Cost Control
You know where the forecast starts, the three ways you change it and when KOSMA raises it by itself.
Forecast is the amount you expect an account to cost by the end of the production. **Budget** shows the approved plan, and **Expected** and **Paid** show what is booked so far. Only **Forecast** states what you expect the account to cost in the end. **Variance**, Budget minus Forecast, therefore shows early whether an account will go over its budget.
In a new cost control set, the **Forecast** of every account equals its **Budget**. An example: an account has a budget of €40,000, €12,000 is paid and nothing else is booked. **Forecast** shows €40,000, **Variance** 0.00 and **Free** €28,000.
Type a forecast when you know something the bookings do not show yet: a supplier promised to keep a rate, a shooting location became unavailable, or the shoot needs two extra days. Select the account in the cost control grid, open the **Recalculation** tab and type the amount into the total of the account's row. If you type €46,000 for the account above, **Forecast** shows €46,000, **Variance** −€6,000 and **Free** €34,000. If you empty the entry, KOSMA saves 0 as the typed forecast. **Forecast** then shows **Expected** plus **Paid**.
You cannot type a forecast for the collect-in accounts of fringes, supplements, extra costs and taxes. Their **Recalculation** tab is disabled, and their forecast follows the accounts KOSMA calculates them from. In the demo project, the collect-in accounts 4.01, 4.02, 7.01 and 7.02 come with a typed forecast that you cannot remove. Their **Forecast** therefore does not follow these accounts. On a markup row, **Recalculation** shows the base, the percentage and the total instead of a total you type into.
In the same **Recalculation** tab, change the account's quantity, unit, price, factor or subaccounts, for example for two more shooting days at the same daily rate. This changes **Forecast** only. **Budget** keeps showing the figure from the linked budget. The calculation stays visible in the account. See [recalculate an account](/kb/article/recalculate-an-account).
Consolidate an account when you expect no more cost in it. This works only when the account has cost items and its forecast is higher than their sum. Select the account and click  **Consolidate** next to the **Cost Items** and **Recalculation** tabs. When you point at the button, KOSMA shows:
**Message:** Sets the prediction value equal to the sum of expected and paid cost items. The remainder is set to 0. Use this when no more costs are expected in this account.
For the account above with €12,000 paid, **Forecast** then shows €12,000, **Variance** €28,000 and **Free** 0.00. See [consolidate an account](/kb/article/consolidate-an-account).
KOSMA does not save **Consolidate**. When you close the project and open it again, the account is no longer consolidated, and KOSMA calculates **Forecast** as before. The same applies to the import option **Consolidate account predictions**.
Forecast is never lower than Expected plus Paid. When the bookings exceed the forecast, KOSMA raises **Forecast** to their sum. An example: an account has a budget of €40,000, and €43,000 is booked. **Forecast** shows €43,000, **Variance** −€3,000 and **Free** 0.00. A typed forecast below Expected plus Paid has no effect.
**Free** is Forecast minus Paid minus Expected: the part of the forecast not yet booked as cost items. Forecast is never lower than the bookings, so Free is never negative. Read **Forecast** and **Free** together.
| What you see | What it tells you | | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Large Free, early in production | This is normal. Most of the forecast is not booked yet. | | Large Free, late in production | If no more cost is coming, consolidate the account. If less cost is coming than Free shows, type a lower forecast. | | Free at 0.00 | The account is consolidated, or the bookings have reached the forecast. |
A typed forecast changes the set. You cannot type one when you cannot edit the set: on a **Free** licence, which includes a trial that has ended, or when the set is read-only for you. You can still read **Forecast**. As a guest, you can type a forecast only when the set is shared with you for editing and your licence covers Cost Control. See [what your licence includes](/kb/article/what-your-licence-includes).
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