Buelow, LLP, is a consulting firm that helps organizations become more efficient. A supervisor on two consulting jobs discusses an issue that arose recently. One of the consulting jobs is for a large technology firm, and the other is for a major automobile company. When the monthly cost reports about the two projects were received three weeks after month-end, the automobile company job report contained bad news. The supervisor explained: 

The automobile job is only half done, but we have already spent all of the $400,000 that we expected to spend on that job. However, we have spent only $200,000 of the $420,000 that we expected to spend on the technology firm job, even though we are 80 percent done with the work. It’s too bad because we are reimbursed for costs on the technology job, but the automobile company job is for a fixed price. 

Required

a. What should the supervisor do?

b. Does it matter that Buelow is reimbursed for costs on the technology job? Explain.