Cost Control Questions

Last updated: 5/1/2013

Cost Control Exercise
Please answer the following cost control questions in a succinct logical manner that would help us determine
your level of cost control knowledge. Answers should reflect your current understanding of a cost control
environment and we believe there is no ‘right’ answer here.

Questions:
Question 1: What business processes do you see constituting a standard cost control system for a large
capital projects environment? A sample of business processes would be Purchase Orders, Variation (Change)
Orders, Invoices etc. Please provide a list of these in logical order of how a project would flow?
Answer 1:

Question 2: Please provide an excel spreadsheet of the columns and formulas of a ‘standard’ cost report for
a large capital project including a calculated Estimate at Completion (EAC).
Answer 2: (Please provide the excel spreadsheet as an attachment)

Question 3: Based on the cost sheet above what, if any, cost controls would you institute on a project (i.e.
Invoices cannot exceed the current value of a Contract)?

Answer 3:

Question 4: Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) are indicators of how
closely accomplished work is on budget and on schedule. Briefly describe the difference between these two
indicators and how they are calculated.

Answer 4:
Question 5: Please give a brief explanation of this projects 3 basic phasing curves (i.e. is the project
currently ahead or behind etc?)

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Answer 5: