A method, not a magic trick. Four steps from fog to focus.
Most consultants sell you their presence. We sell you a capability you keep. Here is exactly what happens, in what order, and what you walk away holding.
How does Cost & Profitability Consulting deliver a profitability model?
We deliver it in four steps: a free 12 to 15 minute Profit Check, a fixed scope ProfitAudit 360 that builds a full TDABC model in about three weeks, a Build and Embed phase that deploys CostCtrl and certifies your team, then ongoing Advisory. The result is a living model your team owns and can run without us.
Four steps from fog to focus. Each one leaves you holding something real.
Profit Check
A 14-question diagnostic that scores your organisation across seven profit dimensions. No spreadsheets. No data upload. In 12 to 15 minutes you get a personalised report that shows exactly where you are strong and where margin is silently leaking.
The seven profit dimensions we assess
Each dimension is scored 0-100, giving you a clear map of where to focus first.
ProfitAudit 360
We take your financial and operational data, build a full TDABC cost model, and produce a granular profitability map. You see which customers, products and channels create value and which quietly destroy it. No ambiguity. No averages.
See full ProfitAudit 360 detailsWhat the audit covers
- 01Cost pool mapping
- 02TDABC time equations
- 03Customer profitability
- 04Product/service margins
- 05Channel cost-to-serve
- 06Capacity utilisation
- 07Whale curve analysis
- 08Process cost benchmarks
- 09Overhead allocation
- 10Pricing vs. cost gaps
- 11Action roadmap
Choose your scope
Single BU
2-3 weeks
5 consulting days
Multiple cost centres
3-5 weeks
11 consulting days
Multi-entity
Scoped per mandate
18+ consulting days
Build & Embed
We deploy CostCtrl with your data, train your finance team, and connect the model to your data pipeline. By the end of this phase, you own the model and your team can update it monthly without us.
See the Build & Embed phaseAdvisory
We stay as your sparring partner. Quarterly reviews, model updates, pricing strategy support, and scenario analysis. You decide when to stop. Most clients never do.
See the Advisory phaseThe same method, four ways in. Pick the door that fits where you are.
The four steps are the spine. Around them sits a portfolio so you can enter at the depth you need: a free diagnostic, a one off audit, an embedded controller, or a platform your team runs. Every one runs on TDABC and on the data you already export.
The same rigour, in service of impact.
Cost truth is not only for companies chasing margin. Mission driven organisations face the same question, sharper: which programmes and services are sustainable, and which quietly drain the funding that keeps the doors open. The same TDABC method gives a non profit a defensible cost to serve, a sustainable model, and programme decisions grounded in real cost.
Explore Profit for Good →Two numbers per process. That’s the whole trick.
Old-school Activity-Based Costing asked employees to estimate how they split their time across dozens of activities. It was expensive, slow, and people hated filling in the surveys.
TDABC flips the model. For each process, you need only two numbers: the cost per minute of capacity, and a time equation that estimates how long each transaction takes. Multiply, and you have the true cost.
Where t0 is base time, and each tn×xn adds the cost of a complication: a manual check, a special packaging step, a rush delivery.
Before any of this is yours, watch a model move.
Drag the price, mix and freight levers on a working whale curve. It is the same engine we build for clients, running live on an example dataset. No sign-up, no data, about a minute.
We design ourselves out of the room.
Most consultants make themselves necessary. We do the opposite. Across the engagement our presence falls and your team's rises, until the model runs on your data, in your hands, without us in the loop.
- The model lives in CostCtrl, on your own data, hosted under your name.
- Your finance team is certified to run, read and refresh it monthly.
- Every number reconciles to your GL, so it survives scrutiny without us.
Nothing here is a black box. The whole method is written down.
If you want to check our working before you ever talk to us, you can. The definitions, the build steps, the variants used around the world, and how it lands in your sector are all public.
Glossary
Every term we use, defined plainly: from cost-to-serve to time equations.
Open → GuideBuild a TDABC Model
The build, step by step: cost pools, time equations, allocation chain.
Read the guide → FrameworksMethods Around the World
How TDABC sits next to ABC, GPK, RCA and the other costing schools.
Compare → AppliedBy Industry
What cost truth looks like in your sector, across 16 industries.
Find yours →The method, applied: one real result.
For a distribution group we built the TDABC model on the data they already held. It ranked 1,951 customers, found 830 destroying value, and made €1.3M of hidden cost-to-serve visible. 535 of those accounts were turned profitable, a model the team could defend in front of operations, sales and an auditor.
Read the case study →Questions about how we work
How long does it take?+
The first model is built in weeks, not quarters. A fixed-scope ProfitAudit 360 typically runs 2 to 6 weeks depending on tier, because the method runs on data you already hold and AI accelerates the heavy lifting.
Do we need perfect data first?+
No. The method is built to run on the exports you already have from your ERP and accounting system. Data gaps are mapped as part of the build rather than fixed before we start, so the project does not stall on data collection.
How do we get started?+
Start with the free Profit Check, a 12 to 15 minute diagnostic, then a short scoping call. Most engagements then begin with a fixed-price ProfitAudit 360 that produces the first model and a clear action roadmap.
Will the model survive scrutiny?+
Yes. The output is an auditable model you can defend in front of operations, sales and an auditor, because every cost is traced to the activity and the minutes that consumed it, not spread by an average rate.
What happens after the first model?+
You keep a living model on your own data, in CostCtrl, and we stay available for reviews and deeper analysis. The first engagement proves the value and shows exactly where the next gains sit.
Is this a one off project, or an ongoing service?+
Both, and you choose the depth. The same method runs from a free Profit Check, to a fixed scope ProfitAudit 360, to Build and Embed, to ongoing Advisory or a Fractional Controller. You can stop after the first model, or keep us as a sparring partner. Nothing locks you in.
Do you work with non profits and mission driven organisations?+
Yes. Cost truth is not only for companies chasing margin. The same TDABC method gives a non profit a defensible cost to serve and programme level decisions grounded in real cost, so the funding goes where it sustains the mission. See Profit for Good.
Is this an audit, or like hiring a controller?+
It can be either. ProfitAudit 360 is the fixed scope diagnostic that builds and proves the first model. The Fractional Profitability Controller is the ongoing role: a senior controller, plus CostCtrl and AI, embedded then handed to your team. You get controller level rigour without a permanent hire.
Do we need to change or replace our ERP?+
No. CostCtrl runs alongside your systems, on the exports you already produce. Nothing changes inside your ERP, and the model reconciles back to your general ledger so the numbers stay defensible.
How are you different from a big consulting firm?+
We leave you the model, not a slide deck. The engagement is fixed scope, runs on data you already hold, and ends with your team owning an auditable model they can defend in front of operations, sales and an auditor. We design ourselves out of the room, on purpose.
Ready to see where margin hides? Start with a 12 to 15 minute Profit Check.
No data upload. No sales call. Just 14 questions across seven dimensions and a personalised profitability report.
Proof
A distributor in New Zealand. €1.335M of cost-to-serve made visible, then halved, and 830 loss-making customers brought down to 295.
Read the case study →Who you would be talking to
Miguel Guimarães, Founding Partner
Cost and profitability practitioner for 25+ years. Lectured alongside Professor Robert S. Kaplan at the CFO conference in Amsterdam (2009).
Call +351 910 313 731
