Most engineers working on ServiceNow SPM can tell you what "Actual Cost" means. Far fewer can tell you where it comes from, why it can be zero with approved timesheets, or why demand actuals have no cost plan traceability while project actuals do.

This article covers the five financial data flows (planned cost, planned benefit, actual cost, budget, actual benefit), the exact tables and business rules behind each, breakdown types, budget v1 vs v2, baselines, and formulas for NPV, IRR, EAC, and ETC — all verified against platform source code.