Spend management vs expense management is a question of timing: expense management records money after it is spent, by the person who spent it, for reimbursement; spend management records money before it is spent, against the budget line, for control. Business cost control and budget control are what the second is for: the commitment checked against the line's remaining figure before it is raised, and the forecast at completion read before the project overruns. Strategic spend management and a spend management strategy are the enterprise's names for deciding which lines get controlled how tightly. This page is about the line between the two for a small business, and the free project budget sheet on this site works the control figure, the forecast at completion, from the budget holder's own numbers with no account.
After the spend and before it
Expense management is the receipt, the claim, the approval and the reimbursement: money already gone. Spend management is the budget line, the commitment and the remaining figure: money not yet gone. A business that has only the first finds out about overspend when the claims arrive.
Business cost control as a figure
Approved budget, spent to date, work complete and weeks elapsed give the value of the work done at budget, the overspend against it, the spend per week and the forecast at completion. $18,000 over the work done and a $270,000 forecast against a $240,000 budget on the worked example, from the project budget sheet on this site: that is budget control, read before the overrun rather than after.
Where strategic spend management starts for a small business
With the lines that overrun: the project running ahead of its plan, the department at $20,000 over at month six. A spend management strategy for a small business is the rule that a commitment over the remaining figure needs the budget holder's approval, and Opexvo Pro keeps the approval against the commitment at one flat price.
Questions people ask about spend management vs expense management
What is the difference between spend management and expense management?
Expense management records money after it is spent, for reimbursement; spend management records commitments before, against the budget line, for control.
What is budget control as a figure?
The forecast at completion against the budget: $270,000 against $240,000 on the worked example, from the free project budget sheet.
What is a spend management strategy for a small business?
A rule that a commitment over a line's remaining figure needs the holder's approval, kept as a record.