How do we keep costs and liquidity under control at all times?
04Answered by the Cost control process
Costs, contribution margins and cash planning come together every day.
To the cost objectCost control process: how do we keep cost and margin in hand?
Effort arises spread across many projects: hours, incoming invoices, travel expenses, receipts. teamspace checks every receipt before it is paid, brings the cost together on the cost object and makes plan, actual and margin visible to the day, not only at the year-end close.
Who checked this supplier invoice?
04Answered by the Cost control process
Every receipt runs through an approval before it goes for payment. The assigned reviewer approves it or sends it back.
To the incoming checkWhich project is sliding into the red?
04Answered by the Cost control process
Three warning levels flag deviations per project in green, amber and red. You set the thresholds yourself.
To the early warningWhat is a cost control process?
Cost control means seeing your costs while you can still change something.
The cost control process is the loop in which a professional services firm plans, captures and checks its costs and holds them against the plan. That covers hours, incoming invoices, travel expenses and receipts, each booked to the project and the cost centre. At the end you have the contribution margin per project and the question of what to do next.
Many firms see their costs accurately, but late: in accounting's month-end close or at year end, when the projects are long finished. That is fine for the balance sheet. To steer, you need the same numbers current to the day and in the place where they arise. This page shows how to get there without duplicate work for accounting, and how to stop paying invoices nobody ordered.
The difference
Cost seen too late, or steered to the day?
Accounting and spreadsheets
- Cost shows up in the year-end close, months after the work.
- Hours, receipts and travel expenses sit in separate lists.
- The contribution margin per project stays a guess.
- Incoming invoices get posted before anyone has really checked them.
- Deviations come to light once the project is long over.
teamspace cost control
- Every cost lands on the project and the cost centre, to the day.
- Every receipt runs through an approval before it goes for payment.
- Plan and actual sit side by side, with a status light per project.
- Contribution margin and margin per project arise automatically.
The flow
Six steps from effort to margin
The cost control process is the ongoing control loop of planning, capturing, checking, plan/actual, forecast and action. It runs across several modules; what matters is that every cost reaches the project without a detour and runs against the plan.
- 1
Cost plan
Budgets, internal hourly rates and expected external cost are set per project, as the frame for the later plan/actual comparison.
- 2
Capture effort
Hours, incoming invoices, travel expenses and receipts are booked on the project, ideally daily, weekly at the latest.
- 3
Check and approve
Incoming invoices and receipts run through an approval workflow. The assigned reviewer approves, anything unclear goes back. Every approved receipt gets a cost type, cost centre and cost object.
- 4
Plan/actual
Planned against actual cost per project, to the day rather than only at quarter-end.
- 5
Contribution margin and status light
Revenue minus cost gives the contribution margin; warning levels flag deviations early through green, amber and red.
- 6
Forecast and action
The earned value analysis projects the remaining project. The deviation leads to concrete steps, from replanning to a follow-up claim.
The core
Every cost lands on the right project.
This is the core of cost control: hours, incoming invoices, travel expenses and receipts converge on one cost object. There the cost runs against the plan, and the margin falls out.
Four cost sources One cost object
- Time tracking
33 h logged
Project time
- Incoming invoice
248 €
Supplier
- Travel expenses
312 €
approved
- Receipt
captured via OCR
assigned
Cost type · Cost centre · Cost object
Cost object · P-2026-014 up to date
Planned cost 12.400 €
Actual cost 10.870 €
Variance · on plan
− 1.530 € Contribution margin
3.860 €
Four sources, one cost object: every hour and every receipt lands on the project. Only then is the margin right.
Inbound control
Checked before it is paid.
Most unnecessary cost arises not from wrong prices, but from invoices no one has checked. teamspace ties incoming invoices and receipts to an approval workflow: whoever creates a receipt cannot wave it through themselves, but submits it for review.
- No receipt without a check: with the approval workflow active, every incoming invoice is checked and approved before it moves on.
- Hold it against the order: the order exists as its own document, so the reviewer can see whether the invoice belongs to a real order.
- The right reviewer decides: the assigned person is notified, approves, or sends the receipt back with a comment.
- Already an e-invoice in the inbox: since 2025 companies must be able to receive e-invoices. teamspace reads ZUGFeRD and XRechnung and puts them into the same approval workflow.
The handover
The booked hour becomes the contribution margin.
At a service firm, its own time is the largest cost type. teamspace values every booked hour at the internal rate and carries it straight as labour cost, without anyone recalculating.
- Labour cost and contribution margin arise automatically from booked time and internal hourly rates.
- External and material cost from incoming invoices and travel expenses come together on the same project.
- The contribution margin stands per project, aggregated per client too, filterable by area and category.
The reports behind this kind of steering are described on the controlling software page.
Maturity
From gut feel to a margin that is current to the day
Maturity shows not in the scope of the accounting, but in the degree of automation. The decisive jump lies between a manual spreadsheet analysis and a plan/actual that is current to the day.
Level 0: unplanned
No cost planning. Profitability becomes visible once a year at the accountant.
Level 1: manual
Cost plan in a spreadsheet, plan/actual only after the year-end close.
Level 2: structured
Cost types, cost centres and plan/actual are defined. Data from accounting and spreadsheets is merged manually.
Level 3: assisted
Controlling with monthly plan/actual, a first contribution margin calculation per project.
Level 4: largely automated
Plan/actual current to the day, contribution margin automatic per project and client, status light per project.
Level 5: end to end
Forecast through the earned value analysis, early warning through warning levels, receipts go automatically to accounting.
Early warning
The status light warns before the project tips.
