easyMultiple Choice
PK0-005 Control Costs Practice Question
A project manager notices that project costs are consistently exceeding the budget. Which process should the project manager use to address this issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often select Plan Cost Management because they think a better plan is needed, but since the project is already in execution, the appropriate process to address the overruns is Control Costs, which involves monitoring, analyzing variances, and taking corrective actions.
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
✓
Control Costs
The correct process is Control Costs (B) because it is the process of monitoring the status of project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline. When costs consistently exceed the budget, the project manager uses Control Costs to analyze cost variances, forecast future cost overruns, and take corrective actions to bring costs back within the approved budget. This process operates in the Monitoring and Controlling process group and directly addresses ongoing cost issues, unlike Plan Cost Management, which is a planning process that sets the framework before execution begins.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Determine Budget
Why it's wrong here
Determine Budget aggregates activity cost estimates into the authorised cost baseline; it is a planning process performed before execution, so it cannot respond to live overspend. It is tempting because the baseline is the figure being breached, but Control Costs is the process that monitors that baseline and triggers corrective action.
- ✓
Control Costs
Why this is correct
Control Costs monitors project cost performance against the approved budget, identifies variances, and triggers corrective action such as change requests or reforecasting. It is the Monitoring and Controlling process specifically designed to address costs consistently exceeding the budget.
- ✗
Plan Cost Management
Why it's wrong here
Plan Cost Management produces the cost management plan, defining estimating, budgeting and control approaches; it is performed once during planning and generates no ongoing expenditure data. It is tempting because it governs cost control, but the overspend requires Control Costs, which compares actuals to the baseline and applies corrective action.
- ✗
Estimate Costs
Why it's wrong here
Estimate Costs produces the cost baseline inputs and activity cost estimates; it does not compare actual spend against the approved budget, so it cannot detect or correct the overspend. It is tempting because revised estimates do feed forecasting, but that belongs to Control Costs, which is where variance analysis and corrective action occur.
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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.