The Continuous Improvement Savings Audit
Is your CI program ready for a financial ROI audit?
PowerPoint dollars are savings that look great on a slide but cannot be proven when finance asks. Sooner or later you will have to prove to finance that your program is worthwhile. It is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when. Are you prepared for that? Answer 9 questions and find out before they ask.
Start the AuditWhat You Receive
Your Personalized Savings Credibility Report
Finance will not warn you before it starts asking questions. Know what your numbers can prove before that day arrives. After completing the audit, you'll receive:
- Your overall Savings Credibility Score
- Scores for each of the three program pillars
- Your overall credibility tier
- An explanation of your program's likely strengths and risks
- Your top 3 fixes for building audit-ready savings
- A practical framework for discussing savings credibility with finance
Your responses and results will remain confidential.
Sample Report
Preview
Credibility Scale
Where Does Your Program Sit on the Savings Credibility Scale?
When finance finally asks for proof, your program will sit in one of three tiers. Each tier shows how ready you are, and each has a different primary focus.
Savings claims rest on estimates and goodwill. There is no shared target, no common method, and no validation step, so the numbers depend on who built them rather than on a process that can prove them.
Primary focus: Set a savings target with finance and agree on one way of counting.
Some controls exist, but they drift apart across sites. Targets, measurement, and validation are uneven, which is exactly where finance starts to question the numbers.
Primary focus: Standardize measurement and add a finance validation step before reporting.
Savings are targeted, measured after the fact, and validated before they are reported. Leadership can see the numbers and defend them.
Primary focus: Keep the controls consistent as the program scales.
Ideal Audience
Who Should Take This Audit?
The day finance asks for proof, it lands on the leaders who own the savings number. This audit is designed for them, including:
- Vice Presidents of Operational Excellence
- Continuous Improvement Directors and Managers
- Lean and Six Sigma Leaders
- OpEx and Cost Savings Program Leaders
- Finance partners who review CI savings
- Plant and Operations Managers
- CI Program and Portfolio Managers
- Executives sponsoring enterprise improvement programs
You can complete the audit based on an enterprise-wide program, a business unit, a plant, or a single site.
Credibility
Built Around the Real Requirements of Savings Credibility
The question is not whether finance will look at your numbers, but when. Finance does not take savings on faith. A credible program can trace every dollar from the project that produced it to the method that measured it and the party that validated it. The audit checks the core practices that create that trace:
- Set an annual savings target with finance
- Classify savings as hard or soft
- Measure actual benefits after implementation
- Validate results before they are reported
- Exclude costs that only move between budget lines
- Report forecast, realized, and validated savings side by side
- Give leadership one view of savings across sites
- Explain the program's return with validated numbers only
Not a Matter of If
Ready to Audit Your CI Savings?
It is not a matter of if you will have to prove to finance that your program is worthwhile. It is a matter of when. Answer 9 short questions and find out how well your reported savings would hold up when that day arrives.
Start the Free AuditApproximately 3 minutes. No credit card required.
KPI Fire
Move From Reported Savings to Proven Savings
When the day comes and finance asks for proof, KPI Fire gives your continuous improvement program a single source of truth for targets, projects, and validated savings.
See KPI Fire in ActionBuild a More Credible, Accountable Savings Program
You already have people working to make the organization better. Give them a system that turns their effort into savings finance will sign off on, so the day finance asks is a day your program is ready for.
- Capture and prioritize employee ideas
- Manage DMAIC, PDCA, A3, 8D, Kaizen, and custom workflows
- Connect projects with strategic goals and KPIs
- Track forecast, realized, and validated benefits
- Create real-time dashboards for leaders
- Share successful practices across teams and locations
FAQ