Project Cost Management – Global Issues and Challenges

Abstract

This paper examines the global issues and challenges facing the project cost management profession. This relates to professionals in the fields of quantity surveying, cost engineering, project controls and project managers providing cost management services. As a profession that is not widely recognized in society compared to professional disciplines such as engineers and architects, the project cost management profession faces many challenges in creating greater awareness of the value that they provide for projects. The global construction industry is littered with many examples of high profile projects that have experienced significant time and cost overruns and this is merely a reflection of similar problems at all project levels. However, these high profile projects attract considerable attention in the wider community and highlight the need for more effective cost management and project controls. The paper is based on a literature review of global project cost management issues and research undertaken through professional cost management associations that include the International Cost Engineering Council, the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors, the African Association of Quantity Surveyors, the International Project Management Association, the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering, the China Engineering Cost Association and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The research identifies the need for global recognition of the profession and the development of global professional standards and certification programs. The paper culminates with a series of recommendations and strategies for the profession that includes formal recognition through global organisations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the International Management Fund, the development of ISO cost management standards, formal recognition under the global Central Product Classification (CPC) scheme, development of a project cost management certification program for the European region and raising of global professional standards particularly in developing countries and countries where the profession is not traditionally recognised.