Unbemerkt verfallene Retainer-Leistungen und nicht abgerechnete Zusatzaufwände

Definition

Australian professional service firms commonly use monthly retainers where unused inclusions are forfeited and additional services are billed separately.[2] Without tight time and expense capture, consultants deliver extra strategy sessions, bookkeeping or analysis that falls outside the agreed retainer but either forget or are reluctant to raise separate invoices, leading to direct revenue loss.[2][1] Expense items such as travel charges, printing, portal activation and third‑party software are also frequently recoverable disbursements but are missed when expense reconciliation is manual or delayed.[2] For a typical AU consultancy retainer of AUD 5,000–10,000/month, industry practice of writing off small out‑of‑scope tasks (6‑minute increments) can easily amount to 0.5–1 unused billable hour per week per client; at blended rates of AUD 200–300/hour this equates to AUD 500–1,200 per client per month in leakage. Extrapolated, this is 5–15 % of potential revenue per retainer client per year.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Strategic management consultancies in Australia 🇦🇺 routinely forfeit 5–15 % of retainer value and 1–3 hours per client per month in unbilled extras. Automation of retainer usage tracking, scope exceptions and expense re‑billing can recover AUD 2,000–5,000 per client annually.

Affected Stakeholders

Managing Partner, Engagement Partner, Finance Manager, Project Manager, Consultants and Analysts

Related Business Risks