Your sales head asks why marketing costs were 20% over budget last month. How do you investigate and explain it?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Confirm the numbers and check for accounting timing or misposting
• Break the variance into drivers such as volume, rate and one-offs
• Talk to the budget owner for business context
• Explain in plain words with the impact on full-year forecast
• Suggest an action or forecast update

Model answer

First I check the data is right: was anything posted to the wrong cost centre, or is it a timing issue, such as a campaign invoice booked this month that the budget phased for next month. Then I break the variance into drivers. For marketing that might be more campaigns than planned, a higher cost per lead, or a one-off event. I talk to the marketing owner to understand the business reason, because the ledger only shows what happened, not why. Then I explain it simply: for example, costs were 4 lakh over budget, of which 3 lakh is a festival campaign moved from next month and 1 lakh is a real overspend on digital ads. Finally I say what it means for the full year and whether the forecast should change, so the sales head knows if action is needed.

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