NirmaanOne Help
How-toReviewed 2026-09-29

Set a project's cost budget

Give the project a cost centre in the promoter's books, then enter its estimated construction and land cost on the Budget cost card on the Settings tab, from a date, so cost of sales and cost-based progress have a budget to work from; revise it with a new dated row.

Set a project's cost budget

The cost budget is the project's estimated total cost: construction and development on one side, land, development rights and rehab on the other. Revenue runs use it to share cost of sales across the saleable units, and under the cost method of over-time recognition construction cost incurred is measured against it. Enter it once the CA has an estimate, and add a new dated row whenever the cost to complete changes.

Before you start

  • The project's promoter company has books (see Set up books).
  • For a budget per tower, the project's towers exist on Structure.
  • The Revenue policy of the books decides how the budget is used: Progress measured per (a tower budget is used only when progress is per tower), Cost of sales shared by, and Count land and development rights in the cost measure.
  • Permissions, in the role editor's words:
    • the View permission on Books, and the Edit permission on Books to mirror the projects as cost centres (the default Administrator and Finance Lead); the View permission on Projects to see the project checklist in that dialog;
    • the View permission on Projects and on Revenue Recognition to open the Budget cost card on the Settings tab;
    • the Edit permission on Revenue Recognition to add, change or delete budget rows (the Administrator and Finance Lead).

Steps

  1. In the sidebar open Accounting > Books, open the books of the project's promoter company and choose the Cost centres tab. If the project already has a cost centre (a row such as "P001" with the project's name and a project badge), go to step 4. See Cost centres.
  2. Click Mirror projects. The dialog "Mirror projects as cost centres" opens: "Each project becomes a cost centre (P001, P002 …); with towers on, each tower becomes a child (P001-T1). Existing ones are left alone." The company's projects are ticked and Include towers is on.
  3. Leave the project ticked (untick others you don't want now) and click Create cost centres. You see "<n> project and <n> tower cost centre(s) created."
  4. In the sidebar open Projects > Projects, open the project and choose the Settings tab; the Budget cost card sits below the settings. The Budget cost card reads "No budget yet: cost of sales uses the cost inventoried to date." until a row exists. See Budget Cost.
  5. Click Add budget. The New cost budget dialog opens.
  6. Leave Scope on Whole project, or pick a tower ("Tower <name>") to give that tower its own budget ("A tower budget applies to that tower's units when progress is measured per tower.").
  7. Set Effective from (today by default), type the Construction & development cost ("Excluding land: what progress is measured against."), for example ₹85,00,00,000, and the Land, development rights & rehab cost, for example ₹30,00,00,000. Add Notes, such as "Budget approved by the board". Save stays greyed out while Effective from or the construction cost is blank.
  8. Click Save. You see "Budget of ₹<total> from <date> saved." The row shows Construction, Land & rights and Total (₹1,15,00,00,000 in the example), marked In force when its date is today or earlier, or Upcoming when it is later.
  9. When the estimate changes, don't overwrite the old row: click Add budget again, keep the same Scope, set the date the revision applies from in Effective from, type the revised amounts with a note such as "cost-to-complete revision, Q2", and click Save. From its date the new row is In force; the earlier row stays for the runs that closed before it.

What happens next

  • Nothing is posted. The next revenue run reads, for each scope, the newest row dated on or before its period end; a Draft run already prepared picks the change up when it is recomputed. See Post a revenue run.
  • Cost of sales for each booked saleable unit becomes its share of the budget times the progress. Without a budget the cost inventoried to date stands in, trued up each run; under Over time (cost incurred) there is no fallback, and the project's bookings are left out of the run.
  • Cost incurred still comes from the ledgers: expense ledgers with an Inventory role (see Ledgers), posted with the project's cost centre or with the project on the voucher. That is why the project needs its cost centre.
  • The Project performance report shows the whole-project budget, the cost incurred and the cost to complete. It and the Guidance Note cost threshold read the whole-project row only, never tower rows.
  • To correct a typing mistake, use the pencil ("Edit budget") on the row. The bin ("Delete budget") asks "Delete budget?" ("Runs already posted keep their figures; the next run uses the budget in force, or the cost to date when none is left.") and shows "Budget deleted." after Delete.
  • Budget changes appear in the project's history (the History button in the project header) and in the Audit log.

If something goes wrong

  • "A budget for the same scope already starts on that date; edit it instead": open that row with the pencil, or pick another Effective from. See Already exists (trouble.admin.already-exists).
  • "That tower does not belong to this project.": pick a tower from this project's list. See Record not found (trouble.admin.record-not-found).
  • A revenue run leaves the project out with "<project>: the cost method needs a cost budget (Project > Cost Budget)", or Project performance shows No budget cost: add a whole-project row dated on or before the run's period end. See The cost method needs a cost budget (trouble.accounting.cost-budget-missing).
  • "A cost centre with this code already exists in these books." when adding a cost centre by hand: choose another code, or use Mirror projects, which skips codes already taken. See Already exists (trouble.admin.already-exists).
  • The tab reads "You do not have permission to view budget costs. Ask your administrator.", or there is no Add budget or Mirror projects button: your role lacks the permission listed above. See No access (trouble.admin.no-access).

