Recovery

What is Recovery rate?

In financial recovery: the percentage of identified leak value that is actually recovered as confirmed cash savings.

Recovery rate measures the gap between identified opportunities and money actually realized. In financial leak recovery, identified opportunities never convert at 100% — some claims get rejected, some negotiations fall through, some opportunities turn out to be smaller than initial estimates.

How to think about it

Three numbers matter:

Identified opportunity — what a diagnostic flags as potentially recoverable
Filed/pursued amount — what actually gets submitted to CRA, vendors, etc.
Confirmed recovery — money that actually lands in the client's account

The recovery rate is confirmed / identified.

Typical rates by category

SR&ED first-time claims: 70–85% (CRA may reduce technical claim, but rarely zero)
Vendor renegotiation: 60–80% (depends on vendor leverage)
Tax credit retroactive claims: 80–95% (mechanical filings)
Subscription cancellations: 95%+ (you control the cancellation)
Payroll restructuring: 90%+ (no third-party gatekeeper)

Why it matters for contingency engagements

Under contingency pricing, fees are based on confirmed recovery — not identified, not filed. Providers who quote large identified numbers without committing to recovery rates are guessing. Honest providers under-promise on identified value and over-deliver on recovery rate.