Event Budget Management

Obtain an executive dashboard view of money collected versus money spent across events. Planners can monitor ROE - Return on Events - in real time.
Build budgets based on fixed costs, variable costs per attendee or a combination. Cvent's budget tool alleviates the pains of tracking funds, recalculating variable costs and monitoring budget room by automatically accounting for the variety of event data affecting the budget. Regardless of the number of attendees, many planners are given a fixed amount of funding. The budget module eliminates the challenges associated with keeping track of expenses and attendance so planners can maximize allocated dollars and still deliver on meeting expectations.
Track expenses by type (category or sub-category) across events. For example, how much has the organization spent on food and beverage at the past ten events? How much of the beverage cost is dedicated to non-alcoholic selections? These metrics are both customizable and critical, offering ammunition for effective negotiation and insight to reduce overhead.
Customize sub-categories to collect and compare your organization's data on what matters most. Planners can run customized reports and obtain data intelligence like what percentage of the travel budget is used for rental cars and what percentage is used for plane tickets.
Track expenses by vendor (hotel, catering, audio visual provider, décor, etc.). Planne
rs can easily determine how much they spend with specific vendors over a period of time and even as a percentage of category spending. Historical vendor data should be used to secure a better deal every year or across multiple events.
Planners will be able to enter budgeted amounts, negotiated amounts, and actual expenses after an event. Through Cvent's Budget module reporting features, management can track how much money planners have saved through negotiation as well as if planners met their planned budget or beat it.
A wide variety of standard reports and custom reports can be generated from the budget tool.
- Expenses by budget category
- Expenses by budget sub category
- Expenses by Vendor
- Cost per Attendee
- Budgeted, Negotiated and Actual expense variance reports
- Cross event reporting for budgets by date range
- Ad Hoc report for special needs
The budget tool shows planners a single and multi event analysis of budget performance and profitability. Most companies track event budgets in finance systems. However, these systems are rarely sufficient because they are tailored to accounting as opposed to event management. Event planners that are armed with the necessary intelligence will negotiate better with vendors and manage their event spending wisely.
Many finance systems lack the ability to track event costs and gather business intelligence with respect to revenue and expenses. Planners need to see a clear and comprehensive representation to enable effective cost reduction. The key to success is not just tracking expenses, but utilizing powerful reporting capabilities to show how money is being spent and collected in relation to every detail aspect.
Cvent offers a task list in addition to budgeting functionality for workflow management
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This feature is ideal for organizations where teams of people plan multiple events. The task management feature allows for email notifications to contacts that have assigned tasks. Ultimately, Cvent's budget module helps management get a high level view of budget compliance and allows planners to negotiate and manage projects to meet or beat their assigned budget targets. In an industry where what something costs rests largely on negotiation skills, the Cvent budget tool will provide the data and insight needed for successful negotiation, event planning and management. See how Cvent's Budget Module affects every metric of event planning for a new level of event success.
Core Features
- Executive summary view of event costs compared to event revenue
- Track return on events for one event or across multiple events
- Manage event budgets according to fixed budget for an entire event
- Manage budget according to a cost per attendee budget model
- Track expenses with customized budget categories and sub categories. Example: "How much did I spend on non-alcoholic beverages last year?"
- View entire history of payments to vendors across multiple events. Example: "How much did I spend with Hilton Hotels last year?"
- Simple entry of budget costs and vendor information
- Budget reports are integrated with event registration and attendee payments. No need to re-enter and calculate registration information into budget
- Reports with charts and graphs of spending and revenue trends
- Negotiate better deals with vendors and suppliers based on transaction history. Did you spend enough with certain vendors to qualify for volume discounts?
- Track budgeted, negotiated, and actual expenses to show their return on objectives
- Monitor expenses that can add up over time such as taxes and gratuities
- Optimize budgets, return on investment and return on events with ease