Committed costs affect your remaining budget because you have already agreed to spend that money. To see how much budget you have left to allocate, subtract actual costs and outstanding commitments from your current approved cost budget.
For main contractors, invoices only show part of the picture. You may have agreed to a subcontract or ordered materials that have yet to appear in your actual costs. Those commitments still use part of your budget.
Before you approve more spending, you need to know what you have already committed and whether the balance will cover the work still to arrange.
What Does Remaining Budget Tell You?
Your remaining budget depends on which costs your report includes.
Budget less actual costs shows the balance after the costs you have incurred and recorded.
Budget less actual costs and outstanding commitments also accounts for spending you have agreed to but haven’t yet recorded as an actual cost.
The second figure gives you a clearer starting point when approving another order. Throughout this guide, remaining budget means the balance after both actual costs and outstanding commitments.
You still need to check what that balance must cover. Work outside your existing orders and subcontract agreements will need its own allowance.
How to Calculate the Remaining Budget
Calculate the budget you still have available to allocate:
Remaining budget = Current approved cost budget − Actual costs − Outstanding commitments
Start with your current approved cost budget, including authorised revisions. Deduct the actual costs you have recorded, then deduct the outstanding amounts on existing orders and agreements. Include only the portion of each commitment that has yet to become an actual cost.
Use figures for the same project, cost codes and reporting date. Keep the VAT basis consistent too. If your budget excludes recoverable VAT, compare it with costs on the same basis.
Use the budget for delivering the work in this calculation. The amount you charge your client is separate.
Remaining Budget Example for a Main Contractor
Let’s use an illustrative electrical package with a £200,000 cost budget.
You have recorded £80,000 in actual costs. A further £90,000 remains outstanding on existing subcontract and supply agreements.
| Budget position | moAunt |
| Current approved package budget | £200,000 |
| Actual costs recorded | £80,000 |
| Outstanding commitments | £90,000 |
| Balance after actual costs alone | £120,000 |
| Remaining budget after commitments | £30,000 |
If you look only at actual costs, you appear to have £120,000 left. Once you include the outstanding commitments, you have £30,000 left to allocate.
Now suppose you still need specialist testing and additional equipment outside those agreements. Your QS estimates that work will cost £40,000.
You have £30,000 available for work expected to cost £40,000. That leaves a £10,000 shortfall and brings the expected package cost to £210,000, assuming no other changes.
A positive remaining budget only helps if it covers the work you still need to arrange.
What Happens When an Invoice Arrives?
When you record an invoice against an existing commitment, move the matching amount from outstanding commitments into actual costs. This keeps the same spending from using your budget twice.
Take the electrical package above. You record a £20,000 supplier invoice against an existing order and reduce the outstanding commitment by £20,000.
| Budget position | Before the invoice | After the invoice |
| Current approved budget | £200,000 | £200,000 |
| Actual costs | £80,000 | £100,000 |
| Outstanding commitments | £90,000 | £70,000 |
| Actual costs plus outstanding commitments | £170,000 | £170,000 |
| Remaining budget | £30,000 | £30,000 |
Your remaining budget stays at £30,000. The invoice covers spending you had already allowed for in your commitments.
Check what your report means by committed costs. Some reports show the full order value, while others show only the outstanding amount. Adding actual costs to the full original order value can count the invoiced portion twice.
Payment timing is separate. An invoice can form part of your actual project costs before you pay it, depending on how you record costs.
Why You Need to Check Each Work Package
A project can show a budget remaining while an individual work package has already exceeded its allowance.
For example, your groundworks package has £25,000 left to allocate, while electrical works show a £10,000 shortfall. Together, the packages show £15,000 remaining.
Before you use the groundworks balance to cover that shortfall, check the work still required. Drainage connections, reinstatement, or additional plants could use the remaining allowance.
Review each package or cost code before moving the budget between them. Confirm what remains to complete and obtain the required approval for any transfer.
Treat a balance as a potential saving only after you have allowed for all the work needed to finish that package.
How Changes Affect Your Remaining Budget
A new commitment uses more of your allowance. An approved budget increase adds to it. Here is how common changes affect the balance:
| Change | Effect on the remaining budget |
| You agree additional spending outside existing commitments | Reduces the balance if the budget stays the same |
| An agreed variation increases a subcontract commitment | Reduces the balance by the additional cost |
| You agree a valid reduction in an outstanding commitment | Increases the balance, allowing for replacement costs or cancellation charges |
| You approve an increase to the cost budget | Increases the allowance available |
| You record an invoice and reduce the matching commitment by the same amount | Leaves the balance unchanged |
Keep additional subcontract costs separate from the amount you expect to recover from your client.
An expected client payment does not automatically increase your internal cost budget. Record the additional cost and update the budget through your agreed approval process.
Check order reductions carefully too. If you cancel an order but still need the materials, allow for the replacement purchase before treating the released amount as available budget.
What a Negative Remaining Budget Means
A negative remaining budget means your recorded actual costs and outstanding commitments exceed your current approved cost budget.
Before deciding how to respond, check that the report reflects the current position.
Look for duplicate costs, incorrect cost codes, outdated commitments, and missing approved budget changes. If the figures are correct, your incurred costs and existing agreements already exceed the allowance.
You also need to allow for work outside those agreements. The negative balance shows the current shortfall; calculating the final overrun requires a review of all remaining costs.
What to Check Before Approving More Spending
Before approving another order or subcontract instruction, your QS and project manager should check:
- The budget: Have you allocated the proposed cost to the correct package and cost code?
- Existing agreements: Does another order or subcontract already cover the work?
- Outstanding commitments: Do the figures reflect what you still owe under current agreements?
- Remaining work: What else must the available balance cover?
- The new balance: How much budget will remain after you approve the spending?
In our electrical example, another £15,000 order would reduce the £30,000 remaining budget to £15,000. Check which part of the remaining work that order covers and what you still need to arrange.
This gives you a practical basis for approval: the cost of the order, the budget it uses and the work the balance must still cover.
How LiveCosts Helps You Review Remaining Budgets
LiveCosts brings budgeted, actual, and committed costs into one project view. You can compare recorded costs and agreed spending against the relevant allowance without collecting figures from separate spreadsheets.
Purchase orders link to projects and cost codes, giving your commercial team a clearer view of where the budget is going before invoices arrive. Use that information to review the remaining allowance and decide whether it covers the work ahead.
