When managing a project, the first few questions before beginning a project are ultimately what the subject of the project is and what can be allocated to certain resources. In my experience, the project needed to be approved based on the project cost and the amount of convincing that needed to be done to justify the cost of the project. I have encountered many times during the project that the project usually needs more budget than what was originally planned due to unforseen circumstances. One way to avoid this exceeding the budget would be to initially leave some breathing room for the budget so that if something occurs during the project, the cost is still within the bounds of the project. Whenever I planned a project, I would leave myself some room in terms of budget and time just in case something happened that I didn't expect, because planning everything to the very last decimal point becomes problematic and doesn't happen very often. Another way to resolve this budget issue would be to "borrow" from another project, where if something is going well in another project and the budget is over the amount needed, it can be allocated to another. This would sometimes happen because the resources are allocated to the project, but if the resources aren't needed, it would save the project some monetary value. The last and final way I have found that works to resolve this issue would be to write a letter to adjust the budget to whoever approved the budget in the first place. This last step sometimes becomes necessary in order to complete the project and just shows that this project may become problematic somewhere down the line.

I think when you exceed the budget, you need to get creative. You need to find ways to reduce costs an do a cost of goods reduction exercise. I would advise going to your costing department to see where all the expenses are going. Then, you can try to find areas to reduce costs. For example, you might try to source a cheaper component in your product in an effort to reduce costs. 

It is important for project managers to be flexible in order to be able to successfully manage projects. Flexibility allows for project managers to be able to make tough decisions, particularly in regards to budget. Since medical devices are so complex, many changes occur and different risks may arise that were not originally planned for. A project manager can resolve this predicament by understanding the whole scope of the project and seeing how to rearrange the budget of the project. If there is another component of the project that has a surplus of money, that money can be used to address the risk that arose. It is also important that the project manager does not cut any corners in the project, specifically in a medical device project, in order to ensure that the patient is not at risk when using the device. In cases where the spending exceeds the budget, the project manager may have to request an increase in the budget if there is the proper business justification.