Why monitor a grant every month?
A grant is a plan with an end date. Spending that drifts from the plan is easy to fix in month three and very hard to fix in month eleven. A monthly routine catches problems while there is still time to act.
It also builds a habit. Program managers learn to expect questions about their numbers, and finance staff learn what lies behind the figures.
What do you need before the meeting?
Prepare these items first:
- A closed month. Do not review figures that may still change. Finish your month-end checks first.
- The approved budget. Use the version the donor approved, with any approved changes.
- Actual spending to date, by budget line.
- Commitments. Orders and contracts approved but not yet paid.
- The grant timeline, including start date, end date and reporting dates.
How do you calculate burn rate?
Burn rate compares how fast you spend with how much time has passed.
- Share of budget used = (spent + committed) divided by total budget.
- Share of time passed = months elapsed divided by total months.
If a 12-month grant has used 25 percent of its budget after 6 months, you are spending slowly. If it has used 70 percent after 6 months, you are spending fast. Neither is automatically wrong. A purchase of equipment in month two can explain a high rate. The point is to know why.
Check each budget line too. A grant may look healthy overall while one line is spent and another is untouched.
What should the monthly review cover?
Go through this list in order:
| Check | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Overall burn | Are we on track for the time that has passed? |
| Lines over plan | Which lines are above budget, and why? |
| Lines under plan | Which lines are far behind, and is activity delayed? |
| Commitments | Do open orders fit the remaining budget? |
| Forecast | What will we spend by the end date? |
| Donor limits | Are we near any cap on a line or a cost type? |
Write the forecast as a number for each line. A forecast that says “on track” is not a number.
How do you turn findings into action?
A review without actions is a report. For each line that is far off plan, agree:
- the cause in one sentence,
- one action, such as a budget move request, a faster purchase or a plan change,
- an owner, and
- a date.
Keep these notes with the grant file. At the next meeting, start by checking last month’s actions. For a deeper method on variance analysis, see our guide to the budget vs actual review.
What are common mistakes?
- Looking at spending only, and ignoring commitments.
- Waiting for the donor report date to look at the numbers.
- Reviewing the total and missing a single line that is out of control.
- Holding the meeting without the program manager.
A worked example
Take a 12-month grant with a budget of 240,000. After month six, finance reports 110,000 spent and 30,000 committed. That makes 140,000 used, or about 58 percent of the budget. Half of the time has passed, so the grant is spending a little faster than time.
Now look at the lines. Staff costs are at 55 percent, which is normal. Training is at 20 percent, which is slow, and the program manager explains that two workshops were delayed by a road closure. Equipment is at 105 percent, because a vehicle was bought in month two at a higher price than planned.
The meeting ends with three actions. The program manager moves the workshops to months seven and eight. Finance prepares a request to move money from an under-used line to cover the equipment overrun, and sends it to the donor if the agreement needs approval. The procurement lead checks if other planned purchases face the same price rise. Each action has an owner and a date.
How to keep the habit going
- Hold the meeting on the same working day each month.
- Send the table to the program manager two days before.
- Keep the notes short: cause, action, owner, date.
- Open each meeting with last month’s actions.
- When a line is far off plan for two months in a row, raise it to the head of finance or the country director.
A monthly review also gives you a forecast to the donor without panic. When the donor asks for an update, you already hold figures that you checked the month before.
Where EMPOBase fits
In EMPOBase, Budget vs Actual is updated as procurements land and journals post. It uses line-item budgets for each project and grant, and Restricted Funds shows what is spent, committed and still available per award. Budget Health and the Reporting Calendar help you keep to your own review rhythm. These tools support your reporting work, but they do not prove donor compliance, so check each agreement yourself. See how EMPOBase works for the Finance module.