Budget and profitability

Project profitability and project budgetseen during, not after

An overrun discovered at year-end close can no longer be recovered. Numezis compares each phase’s budget to actual cost every week, projects the margin at completion and alerts the right owner as soon as a threshold is crossed, with a proposal to correct course.

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Budget by phase
Estimate at completion
Overrun alerts

An overrun caught halfway through the project

Ingénieurs Sarine SA, in Fribourg, is renovating a school in Bulle for a fixed price of CHF 142’000.00. On 24.10.2026, the Tendering phase passes 118 % of its budget, CHF 4’320.00 too much. Numezis alerts the project manager and management, recalculates the cost at completion at CHF 139’600.00 and shows a forecast margin cut to 1.7 %.

Each phase carries its own cost budget, compared continuously with the actual cost of approved hours and expenses.
The consumption bar turns amber at 90 % and red beyond 100 %, phase by phase.
The estimate at completion adds the estimated remaining work to actuals, to show the likely final margin.
The agent explains the deviation, names the responsible phase and proposes a measure, which the project manager accepts or not.

Numezis · Projects · Budget versus actual

Bulle school renovation

Ingénieurs Sarine SA · Fribourg · fixed price CHF 142’000.00

Over budget

Preliminary design (SIA 31)CHF 21’120 / 22’000
Construction project (SIA 32)CHF 33’440 / 38’000
Tendering (SIA 41)118 %CHF 28’320 / 24’000
Site management (SIA 52)CHF 15’810 / 51’000

Cost budgetCHF 135’000.00

Actual cost to dateCHF 98’690.00

Forecast margin at completionCHF 2’400.00 · 1.7 %

Overrun alert

Tendering: CHF 4’320.00 over the phase budget. The 100 % threshold was crossed on 24.10.2026.

Forecast cost at completion CHF 139’600.00. Project manager and management notified; the agent proposes to revisit the site management estimate.

Swiss controls

Budget alerts that arrive in time

Project profitability is defended every week. Numezis applies explicit thresholds, calculation rules and approvals so that every deviation is known, explained and handled before the project ends.

Alert threshold per phase and per project
You set the thresholds, for example 80 % and 100 % of the cost budget. As soon as one is crossed, the project manager and management receive the alert with the phase concerned.
Flagged
Budget revision requires approval
Increasing a phase budget requires a reason and approval by an authorised person. The original budget stays visible next to the revised one to measure the real drift.
Approval required
Cost calculated at full internal cost
Hours are valued at internal cost including salary, AHV, BVG and UVG social charges and overheads, not at the sales rate, for a margin that reflects reality.
Automatic
Supplier commitments included in the forecast
Supplier and subcontractor purchase orders attached to the project enter the forecast as soon as they are approved, even before the supplier invoice arrives.
Automatic
Loss-making project escalated to management
When the forecast margin turns negative, the project moves up in management’s view and in the weekly report, with the history of alerts already sent.
Flagged
Project figures aligned with the ledger
Project costs and revenues come from accounting entries broken down by analytical dimension, which keeps them consistent with the accounts prepared under CO art. 957 to 960.
Traced

One record, the whole journey

From logged time to management’s cockpit

The project budget feeds on approved hours and accounting entries, then feeds management’s steering view. Every figure shown can be opened all the way down to its source.

Continuous financial control of your projects

A budget is only worth something if it is compared with actuals early enough to act. Numezis does this controlling work every day and shows you where to step in.

Budget by phase and cost line

Split the budget by phase, work package or milestone, and by cost line: internal fees, subcontracting, materials, travel. Each line has its cost budget and, where needed, its revenue budget.

Continuous budget versus actual

Actuals update with every approved hour, every expense and every supplier invoice. No need to wait for month-end to know where a phase stands.

Estimate at completion

Cost at completion combines actuals, commitments and remaining work estimated by the project manager or extrapolated from the observed pace, for a credible final margin.

Overrun alerts

Configurable thresholds per project or phase, notifications on the web, by email or in the team’s messaging app, and reminders until the deviation is handled.

Margin by project, client and team

Margin to date and forecast margin, aggregated by client, team, project type or project manager, to see which engagements and which clients really fund the company.

Revision history

Each budget revision keeps its date, reason, author and approver. You compare original budget, revised budget and actuals to learn from one project to the next.

Project portfolio

A portfolio view ranks every active project by forecast margin, budget consumption and risk, with projects on alert at the top of the list.

Variance analysis by the agent

Ask the agent why a project is slipping: it identifies the phases, people and activities behind the deviation and proposes a costed measure, without changing anything without your agreement.

Profitability reports

Profitability report by project, budget versus actual by phase and how the forecast evolves over time, exportable for management, the board of directors or the client.

