Paul BarnhurstFP&A Expert Empowering Finance Professionals to Excel Everday

New spending demands a clear reason.

28 Aug 2026 · 0 min

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0:24

In this brief advisory segment, the speaker outlines a disciplined approach for finance teams when confronted with requests for spending that fall outside the approved budget. The core question posed is, “What changed?” – probing why a proposal that was previously deemed unnecessary now appears justified. By consistently asking this question, finance professionals act as stewards of capital, ensuring they fulfill their duty to preserve resources while evaluating new expenditures responsibly.

The biggest thing I ask people when they say like, hey, I want to do this, it's not part of the budget, is I say, well, what changed? Why did you believe this was true 3 months ago and now you do not and you believe that something different needs to happen? And I think that it becomes that natural mechanism to have that conversation. And it gives us the ability as the stewards of capital that we are in finance to really ask the questions that need to be asked and feel that we have done our duty to preserve and try to follow that as best as possible.