Performance & execution
Trace a financial shortfall to its operating causes and organize the work needed to address it.
Sales may be growing while margin or cash falls behind the plan. Dune examines pricing, costs, working capital and initiative delivery to establish where performance has changed and what management can influence.
- Which part of the shortfall recurs from period to period?
- How do price, volume and service costs affect the result?
- Which proposed actions release cash or change earnings?
- What is preventing an agreed action from being completed?
Scope of the practice
The financial baseline
Reconcile planned and actual results. Separate recurring performance from one-time effects so that an improvement is measured against a defensible starting point.
Operating causes
Connect the financial gap to commercial and operating activity. Examine where pricing, cost or working capital assumptions differ from what the business is experiencing.
An executable action plan
Assess initiatives by financial effect, effort and dependencies. Assign an owner and specify the resources and approvals each action requires.
Reported and realized gains
Use management reviews to examine completed work, unresolved obstacles and the effect on results. Check gains against the baseline and remove duplicated benefits from the plan.
Agreed work and outputs
A diagnosis of the shortfall and an improvement plan linking each initiative to its operating owner and expected financial effect. Review measures distinguish an action completed from a benefit realized.
Information to bring
Start with management accounts, budget assumptions and the current initiative list. Operating measures help explain changes that the accounts alone cannot locate.
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