Departmental Variance Report
Definition
A monthly report produced by each department comparing actual expenditure and headcount against the departmental financial plan, documenting variances by category and providing a written explanation for any variance exceeding ten percent of the planned figure. The departmental variance report is a required component of Level 2 compliance under the FFI Standard for Growth Stage companies.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is producing the departmental variance report at company level only, without department-level breakdown. Company-level variance reports identify that expenditure is above plan but cannot identify which departments are driving the overrun or why.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 6, Section 6.3: The Departmental Financial Planning Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Departmental Variance Report. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/departmental-variance-report/. 2026.