Which of the following is the other category of monetary benefits auditors may list?

• A. Operational downtime reduction
• B. Strategic alignment
• C. Questionable Cost
• D. Public relations gains

Answer: (C)

Monetary benefits auditors list are usually shown in two forms: cost savings and cost avoidance. Cost savings are dollars you actually save now by reducing current expenses. Cost avoidance is the dollars you won’t have to spend in the future because you take a action today that prevents those costs. This pairing lets decision makers see both immediate financial relief and future cost reductions from a change. In the given options, the item that clearly represents a direct, quantifiable monetary outcome is a reduction in downtime costs. The other items tend to be qualitative or non-monetary. If a curriculum uses a term like “Questionable Cost” as the other category, that reflects a framework-specific label for costs that need further validation; the conventional opposite of cost savings is cost avoidance, which is the standard way to complete the pair.