Been running at 40% for 18 months now. Closed 23 engagements in that window, no pushback on rate. Curious what everyone else is charging. Am I too low? Too high? Comfortable?
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40% contingency — am I leaving money on the table?
I'm at 50% and haven't had resistance in years. 40% feels low for the complexity we deliver, especially multi-site. That said, 40% with a high-volume referral pipeline beats 50% with a dry pipeline.
Structure matters more than the number. I run 50% on recovery + 25% on go-forward savings for 24 months. The go-forward piece is where the real money is and most auditors don't charge for it.
Ditto on go-forward. If you're only billing on historical recovery, you're leaving probably 60% of the economic value on the table. Rewrite your engagement letter tonight.
I disclose the contingency rate prominently on page one of the engagement letter. Had one client later claim they didn't see it buried in section 4. Never again.