A project is trending to exceed its cost baseline. What should the project manager do first to manage the budget?

When a project is trending over budget, the project manager's first step is to understand why. Meeting with the project team to analyze actual costs against the baseline helps identify the root causes of deviations. This analysis provides the necessary data to make informed decisions about corrective actions. Without this understanding, any subsequent actions, such as asking for more money or notifying stakeholders, would be premature and based on incomplete information. Asking the sponsor for help or notifying stakeholders without understanding the problem doesn't address the core issue. Submitting a change request to increase the budget might be a later step, but only after a thorough analysis confirms it's necessary and justified.