Checking estimates: goals and objectives

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

The implementation of any project requires some costs, no matter what nature - whether it be material, financial or labor resources. The summary plan of financial costs is called the cost estimate. The most widely known are construction estimates and budget estimates (estimates for the maintenance of budgetary institutions). Analyzing the construction estimate, you can understand the cost of certain types of work in detail, the budget - the total cost, for example, the maintenance of children in kindergarten. The guarantee of the correctness of the data is the verification of the reliability of estimates, carried out by specialized organizations or authorized bodies.

Checking construction estimates

Checking construction estimates, or, as it is also called, examination of estimates, is mandatory. Only specialized organizations that have the appropriate license are authorized to carry it out. Checking estimates is designed to identify possible facts of fraud committed by the design organization at the design stage. This is one of the most significant moments in the relationship between the contractor and the customer. Any investor is interested in that the work is done and the material costs are carried out in accordance withactual market prices.

Checking estimates in construction is carried out on:

1. Possible overpricing of building materials.
2. The presence of errors in the calculation of the scope of work.
3. Correctness and validity of the application of various adjustment factors.

Main violations detected when checking construction estimates

The general practice of verifying estimates in the construction industry shows that most of the violations committed are of the following nature:

• incorrect estimate of the estimated scope of work in comparison with the provided construction drawings of the project;
• permissible computational errors in mathematical calculations;
• incorrect application of prices and correction factors and appreciation indices due to the ignorance of the estimator of the very technology of the construction process.

Timely review of estimates allows these violations to be identified and corrected before the start of the production cycle.

Procedure for checking estimates

The process of checking estimates in construction usually looks like this: a customer, interested in the rational and efficient use of financial resources at his disposal, looks for an independent (this is a very important factor!) Organization that has the appropriate license. Concludes a contract with her for carrying out work on the examination and hands over the packagedocuments received from the designers in full with the obligatory attachment of all available drawings and technical drawings.

Expert organization with the help of special software divides draft estimates into the cost of materials, machine operation, labor, estimated profit and overhead. Then the cost estimate engineer analyzes the local construction estimates available to him and evaluates the possibility of possible savings.

In the process of examination, not only redundant work can be identified, but also moments of lack of necessary work can be established or proposals can be made to replace one type of work with another, more efficient one. So the examination of the reliability of estimates does not always give a tangible reduction in estimated costs, but always leads to the possibility of the most rational use of funds.

Sample estimates for construction can be found on various specialized sites.

Checking budget estimates

Checking the estimates of budgetary institutions, as a rule, is carried out by various bodies exercising either departmental or financial control. Budget estimates are made in the conditions of the current legislation exclusively by state-owned institutions. Budgetary and autonomous institutions that are not recipients of budgetary funds (all financial flows come from the founder as a so-called fee (subsidy) for the state or municipal task being performed) do not draw up budget estimates. Their main financial document is a financial and economic planactivities.

).

Main lines of verification

Checking budget estimates is carried out on:

• reliability of the calculation of wage fund indicators;
• reliability of the calculation and application of the current prices for services related to the maintenance of property under the operational management of the audited institution;
• reliability and validity of state (municipal) procurement planning;
• Compliance of spending planning with the goals and conditions of their provision.

A sample estimate for government institutions can be viewed on the official website of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

Conclusion

As can be seen from the above, checking estimates (the so-called preliminary control) is a very important aspect in the implementation of various investment projects, as well as in the daily activities of institutions. It allows you to identify internal reserves, eliminate the possibility of violations and avoid additional costs in the form of pen alties from various kinds of control and supervisory authorities.