Engagements
Month-end operating budget variance analysis
A close-timed engagement that turns budget-to-actual gaps into owner-backed explanations for your leadership pack.
Who this is for
Finance teams that already run an operating budget and need the month-end variance story to be credible — not a last-minute scramble of unexplained red lines.
Result you leave with
A variance pack covering material budget-to-actual differences by cost centre: bridges, owner commentary, timing notes, and a short management narrative ready for the close meeting.
Scope included
- Confirmation of the budget version locked for the period
- Materiality thresholds agreed with your controller
- Budget-to-actual bridges from ledger extracts you provide
- Scheduled interviews with cost centre owners for material lines
- Draft narrative and open-question list for leadership
- One revision cycle after your internal review
Scope excluded
- Statutory financial statement audit opinions
- Tax filings or transfer-pricing reports
- Rebuilding your chart of accounts or ERP configuration
- Continuous outsourced controllership between closes
How we work
- Briefing (day 0–1): Share last period’s pack, current budget file, and close calendar.
- Extract & bridge (days 1–3): We build comparisons and mark lines needing commentary.
- Owner calls (days 3–5): Short, structured conversations — causes, not blame.
- Pack delivery (days 5–8): Narrative, tables, and residual open items.
Preparation
Please appoint a single finance contact, confirm which cost centres are in scope, and provide read-only extracts (or exports) of actuals and the approved operating budget within 24 hours of close start.
Constraints
We need owner availability during the close window. If interviews slip past your leadership meeting date, those lines will appear as “pending commentary” rather than guessed explanations.
Next step
Request an estimate with your close month, number of cost centres, and whether plant visits are expected.