Archive | Below The Line

Jul 30, 2026

We cannot fund both discipline and growth. Pick one.

Your best skill got you here.The discipline. The rigour. The instinct to question every line before it clears. That is what earned you the seat.....

Jul 16, 2026

"A long-term supplier saves us money"

Ask a CFO to name their most trusted supplier and they will name the one they have used the longest. Ask them when the price was last tested against the market, and the answer is different.

Jul 9, 2026

"Long term suppliers save us money"

A mid-market food manufacturer in Melbourne has one supplier it has never re-tendered. Fifteen years, no formal review, no market check. The relationship is called strong. The account is called stable. The prices have drifted quietly for the last decade.

Jul 2, 2026

The cost that sits in a category no one owns

The question worth taking into your next leadership meeting. Which of our costs sit in a category owned by no one.

Jun 27, 2026

Savings erode

If a board director asked you tomorrow which savings from the last cycle have actually proven to be still in the P&L today, would the answer be a confident yes, or a pause and a request to come back?

Jun 27, 2026

The IT Cost

Here is a belief worth testing. Most mid-market CFOs hold it, and it is quietly expensive. The belief is that software is an IT cost. IT owns it. The CFO sees a category total once a year and applies none of the procurement discipline that every other major supplier category gets.

Jun 26, 2026

The orphaned contract

Most leaking spend isn't a negotiation problem. It's an ownership problem. Somewhere in your cost base is a contract that was signed by someone who's since left, for a need that's since changed, with a renewal clause that fires every year whether or not anyone's looking.