The Close Diagnostic
A paid, scoped teardown of how your numbers actually get produced today — before anyone proposes changing it.
Scope and price
$3,500 – $5,000
Two weeks. Fixed fee, agreed before we start.
This is the only price published on this site, and that is deliberate.
An entry price you can see settles the question most people are too polite to ask first. Ongoing work is quoted against what the diagnostic finds, because a retainer priced from a phone call is a guess — usually wrong in the client's favour at first and then renegotiated, which is worse than being quoted properly.
Ask about the diagnosticWhat it covers
Two weeks, four outputs
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01
Map the structure
Every entity, how they relate, and who owns what — including the parts that only exist in somebody's head.
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02
Trace one close
One month, end to end, from source documents to the figure that left the building.
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03
List what does not tie
Each break, what causes it, and what it would take to stop it recurring.
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04
Deliver a written finding
On paper, with a remediation plan priced as a next step you are free to decline.
Why it is paid
A free assessment is worth what it costs
A free assessment prices our judgement at zero in the first interaction and attracts people who want a second opinion rather than a decision. A fixed fee filters for a real problem, and it lets us see the books before quoting anything ongoing — which is the difference between a workable engagement and one priced from a phone call.
It is also the cleanest thing for someone to recommend on your behalf. "Get the diagnostic" is a concrete, low-risk sentence. "You should talk to a CFO" is not.
Start here
Book the diagnostic
Tell us roughly how many entities are involved and how the last close went. That is enough to scope it.