The guide

Guide: project budget and project profitability

Project profitability is the central question for any company that sells engagements. It is built from the proposal onwards, with a realistic project budget, then defended every week by comparing that budget with actuals. Here is how to structure this tracking in a Swiss SME.

How do you build a realistic project budget?

A realistic project budget starts from the breakdown of work. List the phases or work packages, estimate the hours per profile for each, then value them at full internal cost. Add subcontracting, materials, travel and a contingency proportionate to the project’s risk.

Lean on your past projects: how many hours did a comparable phase actually take, and by how much were estimates exceeded? Engineering and architecture offices can align with SIA phases, agencies with their usual work packages. The cost budget is then compared with the sales price to set the target margin. In Numezis, the budget is entered by phase and by cost line, and the original budget is kept even after revision, so you can measure the quality of your estimates.

How do you measure project profitability?

Project profitability is measured by margin: recognised revenue minus full cost. Two indicators complement each other. Margin to date compares what has been delivered and recognised so far; forecast margin at completion projects the final result, taking the remaining work into account.

To be reliable, cost must include every hour, even non-billable ones, valued at internal cost, as well as expenses and subcontracting. Revenue must follow a consistent recognition method. Then compare margin across projects, clients, teams and service types: you will often discover that a loyal, high-volume client is in fact barely profitable, or that one type of engagement systematically exceeds its budget. Numezis computes these indicators continuously from the accounting entries.

What is a project’s estimate at completion?

The estimate at completion answers a simple question: how much will this project have cost once it is finished? It adds the actual cost incurred, the commitments already made with suppliers and the estimated remaining work.

Remaining work can be estimated by the project manager, phase by phase, or extrapolated from the observed pace: if a phase has been consuming 20 % more than planned from the start, it is prudent to apply the same trend to the rest. Compared with the sales price, the estimate gives the likely final margin. It is the indicator that lets you act: negotiate a change order, reduce scope, reassign the team. Numezis updates this estimate with every new entry and alerts you when it drops below your target.

What should you do when a project goes over budget?

A budget overrun is not inevitable if it is detected early. First step: understand the cause. Out-of-scope work requested by the client, an overly optimistic estimate, a technical problem or a change of team do not call for the same response.

If the client asked for additional services, document them and propose a costed change order before going further. If the estimate was too low, revise the budget with a reason, inform management and use the lesson for the next proposals. If the problem is internal, reassign the effort or reduce the remaining work. In Numezis, the overrun alert arrives with the phase concerned, the agent prepares a variance analysis and a proposal, and the budget revision goes through a traced approval.

How do you link the project budget to cost accounting?

Project budget tracking kept in a spreadsheet next to the accounts always ends up diverging. The solution is to attach every accounting entry to a project through an analytical dimension: salaries allocated according to hours, supplier invoices, expenses, revenue.

That way, the total of project margins reconciles with the company’s result, and every project figure can be justified to an auditor. The annual accounts prepared under CO art. 957 to 960 and the project reports rest on the same entries. Numezis allocates the entries coming from time, expenses, purchases and invoices automatically, and management’s steering view aggregates the margins of every project in real time.

Frequently asked questions about budget and profitability

What finance managers and project managers ask before entrusting their budget tracking to Numezis.

Can the budget be entered in hours rather than francs?

Yes. Each phase can have a budget in hours, in francs or both. Budgeted hours are valued automatically at the internal cost of the planned profiles, and tracking shows consumption in hours for the team and in francs for management. Both views stay consistent.

How is the remaining work estimated?

The project manager can enter the remaining work per phase at regular intervals. Otherwise, Numezis extrapolates it from the remaining budget and the observed consumption pace. The agent flags when the entered estimate departs sharply from the trend, to avoid overly optimistic forecasts.

Who receives overrun alerts?

You define it per project or per project type: usually the project manager at the first threshold, then management beyond 100 %. Alerts arrive in Numezis, by email or in Microsoft Teams, Slack or WhatsApp, and stay visible until the deviation is handled.

Are overheads included in profitability?

You choose. The hourly internal cost can include a share of overheads, rent, IT and administration, for a net margin per project. You can also show a contribution margin, calculated on direct costs only, and compare both readings in the reports.

Can we compare the original and revised budgets?

Yes. The original budget is kept and every revision is recorded with its date, reason and approver. Reports show original budget, revised budget, actuals and forecast side by side, which helps improve the accuracy of future proposals.

Do project figures match the accounts?

Yes, because they come from the same entries. Project costs and revenues are broken down by analytical dimension in the general ledger, and a closed period can no longer be changed. Your fiduciary or auditor can therefore find every project figure in the accounts.

See your project margins continuously

Enter the budget of your riskiest project, let Numezis compare it with actuals and receive the first alert before it is too late.