CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
A company uses AWS Organizations. The management account receives the consolidated bill. Which statement about Reserved Instance discount sharing in AWS Organizations is correct?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume RI discounts are account-specific or require manual sharing, but AWS automatically shares them across all accounts in an organization under consolidated billing, which is a core concept tested in the CLF-C02 exam.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
RI discounts are automatically shared across all member accounts in the organization
In AWS Organizations, Reserved Instance (RI) discounts are automatically shared across all accounts in the organization, provided the accounts are under the same consolidated billing family and the RIs are in the same AWS region. This means that if one member account purchases an RI, the hourly cost benefit can apply to qualifying usage from any other account in the organization, reducing the overall bill. The management account receives the consolidated bill and can see the aggregated savings, but no explicit sharing configuration is required.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reserved Instance discounts only apply to the account that purchased the RI
Why it's wrong here
Although the AWS account that purchased a Reserved Instance is given priority for applying the discount to its own matching instance usage, excess RI capacity is not limited to that account. Once the purchasing account's usage is covered, the RI discount is automatically applied to qualifying On-Demand usage from other accounts in the same consolidated billing group. So the statement fails to account for the fact that RI benefits flow beyond the purchasing account, and if the purchaser uses no matching instances, the entire discount can go to other member accounts.
- ✓
RI discounts are automatically shared across all member accounts in the organization
Why this is correct
When consolidated billing is active for an AWS Organizations implementation, RI discounts are shared across every member account automatically, with no per-account or per-RI configuration required. The billing aggregator treats all member account usage as a single pool, applying discounted Reserved Instance hours to whichever account generates matching On-Demand usage, which maximizes overall utilization and lowers the total bill. This is the default behavior for all accounts that are part of the organization, although an administrator can choose to opt specific accounts out if they want to restrict those benefits.
- ✗
RI discounts are only shared if the management account explicitly enables sharing for each RI
Why it's wrong here
This option mistakes the default configuration for an opt-in mechanism. In a consolidated billing organization, RI sharing is automatically enabled organization-wide; you do not need to 'turn on' sharing for each Reserved Instance, and there is no per-RI sharing flag. The management account can change the sharing settings for member accounts, but that is an optional restriction, not a prerequisite for sharing. Sharing is the default state, so saying it only occurs if the management account explicitly enables it reverses the actual condition.
- ✗
RI discounts cannot be shared across accounts even in an Organization
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instance discounts do not remain isolated by account when an organization uses consolidated billing. Under AWS Organizations, the management account's bill aggregates usage from all member accounts, and AWS automatically applies any unused RI capacity from any account to matching On-Demand usage elsewhere in the organization. Therefore, this statement incorrectly claims that RI sharing is impossible even within an organization; sharing is precisely one of the core benefits of consolidated billing.
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