A provincial health outreach budget
A community health organisation had costed mobile outreach across three districts. The workbook balanced, but vehicle hire, fuel and accommodation used three different trip counts. We mapped each line to the delivery calendar and marked which quantities needed programme confirmation. The team adopted one route schedule and explained the remaining contingency rather than hiding it across several rates.
“The review did not tell us how to run outreach. It showed exactly where our own calendar and budget disagreed, which made the finance meeting much shorter.”
— Finance lead, KwaZulu-Natal
A youth employment application
The applicant’s stipend total was correct, but the narrative did not explain attendance days or treatment of public holidays. We suggested a compact calculation and flagged that protective clothing had been priced for fewer participants than the training target.
“There were more comments than we expected, and the first read felt demanding. Once sorted into corrections and decisions, they were manageable. Our final justification was shorter and much easier to defend.”
— Grants manager, Johannesburg
A small arts trust readiness check
With ten days before submission, the trust needed to know whether its draft was structurally ready—not a full rewrite. The check found that artist travel appeared under both production and touring, while venue accessibility costs were absent from two events.
“The memo respected the size of our team. It named five decisions for us to settle and did not bury them in pages of general advice.”
— Trust administrator, Western Cape
Client names are withheld because draft funding requests are confidential. Accounts are shared with permission and lightly edited for clarity.