Frequently Asked Questions

Scope is set in writing before work starts. We hold one or two structured conversations with the people who will use the output, then issue a short scope document that names the decision the work supports, the audience for the deliverable, the assumption taxonomy, the data we need, the timeline, and the fee. Nothing is built until that document is signed. If the underlying question changes during the engagement, scope is revised in writing rather than absorbed silently. Clients who have worked with larger advisory firms tell us this is the discipline they most often want and least often receive.

A senior practitioner leads every engagement from scoping through delivery. The principal is in the room for the analytical decisions: assumption setting, structural choices in the model, the framing of the output. Where the engagement requires additional analytical capacity, we scale resource accordingly, but the senior layer remains in place. Clients do not deal with an account manager relaying questions to anonymous analysts. The same practitioner who scoped the work signs off the final deliverable and is available to defend it in the room with lenders, auditors or investment committees.

Most modelling engagements run six to eight weeks from scope sign-off to handover. Feasibility studies typically run six to ten weeks. Investment appraisals and due diligence engagements run four to six weeks where the data room is intact. Strategic advisory and fractional CFO arrangements are retained on a rolling basis. Where a fundraise or board date sets a fixed deadline, we say so before we accept the instruction; we do not accept work we cannot deliver to the standard required. Timelines are confirmed in the written scope and held to.

The deliverable pack varies by service, but every engagement produces a clean, documented analytical artefact and a written walkthrough that explains it. For modelling work, that is the model itself, an assumptions register, a source map, a change log, a user guide, and a written walkthrough document. For feasibility and appraisal work, it is the report, the underlying model, a risk register, and an executive summary. The pack is structured so that a third party (a lender, auditor or incoming adviser) can reconstruct the analysis without further input from us.

Fees are quoted against scope, not against time on a clock. Each engagement is priced once we have agreed the question, the audience and the deliverable. The fee is a fixed figure for a defined piece of work, or a monthly figure for a retained arrangement. Where scope is uncertain at the outset (a complex feasibility, for example), we phase the engagement: a small fixed-fee scoping stage, followed by a fixed fee for the main piece of work once the shape of it is clear. We do not bill in six-minute increments.

A retainer suits work that is continuous rather than discrete: a fractional CFO arrangement, an ongoing strategic advisory relationship, a board reporting cadence, or a programme of recurring portfolio analytics. Retainers are quoted as a monthly figure against an agreed scope of activity and a defined cadence. Fixed fees suit defined deliverables: a model, a feasibility report, a due diligence engagement, a one-off appraisal. Most clients begin with a fixed-fee piece of work; some of those engagements graduate into a retained arrangement once the relationship is established.

For fixed-fee engagements, the standard split is a deposit on signature, an interim invoice at the midpoint, and the balance on delivery. Retainers are invoiced monthly in advance. Payment is due within 14 days of invoice. Disbursements (travel where on-site work is agreed, third-party data subscriptions specific to the engagement) are passed through at cost and itemised. Terms are confirmed in the engagement letter. We do not contingent-fee, success-fee or equity-back the work; the price is the price, payable whether the client likes the answer or not.

Engagement information is held confidentially as a matter of standing policy. Access to client material is restricted to the practitioners working on the engagement. Material is stored on encrypted systems under access control, transmitted over TLS, and returned or destroyed at the end of the engagement on the client's instruction. Where an engagement touches a regulated counterparty or a live transaction, information barriers between unrelated mandates are tightened, including separate engagement letters where required. The confidentiality undertaking applies indefinitely; it does not lapse when the engagement ends.

Yes, where a client requires one. We sign the client's NDA before any confidential information is exchanged, or we offer our own template if preferred. The undertaking is mutual: we do not disclose, and we expect the same of the client in respect of our methodology and working papers. Where no separate NDA is in place, our standard engagement letter contains confidentiality clauses that apply from the outset. Client identities are not disclosed publicly. References are made available privately to serious enquirers, at the appropriate stage of a conversation, and only with the referee's consent.

The client owns the deliverable. On payment in full, all intellectual property in the model, report and accompanying documentation transfers to the client. The client may use, modify, share, audit, retain and rebuild the deliverable without further reference to us. We retain a limited right to use the methodology and any non-client-specific techniques in unrelated future work; we do not retain the client's data, the model's assumption schedules, or anything specific to the engagement. This position is set out in the engagement letter and is not subject to negotiation downward.

Yes. The model is the client's to share with lenders, auditors, investment committees, co-investors, regulators or any other party the client chooses. We frequently build models that are reviewed externally; the documentation pack is structured for exactly this purpose. We are willing to attend review sessions with third parties at the client's request, on an agreed basis. The only constraint is that we ask the client not to misrepresent our involvement (for example, claiming a formal audit opinion where we have provided modelling). We are happy to be named accurately, where the client wishes.

No. We do not accept success fees, completion bonuses, equity, options, warrants, carried interest, referral fees, introducer commissions or any other contingent payment. The fee is fixed against scope and payable whether the underlying decision proceeds or not. This is a structural matter, not a matter of preference. Contingent compensation distorts analytical incentives; a firm paid only if the deal closes has a quiet stake in the deal closing. We are paid to set out what the evidence supports. Removing the contingency is what allows that posture to be credible.

A conflict check is run before any new instruction is accepted. Where two clients have interests that touch the same transaction, counterparty or asset, we decline the second mandate unless both clients consent in writing to the arrangement and to any information barriers required. Where a conflict emerges mid-engagement (a new party enters a transaction, for example), the client is told immediately and the engagement is adjusted, paused or stepped away from as appropriate. We do not act on both sides of a transaction. Independence is the product we sell; we do not compromise it for fee revenue.

Initial enquiries are acknowledged within one working day, usually faster. A scoping conversation is offered within the same week. From a signed scope, most modelling and appraisal engagements can start within two to three weeks; feasibility work typically requires three to four weeks of lead time to allow proper data gathering. Where a client has a fixed external deadline, we say at the outset whether we can meet it. Once an engagement is under way, the lead practitioner is contactable directly during working hours and responds to material questions on the same day.

Sector coverage is agriculture and AgTech, real estate and development, technology and innovation, energy and infrastructure, healthcare and life sciences, government and public sector, financial services and investment, and GCC and emerging markets. Geographically, engagements span the UK, MENA, Asia-Pacific and North America, with periodic in-region presence as required. We do not claim regulatory standing in any jurisdiction we do not hold; cross-border engagements are coordinated with local counsel on tax, legal and regulatory questions, and our practice is concentrated on the financial and commercial layer.

Models are built in Excel where the client audience expects Excel, which is most institutional work. Where the analytical question requires it (large datasets, automated refresh, statistical or machine-learning techniques), the work is done in Python and SQL, with outputs surfaced in Excel or in dashboards as agreed. Handover formats are native: .xlsx for models, .pdf for reports, .ipynb or .py for code, .csv for data, with a written methodology note. The deliverable pack is structured so that a third party can open, audit and rebuild the work without specialist tooling beyond Excel and Python.