How we work

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.

In short

How does Cost & Profitability Consulting deliver a profitability model?

We deliver it in four steps: a free five 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.

FIG. · fog to focus · four steps one year · one living model
01 Profit Check 5 MIN · FREE maturity score blind-spots 02 ProfitAudit 360 3 WEEKS · FIXED FEE TDABC model whale curve + roadmap 03 Build & Embed 4-8 WEEKS live CostCtrl model team certified 04 Advisory ONGOING scenario reviews AI commentary fog focus
The method

Four steps from fog to focus. Each one leaves you holding something real.

01
Profit Check5 min · Free · No data
02
ProfitAudit 3603 weeks · Fixed fee
03
Build & Embed4-8 weeks
04
AdvisoryOngoing · Retainer
fogfocus
01
5 min · Free · No data

Profit Check

A 14-question diagnostic that scores your organisation across seven profit dimensions. No spreadsheets. No data upload. In five 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

01Cost Visibility
02Client Profitability
03Pricing Power
04Process Design
05Data Maturity
06Team Capability
07Strategic Alignment

Each dimension is scored 0-100, giving you a clear map of where to focus first.

02
3 weeks · Fixed fee

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 details

What 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

Focus
<50 employees
Single BU
2-3 weeks
5 consulting days
360
50-250 employees
Multiple cost centres
3-5 weeks
11 consulting days
Enterprise
250+ employees
Multi-entity
Scoped per mandate
18+ consulting days
03
4-8 weeks

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 phase
04
Ongoing · Retainer

Advisory

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 phase
The full range

The 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.

Profit for Good

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 →
05 The engine room

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.

The time equation
Cost = €/min × t0 + t1·x1 + t2·x2

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.

See it move

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.

Open the live model Runs in the browser · approx. 60 sec
profitability-model-demo · whale curve Live
You own the model

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.
The method, documented

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.

Proof

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 →
FAQ

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 five-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.

Start with the truth

Ready to see where margin hides? Start with a five-minute Profit Check.

No data upload. No sales call. Just 14 questions across seven dimensions and a personalised profitability report.

M
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