Shared Budget Audit
Maps every shared budget to its member campaigns and shows how the money actually splits — catching pools where a worse-converting campaign eats the budget of a better one, and pointless single-member shared budgets.
by Dmytro Tonkikh·chiliad.io
Overview
Inside a shared budget, the highest-bidding campaign eats first — nothing guarantees the split matches performance. Shared Budget Audit lists every shared budget with its member campaigns, their spend shares, conversions and CPA, and raises two flags: IMBALANCE, where one member dominates the pool while converting worse than a sibling, and SOLO, where a shared budget has only one member and is pure indirection.
Setup
- 1Open your Google Ads account and go to Tools → Bulk Actions → Scripts.
- 2Click the + button to create a new script and paste the code below.
- 3Adjust DOMINANT_SHARE_PCT if 70% doesn't match your definition of dominance.
- 4Set EMAIL_ADDRESS to receive the report when flags exist; leave blank for logs only.
- 5Preview once to verify, then schedule monthly.
Configuration Variables
| Variable | Default |
|---|---|
DATE_RANGE | LAST_30_DAYS |
DOMINANT_SHARE_PCT | 70 |
EMAIL_ADDRESS | (empty) |
Expected Output
=== Shared Budget Audit (LAST_30_DAYS) === Shared budgets in use by enabled campaigns: 2 "Generic pool" daily: 150.00 members: 2 window spend: 4102.44 Generic — Broad spend: 3455.20 (84%) conversions: 41.0 CPA: 84.27 Generic — Phrase spend: 647.24 (16%) conversions: 18.0 CPA: 35.96 -> IMBALANCE: "Generic — Broad" takes 84% of the pool with a worse CPA than "Generic — Phrase". Consider splitting the budget or capping the dominant campaign. "Brand pool" daily: 80.00 members: 1 window spend: 2210.80 Brand — Exact spend: 2210.80 (100%) conversions: 74.0 CPA: 29.88 -> SOLO: only one member. Convert to an individual budget. Email sent to you@example.com
Notes
Only shared budgets used by at least one enabled campaign appear. The IMBALANCE flag is a prompt to look, not proof of waste — a dominant campaign can be strategically correct (e.g. prospecting vs a small remarketing sibling). Combine with a budget headroom analysis before moving money.