Financial variance is the difference between budgeted and actual spending. Positive variance means spending less, negative indicates overspending. Regular monitoring reduces surprises and improves ...

Cost and schedule variance data are part of earned value analysis, which is a tool that small and large businesses use as an early-warning system to identify and manage problems in ongoing projects.

Companies use variance analysis to compare financial performance changes from one month to the next, or perhaps from one quarter to another or year to year. Typically, actual financial results are ...