# Project Finance The Finance page is the full financial view for a project — combining the estimate baseline, live budget performance, and both cost tracks in one place. Access it via **Finance** in the project's left navigation. > [!note] > The Finance page only appears after a budget has been generated. Until then, use the Live Margins sidebar panel for estimate-level financial visibility. Where the Live Margins sidebar shows a single context at a time (estimate or budget), the Finance page shows everything together — the per-track total boxes, live budget performance, and a unified breakdown table. --- ## The Total Boxes Because Finance unifies the estimate baseline and live budget performance, its boxes carry more than Live Margins does in any single context — the Combined and In-House boxes show both the estimate figures (External, Internal, Margin) and the live budget figures (Working Total, Job Expense Variance) side by side. ### Combined Totals The blended picture across both tracks — the true cost and margin of the project, plus live spend. - **External** — total approved revenue - **Internal** — total approved cost across in-house and out-of-pocket - **Margin** — planned profit, in dollars and as a percentage - **Working Total** — live spend so far across both tracks - **Job Expense Variance** — approved Internal minus Working Total ### In-House Totals Internal staff labor only, in dollars and hours. - **External**, **Internal**, **Margin** for in-house lines - **Working Total** — in-house cost booked so far - **Job Expense Variance** — in-house Internal minus Working Total - **Hours Estimated**, **Hours Assigned**, **Hours Remaining** ### OOP Estimate Totals Out-of-pocket only — the revenue and profit on external spend as estimated. - **External** — approved out-of-pocket revenue - **Internal** — approved out-of-pocket cost - **Margin** — out-of-pocket profit, in dollars and as a percentage ### OOP Budget Totals Out-of-pocket expense tracking through the status lifecycle. - **Internal** — approved out-of-pocket baseline from the estimate - **Projected Job Expenses** — expenses in Draft status - **Committed Job Expenses** — expenses in Confirmed, Posted, Requested, or Rejected status - **Incurred Job Expenses** — expenses in Approved, Payment Scheduled, or Paid status - **Working Total** — Projected + Committed + Incurred - **Job Expense Variance** — approved Internal minus Working Total ### Summary A single headline read on how the budget is shaping profit. - **Working Margin** — current projected profit across the whole project: Combined External minus Combined Working Total, in dollars and as a percentage In-house labor is tracked by hours rather than the out-of-pocket expense lifecycle, since internal staff aren't invoiced like vendors — its hours progress reads from the In-House Totals box. --- ## The Breakdown Table Below the panels, switch between **Categories**, **Departments**, and **Items** tabs to see the picture broken down at each level. This table calculates **out-of-pocket only** — the detailed view of external spend by cost type: | Column | What it shows | |---|---| | **External** | Approved out-of-pocket revenue for this group | | **Internal Total** | Approved out-of-pocket cost for this group | | **Margin** | Out-of-pocket profit for this group | | **Working Total** | Current out-of-pocket spend for this group | | **Job Expense Variance** | Difference between Internal Total and Working Total | This is where you see which departments or categories are running close to or over their approved out-of-pocket budgets. In-house labor is summarized in the In-House Totals box rather than itemized here. The **Totals** section at the bottom rolls up all groups and shows the project-wide figures including discount, discounted subtotal, markup fees, and grand total across all columns. --- ## Without View Staff Rates Users without the **View Staff Rates** permission see the full page with every in-house internal dollar figure removed. In the Combined and In-House boxes, the internal cost and everything derived from it — margin, working total, and job expense variance — are hidden, while External and the in-house hours stay visible. Figures that depend on combined internal cost, including the Summary's Working Margin, are hidden as well. The OOP Estimate Totals and OOP Budget Totals boxes and the out-of-pocket breakdown table remain fully visible. They can review the complete external and out-of-pocket financial picture without seeing what internal labor costs. See [Users and Permissions](../01-Organization-Setup/Users-and-Permissions.md#view-staff-rates). --- ## Live Margins vs. Finance Page The **Live Margins sidebar** is designed for quick, contextual monitoring while you're working in the estimate or budget. It shows one context at a time and updates as you make changes. The **Finance page** is for review — the complete picture in one view, with both tracks and all columns visible simultaneously. Use it when you need to understand the full financial state of a project, present numbers to a stakeholder, or diagnose where variance is coming from.