Worksheet: Make the benefits add up

A benefits total built from initiative estimates often counts the same saving twice. This sheet fixes the baseline, maps each benefit to a P&L line, nets out overlaps and puts the cost to achieve beside them. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Finance signs off each benefit against a hard baseline before it counts, and the one-off cost to achieve is in the budget beside them.

Step 1. Choose the baseline

Type of benefit	Baseline to use
Price	Last year's prices, or the forecast prices without the initiative
Volume	Last year's volumes, or the forecast without the initiative
Cost saving	Last year's actual spend
Cost avoided	Counts only if the money was already in the budget or an approved plan

If the budget already assumes the gain, adjust the baseline. Keep what was in plans apart from what is new.

Step 2. Map each benefit

Initiative	Baseline ($m, source)	Benefit ($m)	P&L line	One-off or recurring	Overlaps with	Net after overlap ($m)
e.g. Supplier consolidation	18.0, last year's ledger	1.2	Cost of goods	recurring	Freight tender	0.9



Total

Step 3. The cost to achieve

Initiative	One-off cost ($m)	Year it falls in	In the budget?

Under 50 people: fix one baseline and show which line of the accounts each benefit reaches. Have your accountant check each one, and put the one-off cost in the plan.

Done when: every counted benefit has finance's sign-off against a stated baseline, and the one-off cost to achieve sits in the budget.

Adapted from our own benefits-tracking training (PSP, 2013).