This AZ-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe azure management and governance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company wants to track costs by department across multiple Azure subscriptions. They have tagged resources with 'Department' tags. However, some resources are missing tags. They want to see a report of costs grouped by department, including untagged resources. Which Azure tool should they use?
Azure Cost Management + Billing
Cost Management can analyze costs by tags and includes untagged resources in reports.
Azure Policy
Why wrong: Azure Policy enforces compliance but does not generate cost reports.
Azure Resource Graph
Why wrong: Resource Graph queries resources, not historical cost data.
Azure Advisor
Why wrong: Advisor provides recommendations for cost optimization, not cost reporting.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Azure Cost Management + Billing
Azure Cost Management + Billing provides native cost analysis and reporting capabilities that can group costs by custom tags (like 'Department') and includes an 'Untagged' category for resources missing the specified tag. This allows the company to see a complete cost breakdown by department, including untagged resources, across multiple subscriptions in a single view.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Azure Cost Management + Billing
Why this is correct
Cost Management can analyze costs by tags and includes untagged resources in reports.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Azure Policy
Why it's wrong here
Azure Policy enforces compliance but does not generate cost reports.
Azure Resource Graph
Why it's wrong here
Resource Graph queries resources, not historical cost data.
Azure Advisor
Why it's wrong here
Advisor provides recommendations for cost optimization, not cost reporting.
Common exam traps
The trap here is confusing Azure Policy's ability to enforce tagging (which ensures tags exist) with Cost Management's ability to report on existing tags, leading candidates to incorrectly select Azure Policy for cost reporting needs.
Detailed technical explanation
Azure Cost Management uses the Cost Exports API to pull detailed usage and cost data from the Microsoft Cost Management data store, which includes tag information at the resource level. When you apply a cost analysis filter by a tag key, the system automatically aggregates costs for resources with that tag and groups all untagged resources under a separate 'Untagged' bucket, even if the tag is missing entirely. This behavior is consistent across Enterprise Agreement, Microsoft Customer Agreement, and Pay-As-You-Go billing accounts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Describe Azure management and governance — This question tests Describe Azure management and governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Azure Cost Management + Billing — Azure Cost Management + Billing provides native cost analysis and reporting capabilities that can group costs by custom tags (like 'Department') and includes an 'Untagged' category for resources missing the specified tag. This allows the company to see a complete cost breakdown by department, including untagged resources, across multiple subscriptions in a single view.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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