams quote different numbers for the same budget.
Each of these can be fixed with regular cost reporting against an agreed baseline, and a forecast that is updated every month.