Budget Reconstruction Workbook

When to use this

• A treasury request publishes a total you cannot trace to line items.
• You want to know which categories drive the request before you question any of them.
• You are comparing two proposals whose budgets are presented in different shapes.

When NOT to use this

• The request is small enough that reconstruction costs more than it reveals.
• No cost assumptions are published at all; ask for them first using the question tracker.
• You are assessing delivery capability rather than cost; use the risk register.

What you'll need

• The full budget breakdown as published
• Stated headcount, rates, durations and unit costs
• The ADA amount requested and any stated ADA price or FX assumption
• The date the proposer priced the budget

Estimated completion time

90 minutes

Working time for one governance action, assuming the inputs listed here are already to hand.

How to interpret the result

• A variance under roughly five percent usually reflects rounding and differing assumptions rather than a defect.
• A variance you can explain is not a problem. A variance nobody can explain is the finding.
• If the reconstruction comes out higher than the request, the proposal may be underfunded, which is its own delivery risk.
• Categories where you had to invent assumptions show where disclosure is thin, regardless of the numbers.

Limitations

• Reconstruction tests internal consistency, not whether the prices are reasonable in the market.
• It depends on the assumptions the proposer published; thin disclosure produces a weak reconstruction.
• ADA price movement between pricing date and enactment can dominate every line-item difference.