Cost Aspects of Project Management

Controlling Costs The question does offer some good ideas and thoughts to keep in mind when it comes to controlling costs. Indeed, having internal employees as opposed to external employees like contractors and the like that cannot be directly controlled in all aspects by the project management team is usually advantageous.

However, these exterior employees and their associated costs can be controlled via an agreed price in advance that will not vary based on the acumen (or lack thereof) of the people working on the project unless something unforeseeable changes or is revealed. In that case, the costs are going to go up regardless of whether the costs are internal or external.

As it relates to electricity being a "hidden cost," it has to be expected that a construction project that uses any electricity from the site/client itself is going to cost money. As such, there should be an expected blip when it comes to the amount of electricity used. Further, it should also be understood that the scheduling of tasks is going to influence cost and the length or duration of the project in question.

Whether tasks are happening concurrently, are reliant on each other or are sequential matters a great deal. The overall critical path of the project should be ascertained and then the rest of the tasks can be arranged from there. If there is more than one task going on at once, that needs to be accounted for and the proper resources given. This logic even holds true if only one task is going on at once.

The people, materials, electricity and so forth must all be in line and in place when that part of the project is ready to roll, preferably before. There is such a thing as being efficient and having a "just in time" attitude. However, cutting things too close is less than wise and any necessary resource being late can cause a project to fall behind when that is really not necessary or beneficial. Project managers need to be able to strike a balance (PMI, 2013).

EVM & GAAP The author of this response does generally agree that the general principles of EVM do agree with GAAP. As explained within the file that is under review, there are four things that must be met when it comes to GAAP and revenue realization. Those things are that persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred or services have been rendered, the seller's price to the buyer is fixed or determinable and that collectability is reasonably assured.

The article delves even further and explains the recognition process after it explains what the GAAP rules are for the same. As per the PMBOK, EVM is a "common used method of performance measurement." It includes the scope, cost and schedule of the project and its receivables. When a project or contract is in place and it involves revenue, then this would be clear evidence that an arrangement exists.

There are also surely services or goods that are being delivered as an in-kind exchange for the revenue that has been received or will be received. It would also be presumed the goods or services in question have a price point assigned to them. Finally, there is a reasonable expectation that the full exchange of goods, services and money will go off without a hitch.

In the paradigm of a project, this could refer to things like a contractor coming in to do part of a job, an engineer coming in to approve plans or to make sure something is built.