Demo 1 · the audit ledger
Trade Promotion Audit Dashboard
This is what Kevin's diagnostic finds in a single quarter, for a mid-market
manufacturer running five retailer relationships. Illustrative fixture data — Acme Foods Inc.,
Q1 2026.
Acme Foods Inc. · Q1 2026 · 5 retailers
Audit ledger active · illustrative demo
$4.2M
Total trade spend, Q1
$312K
Leakage detected · 7.4%
$88K
Accrual gaps · 3 open items
$3.8M
Verified clean · 90.5%
90.5% verified clean
7.4% leakage
2.1% accrual gap
Analysis summary: $312,000 in potential leakage identified across two
retailers. Kroger and Albertsons both submitted claims exceeding committed amounts by a
combined $92,000 — both flagged for dispute. Walmart's promotion submission matches committed
spend but lacks compliance documentation; payment should be withheld pending proof of
execution. Target has an open accrual of $88,000 not yet booked — requires resolution before
period close. Costco closed clean with full documentation on file.
Recommended: (1) Open formal disputes with Kroger and Albertsons —
$92K recovery opportunity. (2) Request compliance proof from Walmart before releasing payment.
(3) Book the Target accrual before period close.
$218K
Recovered this quarter
$874K
Annual recovery, projected
12×
ROI on audit investment
Demo 2 · the forward-buy problem
Forward-Buy Exposure
Kevin's live concern right now: when a manufacturer announces a price
increase, retailers get a window — often 30–90 days — to buy unlimited volume at the old
price. What happens next is where most of the margin disappears. Illustrative fixture data —
Blue Harbor Seafood Co., not a real company.
A tariff-driven price increase opens a 90-day window
Illustrative demo
MAR 3
Price increase announced: +9.5%, effective Jun 1 — tariff
pass-through on imported tuna.
MAR 3–MAY 31
90-day window open. Retailers may buy unlimited volume at the old price,
$28.40/case.
JUN 1
New price live at $31.10/case. Shipments collapse —
demand was pulled forward, not created.
JUL–AUG
Promotional deductions arrive against forward-bought
inventory — calculated on a price basis nobody documented.
The gap this exposes: Midwest Grocers' $47,900 claim cannot be assessed — no
commitment document was ever written for the program in question; the deal was agreed verbally
on a call. This is reported as unprovable, not as clean and not as fraud. It is the
fourth-largest claim of the period, and there is nothing on record to test it against.
Why this matters right now: tariffs
and ingredient inflation mean price increases are frequent and large rather than annual — every
announcement opens another forward-buy window, and each window is another accrual nobody can
prove. Kevin has watched this exact pattern play out across three decades of price-increase
cycles; the tool exists because he already knew where to look for it.
Demo 3 · the portfolio view
Portfolio-Wide EBITDA Impact
The same math, run across a representative multi-company portfolio — the
view a PE sponsor actually needs. Illustrative 10-company portfolio, directional revenue
estimates.
Representative PE portfolio · 10 mid-market CPG companies
~$953M combined revenue
~$143M
Portfolio trade spend (15%)
~$14.4M
Leakage identified (10%)
~$10.0M
Recovered annually (70%)
+$10M/yr
Direct EBITDA impact
EBITDA impact scenarios, annual · portfolio-wide
Conservative
$6.9M
At 5×: +$34M enterprise value
Realistic
$10.0M
At 6×: +$60M enterprise value
Aggressive
$13.7M
At 7×: +$96M enterprise value
The pitch, honestly stated: at a realistic scenario, this discipline recovers
roughly $10M annually across a portfolio like this — directly to EBITDA. At a 6× exit
multiple, that is $60M in enterprise value left on the table every year without an audit
discipline in place. Platform/engagement cost is typically a rounding error by comparison; ROI
on the audit investment runs 10×–20× at these recovery rates.
Want this run on your own portfolio, with your own
revenue and your own numbers? Use the live calculator or
reach out directly.
What this actually is
The tools are Kevin's judgment, made repeatable.
None of the three demos above are generic software. Each one encodes a
specific pattern Kevin has seen play out dozens of times across P&G, Ralston Purina, Ralcorp,
Dean Foods, and PwC — the retailer that always disputes the same way, the price-increase window
that always breaks the same accrual, the portfolio company that always has more leakage than
management believes. Thirty-five years of that pattern recognition is the reason these tools ask
the right questions instead of merely plausible ones.