Diagnostic domains
Each engagement is a focused financial diagnostic. You engage for the areas that match your situation, whether you are under pressure or preparing to move.
The work is built to surface what is structurally true inside the business: where economic weight sits, where risk is accumulating, and where opportunity is being missed because it is not visible in the current reporting view.
How engagements work
- Scope is defined upfront. One domain or multiple.
- Fees are quote-based. Focused diagnostics begin at $2,500.
- Delivery is agreed upfront: written report, walkthrough session, or both.
- The output is analytical clarity. Execution remains with the owner and existing advisors.
The eight diagnostic modules
1. Profit driver and margin concentration
Isolates where absolute profit is actually generated across products, contracts, customers, or segments.
- Surfaces margin dilution, discount pressure, and false volume.
- Identifies the small areas carrying disproportionate profit weight.
- Highlights where incremental focus produces outsized profit lift.
2. Cost structure and economic positioning
Tests whether the cost base supports the true profit drivers, or whether it is structurally misaligned.
- Surfaces fixed-cost traps and hidden absorption points.
- Identifies where cost positioning weakens pricing power.
- Highlights where redesign strengthens long-term margin resilience.
3. Balance sheet integrity and asset utilisation
Tests whether assets are producing proportional economic return, or whether capital is sitting idle or underperforming.
- Surfaces trapped capital in low-performing holdings.
- Identifies underutilised or misallocated assets.
- Highlights redeployment, monetisation, or de-risking options.
4. Cash flow, working capital, and liquidity
Reconciles accounting profit with actual cash movement, timing, and liquidity durability.
- Surfaces timing pressure across receivables, payables, inventory, and tax.
- Quantifies dependence on overdrafts, loans, or owner funding.
- Models capital strain under growth before commitments are made.
5. Revenue concentration and demand dependency
Quantifies exposure to specific customers, segments, channels, or categories and tests demand durability.
- Surfaces single-customer or single-channel fragility.
- Tests sensitivity to pricing shifts, substitution, or buyer behaviour changes.
- Identifies diversification paths and risk-adjusted expansion options.
6. Supply chain leverage and supplier pressure
Maps upstream dependency and negotiating leverage where suppliers influence price, availability, and margin.
- Surfaces supplier dominance and structural margin squeeze.
- Identifies where sourcing position can be strengthened.
- Highlights where deeper participation improves unit economics.
7. Forward modelling and scenario testing
Stress-tests the current structure under realistic downside and growth scenarios to find breakpoints and requirements.
- Surfaces margin sensitivity and liquidity fragility under stress.
- Models capital demands under expansion, contraction, or pricing shifts.
- Defines the points where the structure stops being sustainable.
8. Business operations review and optimisation
Reviews how the business actually functions day-to-day and identifies where operational clarity, efficiency, or execution can be meaningfully improved.
- Surfaces bottlenecks, unnecessary complexity, and handoff failures between teams or roles.
- Identifies where unclear processes or lack of structure slow decision making and execution.
- Produces practical observations and recommendations grounded in how the business operates in reality.
Scope and fit
Some clients engage for a single module to resolve a specific pressure point. Others combine modules to build a full structural view before a major decision.
If you are unsure where to start, the first step is simply to describe the situation and the pressure or opportunity you are seeing. Scope is then defined from there.