Worksheet: Add up a month of giveaways

Vouchers, price matches, staff discounts and goodwill credits each look small. Together they are often seen only at year end. This sheet totals one month, writes rules for who can give what, and gives the biggest line an owner. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Each leakage line is measured monthly, with rules for who can give what away.

Step 1. One month

Leakage line	Dollars this month	Transactions	Who can give it today	Rule today	Recorded where
Vouchers and discount codes
Price matches
Staff discounts
Goodwill credits
Refunds without a return
Manager overrides at the till
Total

Step 2. The rules

Line	Who can give it	Most per transaction	Condition	Checked (daily, weekly) and by whom
e.g. Price match	Store manager	$50	Same item, competitor price shown on screen	Weekly report of every match, area manager

A daily check of every transaction above a set discount finds problems. It does not stop them, so pair it with the approval rule.

Step 3. The biggest line

Line	Owner	Change (cap, condition or expiry)	Monthly target ($)	Start date

Step 4. Every month

Month	Total leakage ($)	Biggest line	Against target	Breaches of the rules

Done when: each leakage line is measured every month, and written rules say who can give what away.

Adapted from our own trade spend controls review (Deloitte, 2015).