Financial management is applied to many areas of the organization to ensure that appropriate value expectations are established and that expected value is actually realized in these areas. Consideration is given to costs and benefits, using risks and returns as a way to describe value. Each area requires its own perspective about financial data.

Successful financial management will help an organization:

• Fully account for the cost of IT services while defining the expected contribution to the business.

• Attribute costs of services delivered to customers so that the costs can be recovered.

• Aid decision making by clarifying the costs, benefits, and risks of IT services.

• Contribute to business cases for changes to IT services based on a sound understanding of the cost-benefit trade-offs involved.