Margin Leakage Audit
Margin bleeding across categories. Ranks the recoverable dollars.
Realised gross margin trails planned margin by more than 50 basis points in a category, and the gap is not explained by approved markdown.
Margin bridge published to the warehouse; per-leak cases opened against the owning function; SAP cost records flagged where wrong.
Every write is gated on an approver role you name. Nothing runs unattended.
- Bridge planned to realised margin: cost drift, unplanned markdown, mix, shrink, freight, and off-contract purchase price.
- Rank each leak by recoverable dollars rather than size, since some leaks are structural and cannot be recovered.
- Assign each recoverable leak to the function that owns it, with the specific action rather than the diagnosis.
- Open cases per leak with the evidence and the estimated recovery, gated on the finance lead.
- Close each when its component of the bridge closes and holds for a full period.
Recovered margin dollars per leak over 90 days, measured against the bridge at case open.
The case closes on this number, not on the action being taken. A playbook without a close condition is a dashboard.
The rest of Finance
Run Margin Leakage Audit on your data.
Pick three playbooks from the catalog. We wire them against your system of record for the pilot.
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