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Project Management vocabulary · Budget & Cost

Burn rate

Meaning in project management, with examples

/ˈbɜːrn ˌreɪt/nounAdvanced term

In project management, burn rate means: The speed at which a project spends its budget, usually measured per month or per week, often used to predict when the money will run out.

In Turkish: harcama hızı, bütçe tüketim hızı

How it is used

Used in budget reviews, consulting and start-ups. A burn rate can be high, low or increasing. Comparing the burn rate with the work completed shows whether spending is in line with progress.

Example sentences

  1. At the current burn rate, the budget will run out two months before the end of the project.

  2. Our burn rate went up when the external consultants joined in March.

Common collocations

  • monthly burn rate
  • current burn rate
  • reduce the burn rate
  • high burn rate
  • budgetThe total amount of money approved for a project, usually broken down into costs such as staff, equipment, suppliers and a reserve for surprises.
  • forecastA prediction of how much a project will cost in the end or when it will finish, based on progress and spending so far.
  • earned valueThe planned budget value of the work actually completed so far. Comparing it with planned value and actual cost shows whether a project is ahead or behind and under or over budget.
  • over budgetCosting more than the amount of money that was planned and approved.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Budget & Cost

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