Industries

Find yours.

The argument is the same everywhere: loss concentrates rather than distributes, so a sample of thirty transactions and eight interviews is the wrong instrument for finding it. What differs by sector is where it concentrates, and what it is called.

Each page below was written for one industry and borrows nothing from the others. It names the losses that recur there in the words that sector actually uses, the systems the data sits in, the filings that set the deadlines, and what the intake would ask for. If yours is here, start there rather than with the method — the method reads better once it is about your own operation.

If yours is not listed, it is worth asking anyway. The reason these are separate pages rather than one is that the vocabulary matters, and that is a conversation rather than a page.

Professional and advisory firms

Where the product is time, and three different numbers describe the same hour.

Law firms The gap between recorded, billed and collected. realization · WIP · leverage · origination credit Accountancy firms You audit everyone else's numbers. Nobody audits how the firm earns. realization · net fees per partner · utilization · WIP Professional services Sold at a rate, delivered at another. utilization · realization · WIP · write-down Agencies and media The retainer that stopped covering the work. overservice · retainer scope · billability · pass-through Staffing and recruitment Margin per placement, after everything. pay-to-charge · gross margin per placement · rebate · contractor book Engineering and architecture The fee was agreed before anyone knew what the project was. percentage of completion · effective multiplier · utilization · additional services

Financial services and insurance

Where regulated cost is an operating line, and the operations underneath it are rarely priced.

Financial services Compliance is an operating line, not a department. cost of control · reconciliation break · KYC/AML · remediation Insurance Loss ratio gets the attention. Expense ratio decides it. loss ratio · expense ratio · claims leakage · acquisition cost Real estate finance What the operating agreement says, and what the model computes. waterfall · promote · preferred return · capital account

Making, moving and building

Where margin is calculated from standards, and the standards drift.

Manufacturing Standard cost said one thing. The line said another. standard cost · yield · scrap and rework · OEE Aerospace and defense Here, a compliance lapse is not a fine. It is a contract you may no longer bid. AS9100 · ITAR · DFARS · SPRS Warehousing and logistics The quoted rate and the paid rate are different numbers. cost per unit handled · accessorials · backhaul · throughput Transport and fleet Cost per mile, and the asset standing still. cost per mile · utilization · empty running · VOR Construction and contracting Built, and never billed. change order · retainage · WIP · over/under billing

Property, energy and infrastructure

Where the asset is the business, and what is contracted is not what is collected.

Real estate Contracted is not the same as collected. rent roll · vacancy · CAM recovery · escalation Energy and utilities Assets that outlive the people who specified them. asset register · planned vs reactive · outage cost · non-technical losses

Selling and serving

Where volume hides the unit, and the unit is where the loss is.

Retail and e-commerce The margin you report and the margin you keep. realized margin · markdown · shrinkage · sell-through Hospitality and food service Two costs decide it, and both move daily. theoretical vs actual · daypart · RevPAR · ADR Technology and SaaS Recurring revenue, and the cost that recurs against it. ARR · net revenue retention · cost to serve · committed use

Public, funded and regulated

Where the funder, the regulator or the statute sets the operating model, and the cost of complying with it is nobody's line item.

Healthcare Denied once, and then never touched again. revenue cycle · denials · reason code · underpayment Human services and behavioral health The money arrived with conditions. The conditions outlive the money. units of service · cost allocation · indirect rate · recoupment Government contracting The contract terms are the operating model. indirect rate · provisional billing rate · unallowable cost · flow-down Public sector Statutory duty, and the cost of discharging it. outturn · virement · statutory vs discretionary · unit cost Education and research Funded work, and the cost of administering it. indirect cost recovery · effort reporting · F&A · award closeout Nonprofit and grant-funded Restricted money, and the cost of proving it. restricted funds · cost allocation · program vs support · reserves policy

Not on the list?

The general review does not depend on the sector module. Every engagement runs the same 107 document requests across finance, revenue, receivables, payables, contracts, people, IT, operations, risk, commercial and governance; the sector module is additional, and exists so that a manufacturer is never asked about payer contracts and a health system never has to translate its own vocabulary into someone else's. If your sector is not here, the review still runs. Tell us what you do and we will say what we would add.

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