Your team knows your business better than we ever will. What they can't see is the market.A procurement or finance team benchmarks against one company's data — your own. We review thousands of supplier contracts, invoices and discount structures across industries every year. That gives us current market pricing, unpublished discounts, and the leverage that comes from negotiating on behalf of many businesses rather than one.We also bring something in short supply internally: time. Benchmarking every category at every renewal is a full-time job. For most finance teams, it's the task that keeps getting postponed.We don't compete with your accountant. ECM works only on the cost side — supplier pricing and contract terms. We don't provide tax, accounting, audit or financial advice, and we have no intention of doing so. Your accountant stays your accountant. A significant share of our work comes to us through them.And there's no cost to find out. If we don't find savings, there's no fee — so your team loses nothing by letting us look.

Often, no.In many cases the better outcome comes from your existing suppliers. Once we can show a supplier what comparable businesses are paying, they'll frequently improve your pricing to keep the account — no transition, no disruption, no new relationships to manage.Where switching genuinely delivers more, we'll show you the numbers side by side and manage the process. But the decision is yours, and you contract with the supplier directly — ECM advises and negotiates, we don't sign on your behalf. If you'd rather stay put, we'll say so and move to the next category.We're paid the same either way. We take no commission from any supplier, so we have no reason to move you unless the numbers say you should.And it barely touches your team. We work from the invoices and contracts you already have. In most engagements, the total time asked of your people is a couple of hours across the whole review.

Size matters less than what you spend it on.The question we'd ask isn't how big your business is — it's how much of your spend sits with suppliers. A business with significant energy, insurance, telecommunications, waste or freight costs usually has room to move, whether it runs 12 people or 200.Where we're less useful: businesses whose costs are mostly wages and salaries. We work on supplier pricing and contract terms — we don't touch payroll, and we'd rather tell you that upfront than take up your time.Strong indicators there's something to find: multiple sites, a vehicle fleet, energy-intensive operations, several insurance policies, or supplier contracts that have rolled over on renewal without being tested for a few years.And you don't have to guess. Send us your recent invoices. We'll tell you what we think is achievable — or tell you honestly that there isn't enough here to be worth your time. Either way it costs you nothing, and there's no fee unless savings are delivered.

We're paid a share of what we save you. If we save you nothing, you pay nothing.We review your costs, benchmark them against current market pricing, and negotiate. If that produces savings, our fee is 30% of the realised savings — you keep 70%. If it doesn't, there's no invoice and no obligation.Savings are measured on your invoices, not our estimates. We work from an estimate based on your previous 12 months' spend and invoice monthly against it. At 12 months we reconcile that estimate against what you actually paid. If the realised savings came in lower, we credit the difference back to you.A worked example. We reduce your electricity spend by $20,000 a year. Our fee is $6,000, invoiced as 12 monthly payments of $500. You're ahead by $14,000 in year one, and by the full $20,000 every year after.The fee applies for 12 months from implementation, or for the length of the supplier contract if it runs longer. Where we've introduced a new supplier and you stay with them beyond that, a reduced continuity fee applies — 15% of the first year's saving in the following year, 7.5% in the year after, and nothing from then on. It stops the day you leave that supplier, and you're free to test the market at any time.We take no commission from any supplier. Our only income is a share of what we save you — which is why our recommendation and your interest point the same way.

The analysis is quick. The timing of the savings depends mostly on your contracts.Once we have your invoices and supplier agreements, the review itself takes days, not months. You'll have a written analysis showing what you're paying, what comparable businesses pay, and where the gap is.Implementation is where the timing varies, and the reason is your renewal dates. Some categories can be renegotiated straight away — waste, telco and many procurement lines often move within weeks. Others are locked until the contract ends: energy and insurance usually deliver at renewal, which might be next month or ten months away. We'll tell you which is which at the analysis stage, so you know the timeline before you commit to anything.Most clients see savings appear on their invoices within 30–90 days, with the remaining categories following as contracts come up.Waiting costs you nothing. Our fee is calculated on savings that have actually landed on your invoices — so if a category can't be moved until renewal, we're not paid for it until it is.

Confidentiality is contractual, not just a policy.Before you send anything, our Confidential Review Terms apply — a written commitment that your invoices, contracts and commercial information stay confidential, that we won't disclose them without your written consent, and that the obligation continues for five years. The same terms carry through into our services agreement if you engage us.Where your information goes. Reviewing costs properly means bringing in specialists — insurance, energy, telecommunications, procurement. Where we do, they see only what's necessary for that category, and they're bound by equivalent confidentiality obligations before anything is shared. Nothing goes to anyone else.We don't trade on your data. Your figures inform our benchmarking in aggregate only. We never identify a client, or share their commercial terms, with any other client, supplier or third party — and we don't publish case studies naming clients without written consent.Discretion is the business. We're engaged precisely because businesses don't want their supplier arrangements discussed. That's not a compliance box for us — it's the reason clients and their accountants send us work.

You work directly with ECM's founder — first conversation to final invoice.There's no account manager, no handover, and no junior learning on your file. The person who reviews your contracts is the person who negotiates them and the person who answers the phone when something needs sorting out. For most clients that's the point: one accountable contact who knows the whole picture.Behind that sits a specialist network. Reviewing costs properly means bringing in genuine category expertise — licensed insurance brokers, energy and telecommunications specialists, procurement and finance consultants. We engage the right one for each category we review, and ECM co-ordinates the work and holds the relationship so you're never left managing four different advisers.We choose them on merit, not on what they pay us — because they pay us nothing. ECM takes no commission, rebate or referral fee from any adviser or supplier involved in your engagement. Our only income is a share of what we save you, so the only thing that matters when we pick a specialist is whether they'll get you the better result.