Channel Contribution and Budget-to-Cash Decision Consultant

The mandate

The defined problem is a channel dashboard that reports sales and budget variance without showing how trade contribution, seasonal stock and collection timing affect cash. The consultant will deliver a Channel Contribution and Budget-to-Cash Decision Pack. It will be a controlled finance artifact with a usable review guide, not a new enterprise analytics platform.

The project starts on 19 October 2026 for four months at three days a week. Thane workshops agree channel definitions and decision questions, supported by remote model work and planned India finance reviews. Deliverables comprise a metric dictionary, contribution and cash bridge, assumption register and dashboard prototype using agreed source extracts. Customer and product scope is fixed at inception.

Milestone one, on 18 November 2026, supplies the reconciled baseline and signed treatment of discounts, returns and seasonal inventory. Milestone two is due 18 January 2027: a tested prototype with contribution-to-cash logic and reviewer challenge using actual periods. Milestone three on 18 February 2027 contains a live forum pilot, corrected operating instructions and a retained-analyst refresh on new source data.

The controller and commercial-finance sponsor accept each milestone. Dashboard amounts must reconcile to controlled finance records, timing assumptions must be explicit and contribution must not omit known trade obligations. Retained users must refresh the pack, explain a selected cash movement and identify the internal owner of the resulting decision. Attractive visual design alone does not constitute acceptance.

The sponsor supplies sales, rebate, return, inventory and collection records, with an analyst and commercial reviewer available for the pilot. The consultant does not reset prices, manage collections, submit tax returns or procure reporting software. New channels, historical cleanup or automated system integration require approved change control. The engagement closes with the accepted finance logic, prototype and transfer test, leaving operational decisions with internal leaders.

What you will own

• Define channel contribution using controlled treatment of discounts, rebates and returns, documenting unresolved allocation choices before they become hidden assumptions in the dashboard.
• Reconcile the selected sales and cost baseline to finance records, identifying source gaps that require correction or an explicitly accepted limitation before prototype construction.
• Build a budget-to-cash bridge linking seasonal stock, trade terms and collection timing, separating accounting variance from actual liquidity consequences for management review.
• Construct the dashboard prototype and assumption register with visible evidence owners, refresh dates and warnings where incomplete records constrain the apparent performance conclusion.
• Pilot the pack in a commercial-finance forum, testing whether reviewers can identify a decision rather than merely describe another set of performance charts.
• Transfer the metric dictionary and refresh instructions through a retained-analyst test on new records, correcting usability issues and preserving internal approval boundaries.

Candidate qualifications

• Demonstrate twelve or more years in finance with controller, business-partner or senior analytical responsibility in consumer manufacturing, retail or trading. Present a contribution or cash dashboard you personally developed, the decision it enabled and the reconciliation evidence accepted. The role requires finance logic and operating judgement rather than visual-reporting skills alone.
• Show practical analysis of channel pricing, rebates, returns, inventory and credit timing. Explain a case where sales growth or budget achievement obscured cash pressure, and describe how your bridge separated the causes. Candidates must be able to identify known obligations and avoid unsupported netting that improves the apparent result.
• Bring model and metric governance experience, including clear definitions, controlled sources and transparent limitations. Provide an example where an allocation or missing record changed the dashboard conclusion, and how you secured reviewer agreement before use. Technical reporting familiarity supports delivery but does not expand the project into software procurement or enterprise implementation.
• Prove fixed-fee delivery with a working prototype, live-cycle acceptance and retained-user transfer. Describe handling of new channel requests or incomplete histories without weakening the agreed evidence threshold. The consultant must leave prices, collections, stock commitment and tax responsibilities with authorised internal or professional owners.

Application

Applications for this mandate are received in one way only: through the India Board Terminal's application process. It is automated end to end. Your Executive Passport travels to the mandate holder in its confidential form, your answers to the three questions below are read before anything else in your file, and every stage that follows is recorded on your applications page.

There is no address to write to and no intermediary to call. The mandate holder reads what the Terminal delivers and nothing else, which is what keeps the process the same for every applicant and keeps your name out of it until you release it. Applications close on 13 October 2026. Mandate reference PCT-CON-2026-IND-53.