Four public service codes tiered by cognitive complexity. Three fixed-fee engagement packages built from those codes. Every FOG ADVISORY engagement begins with the Diagnostic Sprint — the on-ramp scope that determines whether and how the rest of the work should proceed.
FOG ADVISORY's internal service catalog is calibrated against Bloom's Taxonomy, the standard framework for cognitive complexity used in professional education. Rate differentials reflect the different mental work required — recording a transaction is a different cognitive act from evaluating a control weakness, and each is priced accordingly. This is why the catalog is coded rather than menu-priced.
How rate coding works in practice. Every hour delivered on any engagement is logged against a specific code. A retainer month that includes bookkeeping close (Code B), a strategic review (Code C), and drafting an internal controls memo (Code D) produces an invoice with each hour categorized — so the client sees exactly what cognitive work was done and at what rate. This is the same discipline used in audit-firm timekeeping, applied to advisory.
For referred clients who prefer fee certainty over hourly accounting. Package fees are derived from the underlying codes above — inside any package, the work continues to be coded A through D for internal tracking. Every engagement begins with a Diagnostic Sprint.
Initial assessment of the current accounting state, systems audit, and prioritized recommendations. The on-ramp into every FOG referral engagement — no engagement proceeds to Foundation without this scoping.
Implementation of core financial infrastructure: books closed, controls installed, dashboards live, review cadence running. The reference-implementation scope. Fees are scoped and fixed at the close of the Diagnostic Sprint.
Ongoing engagement after Foundation. Books maintained, senior advisory available on standing basis, controls monitored, quarterly positions memos. Continuity for firms that want FOG standing behind them.
The Diagnostic Sprint is mandatory. FOG ADVISORY does not accept Foundation or Retainer engagements without a completed Diagnostic Sprint first. This is not an upsell mechanism — it is a fit-testing structure. The Diagnostic is where both sides determine whether a full engagement is appropriate, and if so, at what scope. Approximately one in three Diagnostic Sprints does not proceed to Foundation, and that is by design.
Discipline about what a firm does not do is as important as clarity about what it does. FOG ADVISORY declines several service categories — some by regulatory constraint, some by capacity discipline, some by design.
FOG ADVISORY is not currently a registered California CPA firm. The practice does not offer audits, reviews, compilations, or any deliverable that requires a licensed CPA's attestation. Engagements requiring CPA attestation are declined at intake and referred to trusted licensed peers.
FOG ADVISORY does not prepare or file tax returns. This includes federal, state, and local returns for both entities and individuals. Tax matters are consistently referred to specialized CPAs, both to preserve FOG's focus on management-accounting and financial-advisory scope and to ensure clients get authoritative tax counsel.
Bay Area architecture firms are declined at intake. This is a hard conflict rule protecting the anchor client relationship — architecture firms in the region overlap competitively and referential ties are too dense. Architecture firms outside the Bay Area may be considered on a case-by-case basis with prior conflict clearance.
FOG ADVISORY operates as a two-partner side practice with a hard cap of three to four active engagements at any given time. When capacity is full, new referrals are politely declined and, where possible, redirected to trusted peer firms. The cap is not aspirational — it is a promise to existing clients about the quality standard they can expect.
Earlier iterations of the FOG service catalog included Administrative General (Code E), Sales & Business Development (Code F), HR & Hiring (Code G), and Marketing & Content Strategy (Code H). These were scope elements specific to a particular anchor engagement and have been retired from the public catalog. The methodology remains — applied internally to FOG's own operations — but these are not services offered to new clients.
Four to six weeks. $4,000 fixed. Full accounting-state read, systems audit, prioritized recommendations, and a scoping proposal for what comes next — if anything should.
