Part of Value Creation Diagnostics
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Value Creation Diagnostic — 2 of 3

Pricing Architecture
Diagnostic

Margin leakage through pricing is the single most recoverable value gap in most industrial businesses. This diagnostic identifies exactly where the leakage is occurring and quantifies the EBITDA impact.

Based on price waterfall analysis across manufacturing, distribution and industrial services businesses across Australia and APAC.

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The Problem

Price increases are approved.
Margin does not improve.

Most businesses approve pricing initiatives that never fully land in the P&L. Discounting at the point of sale, retroactive rebates, freight recovery gaps and execution failures quietly absorb 30–60% of every price increase before it reaches EBITDA.

This diagnostic models your price waterfall to quantify exactly how much margin is leaking — and which lever is causing the most damage.

Sources of Leakage

Where pricing discipline fails.

01

Discount Leakage

Discounts given at the point of sale in excess of approved thresholds, or without formal commercial approval. Typically 3–7% of revenue in businesses without structured pricing governance.

02

Rebate & Contract Drift

Retrospective rebate agreements that have drifted from their original commercial logic — paying out regardless of the customer behaviour they were designed to incentivise.

03

Execution & Recovery Gaps

Freight cost recovery gaps, cost pass-through failures and implementation losses — approved price increases that are never converted to invoice.

Pricing Architecture Diagnostic

Quantify the leakage.

Inputs
Output
Margin Gap ($M)
Target minus actual gross margin
Total Leakage ($M)
All leakage sources combined
EBITDA Impact ($M)
Leakage flowing through to EBITDA
Enterprise Value Impact ($M)
At stated multiple
Primary Leakage Source
Largest single contributor
Pricing Risk
Low / Medium / High
Interpretation

Pricing is an operating system,
not a sales programme.

Pricing discipline is built through commercial infrastructure — policies, data, governance and capability — not through training or motivation. The businesses that consistently capture top-quartile margins have structural controls that make leakage visible and accountability clear.

Low leakage (<3%): Pricing infrastructure is largely in place. Governance is working. Improvement is incremental.
Medium leakage (3–6%): Structural gaps in discount governance or rebate management. Significant EBITDA recovery available.
High leakage (>6%): Pricing is reactive and uncontrolled. Discounting has become normalised. Operating intervention required.
What to Do Next

Follow the leakage.

If EBITDA is not translatingEBITDA Bridge Reality Check →If cash is tight despite marginCash Conversion Diagnostic →If this is part of a broader issueValue Creation Dashboard →
Next Step

Pricing leakage does not recover itself.
It requires operating intervention.

The diagnostic identifies the gap. The mandate embeds pricing discipline — and moves EBITDA.

Discuss a Mandate

What Is Pricing Architecture?

Pricing architecture refers to the commercial infrastructure that governs how prices are set, approved, implemented and monitored across customers, products and channels. Without this infrastructure, margin leakage accumulates across every transaction.

How Much Does Pricing Leakage Cost?

In industrial distribution and manufacturing businesses operating without structured pricing governance, leakage of 6–15% of gross margin is common. At a 6× EBITDA multiple, recovering 3 percentage points of margin on a $50M revenue business creates $9M of enterprise value — without any increase in volume or headcount.