Tool 03

Matter Budget Tracker

Compare budget with actual spend by phase and see where a matter is heading.

Example matter: the five starting phases (Pleadings to Trial, $210,000 total budget) are example figures for a commercial contract case. Replace them with your own. All numbers are your inputs, calculated in your browser. Not financial or legal advice.

Phase budget table
Phase	Budget ($)	Rate ($/h)	Hours	% complete	Actual	Variance	Projected	Remove
Totals
Total budget

Variance = budget minus actual; negative means over budget. Projected = actual divided by percent complete (never below actual); with 0% complete it is the larger of actual and budget.

Budget vs actual

Dark bars show each phase budget, the next bars show spend so far, and dashed bars show the projected total. Example figures shown until you edit them.

Thin-line isometric drawing of five navy and red bar pairs comparing budget and actual spend, a red cell under the pair that runs over budget, an arrow to the projected total, coins and a calculator

Dark blue: budget. Light blue: actual. Red: actual over budget. Dashed outline: projected total. Scroll sideways on small screens.