Infrastructure Projects Services
COST ASSURANCE, audit & STRATEGY ADVISORYwelcome to cfbl consulting!
AUDITS PROTOCOLS & ESG FINANCE STRATEGY & ADVISORY
standards
Our Professional Standards & Memberships
overview
Infrastructure Project Services
We develop and implement cost assurance agreements for open cost-based contracts or capital expenditure projects to help minimise cost overruns and outcome risks on infrastructure projects. This involves training and the design of standard controls, processes, tools and templates. We conduct independent cost assurance and cost validation audits to validate actual defined costs and agreed on contract changes reimbursed over the life of the project against expected contract costs to minimise risk and surprises for all parties.
Commercial Protocols & Training
Protocols
We do this by developing and implementing cost assurance protocols on cost-based, open-book contracts or capex projects helping to minimise overspends and outturn risks on infrastructure projects.
Training
CFBL Consulting provides training in the case study, cost and open book-based accounting contracts to help businesses deal with commercial, financial, cost and business risks. We ensure that your staff are skilled not only in their role in the project or business but also as managers, suppliers, employees and custodians of public funds and private money.
Independent Project Audits & Open Book
Cost Optimisation & Advisory
We implement target cost, cost-based or alliance/framework contracting principles to ensure compliance and minimise revenue and profit risk. This includes pre-audit diagnostics and facilitating the cost recording to comply with legislation and reporting on open-book accounting contracts.
Finance Business Partnering
We can take on a longer-term advisory role alongside your organisation, guiding along financial matters with our expert industry insights and wealth of experience.
Accounting & Tax
We will handle your personal taxes, payroll and business taxes, ensuring they are timely, optimised and compliant.
Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting & Financial Modelling
We will also ensure that you have appropriate financial controls in place for budgeting, cash flow management, cost, credit control and risk management.
Funding Investment Appraisal
We will help develop your investment business case and support you in selecting the appropriate funding strategy and in obtaining these.
Interim Head of Finance Role
We can also temporarily take a more embedded role with your organisation as an Interim Finance Director.
Cost Assurance & Cost Audits
Cost Assurance & Audits
We carry out independent cost assurance and cost verification audits to validate the actual defined costs and agreed-on contract changes reimbursed over a project lifecycle versus the intended contract costs to minimise risks and surprises for the parties.
Commercial Management
We ensure that commercial management and financial controls are in place. This includes pre-audit diagnostics and the implementation of people, process and system controls to minimise cost and profit risks.
Project Governance & Change Controls
This includes investment approval, business case development to secure funding, strategy development, procurement, commercial management of contracts, implementation, change management and project control.
HR, Payroll, Carbon, Cost & ESG Audits
Independent HR & Payroll System
Our independent HR and payroll audits include cost of carbon, pay gap, gender balance audits and carbon benchmarking as well as ESG impact reports.
ESG Audits
We ensure that business governance and financial controls are in place. We verify the accuracy of expected contract costs, agreed contract changes signed by both parties and actual BAU costs reimbursed over the life of the project.
ESG Finance & Capex Business Case Appraisal
ESG Finance Training
We offer ESG finance workshops and training to improve the skills of staff and supply chain in decision making and implementing controls, tools and templates for ESG reporting in relation to ESG KPIs.
Capex Business Case Appraisal
We help develop capital expenditure strategies, invest in business cases and assess and support companies in choosing the right financing strategy. It also includes KPI supply chains for decision making and implementation control and ESG benchmarking/reporting tools.
Clients
Trusted by Top Global Companies
Q & A
FAQ
Why is cost assurance important for a project?
Cost assurance is essential to companies working with infrastructure projects as there are many risks that could have a major impact on the progress of the project.
- It assists in preventing financial crises and cost overruns during project implementation.
- It guarantees adherence to financial rules and budgetary restrictions.
- It increases stakeholder’s trust in the project’s leadership and financial stability.
- It facilitates informed decision-making by supplying precise and current cost information.
- It helps prioritise project tasks and allocate resources effectively.
These are some of the benefits of cost assurance in infrastructure projects.
- Increased project certainty: Cost assurance can assist in minimising uncertainty about project costs, which can raise the project’s probability of success.
- Better decision making: Cost assurance can inform decision makers to take better decisions about the project, for instance about whether to proceed with the project, the order in which the work should be done and the allocation of resources.
- Reduced risk: Cost assurance can contribute to identifying and reducing risks that may affect the cost of the project. This can help reduce the possibility of cost overruns and other issues.
- Increased value: Cost assurance can help ensure that the project will be delivered on time, within budget and to the required quality standards. This can help maximise the value of the project.
What essential elements of cost assurance are present in infrastructure projects?
Budget Development: Based on the project’s requirements and scope, develop a comprehensive and reasonable budget.
Cost estimation: Providing precise estimates of the costs of different project activities, materials, labour, and other resources.
Cost monitoring: Continually monitoring and examining project costs to find any out-of-budget expenses.
Cost Control: Putting strategies into place to keep costs under control, avoid overruns, and deal with cost discrepancies.
Risk management: Recognising potential financial hazards and creating backup measures to reduce them.
Reporting and Documentation: Regularly updating stakeholders on the status of costs and keeping records of costs.
What are the uses of cost assurance and audits?
Audit and commercial cost assurance provide supporting evidence based on data that controls and contracts are being adhered to and identify areas where commercial practices can be improved to reduce inefficiency, assure adherence (to the contract and law), reduce cost, and waste, and ensure the audibility of accounts and documentation. On cost-based contracts, there needs to be a degree of audit of the accounts as set out within the contract. The accounts should be accessible to the parties. Where lump sum contracts are in use, the sharing of cost information may be limited however, individual organisations will still need to record, verify, monitor, and forecast cost information and risks. Commercial cost assurance can ensure that the contractual procedures needed to provide these are being followed and recommend or advice on improvements where required.
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Contact us
25 Clarendon Road, Redhill
Surrey, UK, RH1 1QZ
T: +44 1737 452323
Registered in England and Wales
Registration No.7524623