Related

  • Budget CostScreen

    The project's (or a tower's) estimated total cost, effective-dated, that cost of sales shares across the saleable units and the cost method of over-time revenue recognition measures progress against.

  • Cost centresScreen

    The cost-centre tree of a set of books, usually one per project with a child per tower, so the ledger and the reports can be cut by project; mirror the projects in one click or add cost centres by hand.

  • Books overviewScreen

    The home page of one set of books: its company and settings, counts, fiscal years, and shortcuts to the chart of accounts, vouchers, reports and opening balances, with the actions to rename, deactivate or delete the books.

  • Revenue policyScreen

    The CA's effective-dated choices on how the books recognise sale revenue and the costs that go with it: framework, method, possession trigger, OC rule, cost treatments and judgement areas.

  • Revenue runScreen

    One period close: what each booking and member offer recognises, the journals and cost moves it posts, the subjects it left out, and the actions to recompute, post, reverse or delete it.

  • Project performanceScreen

    Revenue, cost of sales and margin per project for a period and to date, the booked price and how much of it is recognised, the cost budget against cost incurred and cost to complete, progress by stages and by cost, revenue by month, and the flags the CA needs to act on.

  • LedgersScreen

    Every ledger of the chosen set of books, as a grouped tree or a flat list, with the actions to add ledgers and party ledgers, edit or retire them, and open a ledger's report.

  • Project overviewScreen

    A project's home page: its details, site, land, RERA registration, inventory summary, whether it is ready to sell and collect, where its money stands across its RERA accounts, and the setup checklist.

  • StructureScreen

    Build and maintain a project's towers (wings), floors and units, generate them in bulk, and see every unit's status and designation at a glance.

  • Prepare, review and post a revenue runHow-to

    The monthly revenue close: prepare a draft revenue run for a period end, read what each booking and member offer would recognise, fix what holds lines back, post the run's journals, and check the contract balances and the balance sheet.

  • Set up the books for a promoter companyHow-to

    Create the set of books a promoter company keeps, mirror its projects as cost centres, check the voucher numbering series and the component mappings, and connect the project's bank accounts to their ledgers so demands, receipts and payouts can be posted.

  • Record a manual voucherHow-to

    Enter a voucher by hand (a vendor bill, a bank charge, a TDS challan, a transfer between banks, a journal adjustment): choose its type, fill the header and the debit and credit lines, allocate bill-wise lines, and save it as a draft or post it.

  • Revenue recognition: policy, point in time vs over time, and revenue runsConcept

    Each set of books carries an effective-dated revenue policy (framework, method, possession trigger, cost and brokerage treatments, judgement areas) chosen by the CA; a revenue run is the period close that computes every booking's and member offer's progress under it, recognises the catch-up revenue, cost of sales and brokerage, and posts the journals.

  • Cost of sales, cost budgets and inventory transferConcept

    Each revenue run moves the period's construction, rehab and borrowing cost from the expense ledgers into work-in-progress and land inventory, then charges every booking a share of the project's cost (its budget, else the cost inventoried so far) in step with its revenue progress, so revenue and its cost land in the same period.

  • Effective-dated rulesConcept

    Rules that change over time (the RERA escrow share, TDS on sales, booking cancellation forfeiture, the revenue policy and cost budgets) are kept as dated rows; the row in force on a date is the latest one starting on or before it, so old documents keep the figures they were made with.

  • Revenue run leaves a project out: "the cost method needs a cost budget"Troubleshooting

    Under the cost-incurred method, and for the Guidance Note cost threshold, a project needs a cost budget in force on the period end; without one the run leaves its bookings out and the reports flag the project.

  • "Already exists" or "listed twice": the name, code, number or line must be uniqueTroubleshooting

    Names, codes and numbers are unique within their scope (the organization, a project, a tower, a set of books) so that records can be told apart, and a line can appear once on a plan, offer or account; rename, reuse the existing record, or remove the duplicate line.

  • "That item could not be found" or "does not belong to this project": the record is gone, elsewhere or staleTroubleshooting

    A record that was deleted, belongs to another organization, or is linked from a stale page answers "not found"; a tower, stage, parking slot, estimate, tenant, ledger or bill picked from the wrong project, opportunity or set of books is refused as not belonging there.

  • "No access" or "You do not have permission": your role lacks a permissionTroubleshooting

    Every screen, button and picker is gated by a permission on a module; your role decides which you hold, so a missing one shows as a No access card, a refused action, a greyed-out button with a hover reason, or a picker that explains which permission it needs.