Operations & finance
Project budget vs actual tracker
For fixed-fee work, every consumed hour spends margin directly. This is the sheet that shows it happening rather than reporting it afterwards.
Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice — no conversion needed.
Preview of the actual columns — green cells are formulas
What is in the file
These are the actual columns in the download, with a filled sample row so you can see the expected shape. Cells beginning with an equals sign are formulas and compute when the file opens.
| Column | Sample value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Acme Corp Redesign | |
| Phase | Build | |
| Estimated hours | 160 | |
| Actual hours to date | 138 | |
| Hours variance | =C2-D2 | |
| Blended cost rate | 900 | |
| Budget cost | =C2*F2 | |
| Actual cost | =D2*F2 | |
| % complete (delivery) | 70 | Your judgement, not hours-based |
| Burn vs progress | =ROUND(D2/C2*100,1)-I2 | Positive means burning faster than delivering |
How to use it
- →The last column is the signal: hours consumed running ahead of delivery progress is the earliest reliable sign of an overrun.
- →Enter percentage complete from delivery judgement, never from hours — deriving it from hours makes the comparison circular and useless.
- →Review weekly on fixed-fee projects. Monthly is too late to renegotiate.
When the spreadsheet stops scaling
A template is the right answer until the reconciliation between sheets costs more than the sheets save. Workclave records the same data as work happens, applies your policy automatically, and produces the register, the payroll input and the client hours statement from one source. Free for up to 3 users.
Votre équipe travaille. Commencez à comprendre comment.
Rejoignez les équipes qui suivent des sessions, pas seulement des heures. Gratuit jusqu’à 3 utilisateurs — sans carte bancaire, sans minimum, sans engagement.