A project rarely loses its margin in a day. It slips over weeks, and no one notices, because the figures only arrive at quarter-end. teamspace scores the deviation continuously and flags it across three levels.
- Three warning levels: note, warning and critical warning, in green, amber and red.
- Thresholds per project, as a fixed amount or as a percentage, to suit the size of the undertaking.
- The warning comes early enough to replan hours or raise a follow-up claim.
Forecast
The forecast projects the project end today.
Whoever only learns at the project end whether the calculation held, learns it too late. The earned value analysis brings together planned cost, completion and actual cost so far, and from that projects where the project will land.
- Schedule and cost variance arise from planned cost, earned value and actual cost.
- The remaining project is projected, so the expected total cost is visible today.
- Milestones with an early-warning date show schedule shifts before they hit the cost.
“We mostly work with the budget column.”
Where you stand
What maturity does your cost control have today?
In a short first call we look at your process and show where the margin is leaking most quietly today.
The bridge
Receipts go to accounting without a detour.
Cost control does not replace accounting, it feeds it. Checked receipts, invoices and travel expenses go through the certified interface straight into the DATEV cloud, with cost centres, without anyone sending files back and forth.
- Posting batches per client go as a cloud connection to DATEV Unternehmen online, without CSV.
- Incoming invoices come in by photo, upload or email and are assigned to projects and cost centres.
- The online banking interface checks incoming payments daily, so the state of the open items is right.
Steering
The KPIs that steer cost and margin
Contribution margin
Revenue minus direct cost per project, summed per period. Shows what is left after the direct effort.
Learn moreAverage project contribution margin
Contribution margin divided by the number of projects. Shows the quality of the project portfolio.
Plan/actual variance
Planned against actual cost per project, with a status light and its own threshold per undertaking.
Receipts in approval
Incoming invoices still waiting for a check, with amount and time on hold. Shows where approvals are stuck.
Forecast variance
Projected total cost against the plan, from the earned value analysis per project.
Receivables balance
Open items by due date show how much money is still waiting for payment.
These building blocks carry cost control
Cost control is not a single module, but the interplay of several. Each building block supplies a part of the effort or the analysis.
Project controlling
Plan/actual, contribution margin and warning levels per project and client.
Learn moreDATEV export
Posting batches with cost centres into the DATEV cloud, without CSV.
The target picture
Margin becomes a daily figure, not a yearly question.
A mature cost control makes effort and margin everyday figures. Every hour is valued, every receipt is assigned, plan and actual sit side by side, and the forecast shows where a project will land while it can still be steered.
The way there does not call for a second accounting. It calls for a flow in which effort is captured where it arises, assigned cleanly and set against the plan without delay. So the question of margin is no surprise at the end, but a figure that is right every day.
Frequently asked questions about cost control
We have accounting run the cost. Why do it in the steering system too?
Accounting meets tax obligations, often with weeks of lag. Steering needs the effort on the project and the cost centre, ideally daily. The two complement each other. Through the certified DATEV interface the bridge holds without double work.
How does teamspace stop us paying invoices no one ordered?
Through the approval workflow. With it active, a receipt cannot be posted directly, but is submitted for review. The assigned reviewer is notified and only approves after holding the invoice against the order and the project. Anything unclear goes back instead of being paid.
What is the difference between cost controlling and project controlling?
Project controlling steers the single project: progress, dates, margin. Cost control looks across all projects and cost centres at the company and brings together labour cost, external cost and contribution margins. In teamspace the two share the same data: what arises per project in project controlling, cost control condenses to company level.
Which cost counts as direct project cost?
Direct cost is the cost attributable to a project: booked hours at the internal rate, external services, travel expenses and project-related incoming invoices. They determine the contribution margin. Fixed cost such as rent or administration runs through cost centres. With allocations you spread it across departments and projects by your own rules, and contribution margin II then shows that share too. See cost centre accounting for how it works.
What is the difference between contribution margin and margin?
The contribution margin is absolute, in money: revenue minus direct cost. The margin is relative, in percent: the contribution margin in relation to revenue. The margin shows efficiency, the contribution margin the absolute value. teamspace runs both per project.
Where does the labour cost per project come from?
From the booked project hours and the internal hourly rates. teamspace values every hour continuously and carries it as labour cost, without manual rework. From that the contribution margin per project arises.
How does cost control connect with the [project delivery process](/processes/project-delivery/)?
The effort arises in the project: hours are booked there, incoming invoices and travel expenses are assigned to the project. From the same data the project margin arises in controlling and the cost view at company level.
Does teamspace plan our liquidity over the coming months?
teamspace is not treasury software and does not produce a rolling liquidity forecast. It does keep the liquidity-related figures current: open receivables by due date through dunning, the daily reconciliation of incoming payments and the due incoming invoices. So you see to the day what is coming in and what is going out.
Which KPI should we look at regularly first?
The average project contribution margin and the plan/actual variance. The contribution margin shows whether the business model holds, the variance shows which project is running off the rails right now. Both belong in every leadership meeting.
Other processes
Cost control is one of seven core processes. Here are the other six:
Sales process
How do we consistently win the right work?
Project delivery process
How do we deliver projects reliably and profitably?
Billing process
How do we turn work into revenue quickly and in full?
Customer care process
How do we serve clients fast and by value?
Workforce process
How do we deploy people sensibly and well utilised?
Business steering
How do we run the firm on current data?
Where does your calculation lose the margin today?
In a 15 to 30 minute first call we place your cost control at a maturity level and show the biggest concrete lever, from capturing effort to the forecast.