The 40/60 model
The RCK Outcome Fee Model: 60% of our fee is released only against verified GL outcomes
Follow the incentive: commercial alignment dictates operational behaviour.
How a firm is paid dictates how it behaves. 40% is billed on time spent from kickoff. The remaining 60% is billed through rolling sprints and is not earned until the acceptance criteria are met in your General Ledger (GL — the accounting system of record).
Comparison
Billable-hour advisory, PMI shops, and the RCK Outcome Fee Model
View the full table
| Volume consultancies | PMI shops | RCK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the fee is earned | Hours delivered | Day rate per consultant | 40% on time spent; 60% against verified outcomes |
| Who is in the room | Leveraged junior pyramid | Contract associates | Named partner, capped at three to four mandates |
| What ends the engagement | Budget exhaustion | End of placement | Acceptance criteria met in the GL |
| Exposure if outcomes are missed | None | None | 60% of the fee |
PMI — post-merger integration.
Composition
How the fee is composed
40% is billed based on time spent, including mobilisation, partner input and the core operating cadence from kickoff. 60% is billed through a set of rolling sprints to ensure pace and performance against agreed outcomes.
Contract
How this looks in a contract
Figures below are illustrative and are not a quote.
- Sample total contract value — £400,000 (illustrative).
- What the 40% covers — named partner time, mobilisation, and the core operating cadence from kickoff.
- Three example milestones — a TSA (transitional services agreement) exit date, a synergy line landed in the GL, and a Day-100 operating model.
- Release rule — released per milestone, not all-or-nothing, so a met milestone is invoiced whether or not later ones land.
- If acceptance criteria are unmet at engagement end — the unearned share of the 60% is not invoiced. It is unearned rather than deferred to a later date.
Verification
How an outcome actually gets verified
Baselines and acceptance criteria, written before kickoff
Data source: the client’s GL and the last signed-off month-end close. Signed by: the client sponsor and the RCK engagement partner. If they disagree: the baseline is escalated to the programme board before work starts, not renegotiated later.
Measurement against the source data
Data source: the GL, plus the operational system of record for non-financial milestones. Partial hit: a milestone met in part releases that proportion of its tranche — 80% of a synergy target releases 80% of that milestone’s share, not the whole tranche and not nothing.
Client sponsor is the release gate
Signed by: the client sponsor, whose signature releases the matching share of the 60%. Where a mandate includes independent assurance, that assurance signs alongside the sponsor. Invoicing: within the month-end billing cycle following sign-off. If they disagree: the milestone stays unreleased and goes to the programme board.
What the model designs in
When remuneration is tied to defined outcomes, behaviour follows the incentive:
Execution velocity
With 60% of the fee unearned until criteria are met, delay erodes our own economics. Candidates are identified within 48 hours, and the partner or interim is in seat in Week 1.
Focus on high-impact levers
We deploy against the levers that move defined outcomes — accelerating a TSA exit, or landing EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in the GL — not non-value workstreams or status decks.
Radical transparency
On an input model, a firm bills through emerging failure. Here, if a hurdle threatens a milestone, our incentive is to surface it immediately and re-plan, not to bill quietly against a deteriorating timeline.
Questions
What buyers ask about the model
What if the client changes scope?
What if the deal pauses?
What if data access is late?
Is the 60% lost or delayed?
Who writes the acceptance criteria?
Keep reading
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See your numbers
See exactly how much of our fee is at risk on your deal.
Worked example, illustrative: on a £400,000 mandate, £160,000 is billed on time spent from kickoff and £240,000 is at risk across three GL gates. Model your own in about a minute.