PK0-005 Project Management Concepts Practice Question
A project manager has been assigned to deliver a new customer portal. The sponsor wants to know who holds ultimate accountability for the project's success and who can approve changes to the approved budget baseline. Which role should the project manager identify?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the PMO's governance support role with the sponsor's accountability for funding and business outcomes.
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
✓
The project sponsor
Accountability for project success and authority over the approved budget baseline belong to the sponsor, who funds the project and champions its business case. The project manager coordinates the work and submits change requests, but approval of baseline funding changes is a sponsor or change control board decision, which is why the sponsor is the role to identify.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The project sponsor
Why this is correct
The sponsor champions the project, secures funding and resources, and is accountable for realizing the business case. In most governance models the sponsor, or a change control board the sponsor chairs, approves changes to the approved budget baseline. Identifying the sponsor therefore answers the question accurately and gives the project manager the correct escalation path for a funding decision.
- ✗
The project team
Why it's wrong here
The project team performs the work and produces deliverables, and members may propose changes through integrated change control. They do not approve changes to the approved budget baseline and hold no accountability for the project's business success. Assigning this authority to the team would bypass governance and remove the sponsor's oversight of funding commitments.
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The functional manager
Why it's wrong here
Functional managers own the resources and technical standards within their departments and often approve time off or resource assignments. They generally do not control project funding or the overall budget baseline, and they are not accountable for the project's business outcome. Directing a baseline budget change to a functional manager would exceed that role's authority and delay the decision.
- ✗
The project management office
Why it's wrong here
The PMO provides standards, governance, templates, and reporting support, and may hold change authority if the organization delegates it. However, ultimate accountability for project success and baseline approval normally rests with the sponsor, not the PMO. Naming the PMO would misstate where decision authority sits and could cause the project manager to route a budget change to a body that only facilitates governance.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This PK0-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PK0-005 exam.