Case study · Project-based / contracting business
An Operations & Cost Audit That Found Savings
A project-based business was seeing costs rise without a clear picture of where money and effort were going. We audited its operations, procurement and cost categories to find savings and improve control.
- 12cost categories reviewed
- 6 weeksfrom kick-off to final report
- 3phases: data, process, plan
The challenge
- Costs were rising with limited visibility into where the money was going
- Procurement and supplier spend was tracked manually across many categories
- No clear view of resource utilization or duplication
What we did
- Reviewed cost categories, procurement and supplier spend end to end
- Mapped the processes and identified duplication, waste and weak controls
- Analyzed resource and effort utilization across work areas
- Delivered a prioritized list of cost-cutting and efficiency recommendations
The results
- Clear visibility into where costs were actually going
- Identified, prioritized cost-saving opportunities
- Practical process and control improvements to sustain the savings
Where the money was going
The business delivered several projects at the same time, and each project manager bought materials, equipment hire and subcontracted work in their own way. Finance received invoices weeks later and booked them into broad cost codes, so management could see that total costs were rising but not which projects, suppliers or habits were driving the increase.
Before recommending anything, we needed one reliable picture. We collected twelve months of purchase orders, supplier invoices, payroll allocations and project budgets, cleaned them into a single dataset and grouped every line into twelve cost categories that matched how the business actually works.
How the audit worked
Phase 1 — Data: we joined procurement, accounts payable and project data so that every cost could be traced to a project, a supplier and a person who approved it.
Phase 2 — Process: we interviewed procurement, finance and site teams and mapped how a request becomes an order, a delivery and a payment. This is where most of the waste was hiding: duplicate orders, rush purchases at higher prices, equipment hired longer than needed and approvals done after the money was already committed.
Phase 3 — Plan: every finding was turned into an action with an owner, an estimated impact and an effort level, so management could pick quick wins first and plan the bigger changes.
What the business changed
- A simple approval rule: no order without a project code and an approver above a set amount
- Preferred-supplier agreements for the categories with the highest repeat spend
- A weekly equipment-hire check so hired items are returned on time
- A monthly cost dashboard per project, built from the same cleaned dataset
- Clear ownership of each cost category, reviewed in the monthly management meeting
Lessons for other project-based businesses
Most cost problems in project businesses are visibility problems first. Once spend is tied to a project, a supplier and an approver, the expensive habits become obvious and easy to discuss.
You do not need a new ERP to start. A structured audit of the data you already have, followed by a few firm process rules, usually pays for itself before any system change. If a system change is needed later, the audit gives you the requirements.
Questions about this project
How long does an operations and cost audit take?
For a small or mid-sized project-based business, typically four to eight weeks, depending on how many projects, suppliers and data sources are involved.
What data do you need from us?
Usually twelve months of purchase orders, supplier invoices, project budgets and cost allocations, plus short interviews with procurement, finance and project teams. Exports from your accounting or ERP system are enough — no system access is required.
Do we have to buy new software afterwards?
No. The recommendations focus first on process and control changes you can make with your current tools. Where a system improvement would clearly help, we explain the option and its cost so you can decide.
Services used
Client details are anonymized to protect privacy. Figures are realistic and representative of the type of results we deliver.
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