A savings programme is announced without a tracking baseline
The target is public, but finance and the line cannot agree how delivery will be measured.
Savings only count when they reach the P&L.
We help CFOs and operating leaders turn cost targets into owned initiatives and traceable financial realisation.
When needed
Reported savings fail to appear in the accounts
Programme reporting counts actions or run-rate estimates while the cost base stays unchanged.
A budget round stalls on contested benchmarks
Functions challenge the definitions before they will accept a target.
A divestment or volume decline leaves stranded cost
Allocated cost has moved, but the underlying commitments and activities remain.
Our approach
Four steps take the work from framing the question to executing the agreed changes, with service-specific activities and a decision gate at the end of each step. We agree the scope, evidence requirements and owners for each phase before work starts.
Duration: 1–2 weeks
Step 1: Frame
Agree the savings ambition, scope, data access, finance owners and governance. Define how the cost baseline and benefits will be measured.
Gate 1
Sponsor and finance approve the scope, measurement rules and baseline reconciliation plan.
Duration: 8–12 weeks
Step 2: Diagnose
Reconcile spend, headcount and activity data to statutory accounts through the management-account bridge. Test cost levers, remove double counting and build an owned opportunity portfolio.
Gate 2
Finance accepts the reconciled baseline; the partner distinguishes verified evidence from assumptions in the opportunity portfolio.
Duration: 4–6 weeks
Step 3: Validate
Validate initiative business cases, implementation costs, dependencies and timing with finance and line owners; confirm the delivery plan before committing.
Gate 3
Finance and benefit owners approve the business cases, targets and initiative launch conditions.
Duration: 6–18 months
Step 4: Execute
Implement the approved initiative portfolio and track identified, verified, approved, implemented and realised savings against the locked baseline.
Gate 4
Initiative owners approve implementation; finance validates recurring P&L benefits at each monthly close.
Deliverables
Step 1: Frame
Savings mandate and baseline protocol
Agreed cost scope, savings ambition, benefit owners and measurement rules. Define treatment of volume, inflation, one-off costs and double counting, with the reconciliation plan approved by finance.
Step 2: Diagnose
Locked cost baseline and opportunity portfolio
Spend and headcount reconciled to the accounts, with addressable, committed and stranded cost separated. Size recurring savings by lever, record evidence and assign an owner to each opportunity.
Step 3: Validate
Approved initiative business cases
Validated initiatives with recurring savings, implementation costs, payback, dependencies and delivery dates. Finance and line owners approve the value, funding and conditions for launch.
Step 4: Execute
Savings S-curves and financial value tracker
Track identified, verified, approved, implemented and realised savings on a consistent basis. Bridge programme delivery to recurring P&L impact and cash, with monthly finance validation and one-off costs shown separately.
Each phase leaves a working asset with an owner, source references and an update process. Economic estimates distinguish potential value from approved commitments and realised results.
Illustrative example
Savings maturity S-curves
Track annualised savings through five evidence gates: identified, verified, approved, implemented and realised, against the programme target.
Sample data, not a client deliverable. The format is tailored to the engagement.
View full-size example ↗
Team & Duration
You get direct access to partner judgement, a team working inside your business and a shared focus on economic impact. We work through the difficult questions with you and stay close as decisions become action.
A senior team, working with you
- Partner judgement at the problem-solving table
- 1 accountable partner. Works directly on your hardest questions: shaping hypotheses, examining the evidence and developing recommendations with your team. Regular joint working sessions and partner-led decision gates bring senior judgement into the work throughout the engagement.
- Day-to-day momentum, inside your business
- 1 Engagement manager. Works side by side with your people, including from your offices. Connects the analysis to operational reality, resolves blockers and turns decisions into owned actions.
- Analytical depth focused on value
- 2–3 consultants. Combine rigorous analysis with our proprietary AI harness to test opportunities, quantify the economics and build practical working assets with your team. You gain a stronger fact base and tools your people can keep using.
- Expertise that makes recommendations practical
- 1 expert. Brings relevant industry or service experience to test assumptions, challenge feasibility and identify the constraints that matter before you commit resources.
Duration & Fees
- A clear path from question to impact
- Duration of each step: Frame: 1–2 weeks. Diagnose: 8–12 weeks. Validate: 4–6 weeks. Execute: 6–18 months. We agree the scope, owners and decision gates before work starts.
- Continuity from insight to execution
- The partner and engagement manager are planned to stay from Frame through Execute, carrying the context and accountability into implementation. Any change to the core team is discussed and agreed with you.
- Fee certainty upfront. Alignment on results.
- Steps 1–3 (Frame, Diagnose and Validate) are fixed-fee, with scope and deliverables agreed for each step. Execute can include performance-based fees linked to agreed outcomes, baselines and measurement rules.
- You control the next commitment
- At each decision gate, choose to proceed, adjust the scope or take the working assets forward with your own team. Each further commitment follows an explicit decision, with ownership and handover built into the work.
Cases
Selected anonymised engagements. Many span several services; each case shows the relevant areas of work alongside its outcome.
Construction & Real Estate · Cost Out
Speed sourcing
European construction group
~EUR 9.7mSigned within ten weeks
Read case →
Construction & Real Estate · Cost Out
Speed sourcing
European facility management provider
~EUR 4.9mSigned within eight weeks
Read case →
Telecom & Technology · Operating Model · Cost Out
Organisational design and headcount reduction
Telecom operator
~2,500Positions removed in three phases
Read case →Baselines, timeframes and evidence
European construction group
- Starting position
- Eight high-volume sourcing categories covering approximately EUR 130m of addressed spend.
- Timeframe
- Ten-week sourcing sprint; signed savings booked in the same year.
- Recorded facts and outcomes
- Approximately EUR 9.7m was signed within the sprint, about 7% of the addressed spend, and booked in-year.
- Judgement, targets and limits
- This is a contracted and booked sourcing result. It is not a claim that the same rate applies to the client’s full cost base.
European facility management provider
- Starting position
- Common supplier categories covering approximately EUR 71m spend across a fragmented facility-management network.
- Timeframe
- Eight-week category sprint.
- Recorded facts and outcomes
- Approximately EUR 4.9m was signed within eight weeks, about 7% of addressed spend, and locked into contract terms.
- Judgement, targets and limits
- Contracted savings are distinct from subsequent cash or P&L realisation, which this case does not quantify.
Figures are approximate. EUR conversions are documented in the full cases. These engagements illustrate experience, not forecasts for a new assignment.
Other services
The work itself must be redistributed before targets can be credible
Operating Model →Liquidity is the immediate constraint
Special & Urgent Situations →When to do it yourselves
If the baseline is reconciled, initiatives have capable owners and finance already validates realisation, use the existing management cadence rather than adding an external programme layer.