Operational audit demo
A research-grounded example for a trades back office. The figures are illustrative scenario inputs, not client results or guarantees.
See how the audit worksPage 1: Overview
The audit starts with one conversation and ends with a plan you can test. We review the evidence behind how work actually moves through your business. Then we show you where time and revenue are leaking and what to fix first.
The business
A heating and cooling contractor in Gatineau: 12 employees, an owner and one office coordinator, QuickBooks Online, Gmail, a job calendar, and paper work orders. The AP/AR, payroll, and sales role remains open for 4+ months in this research-grounded example.
QuickBooks invoices, aging, and payment history.
Email evidence showing what was promised and where follow-up stops.
Who handles each step and which situations return to the owner.
What can be prepared routinely, what needs approval, and when a person takes over.
Week 1
Gather evidence read-only, map the workflow, and categorize exceptions.
Week 2
Receive the workflow map, quantified gaps, prioritized opportunities, and pilot scope.
Page 2: Findings
The figures below are an illustrative scenario, not delivered client results or a benchmark.
The AP/AR, payroll, and sales role remains open for 4+ months in this research-grounded example. The work still needs doing, so it returns to the owner after hours.
In the illustrative scenario, 12 to 14 invoices are overdue, totalling C$18,000 to C$30,000, and 4 to 6 are more than 60 days past due.
In the illustrative scenario, three customers promise to pay and do not. Without a tracked next action, a missed promise goes quiet.
Every follow-up depends on what the owner remembers, and the next action waits whenever more urgent work arrives.
Risk register
Collections depend on what one person remembers.
Invoices, promises, and disputes without an owner or next follow-up time surface late.
Waiting work remains hidden until someone remembers to look.
Page 3: Plan
| Opportunity | Recommendation | Business value |
|---|---|---|
| Receivables Control | Build first | Overdue invoices followed up, promises tracked, and disputes escalated. |
| Weekly operating view | Build first | The owner sees what is open, overdue, and waiting for a decision. |
| Bilingual EN/FR follow-up | Include in the first pilot | Treat bilingual operation as a capability to validate in the pilot, not an implemented service claim. |
| Payroll processing | Do not build early | Compliance risk stays outside the first release. |
| Inbound sales calls | Consider later | Voice adds complexity. Add it after a text-first pilot proves useful. |
Week 1
Connect read-only, import evidence, map the workflow, and establish the baseline.
Week 2
Observe and prepare. Follow-ups are drafted for the owner to approve.
Weeks 3 to 4
Operate. Follow-ups send, replies classify, promises track, and disputes escalate.
Weeks 5 to 8
Earn responsibility. Routine follow-ups send within agreed limits. Exceptions return to the owner.
Value from the baseline
The audit defines time from aging threshold to the next recorded action, the share of open items with a scheduled next step, human edit and approval rate, the share resolved or classified as a genuine exception, and zero unapproved discounts, commitments, or term changes. Your audit produces your numbers.
Governance