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Constraint Audit Deck — Crackerjack NZ

Five slides. April 2026.

Audience: CFO + Craig Faulkner (CEO) Purpose: Convert sniff test interest → Currency Exposure Audit commitment

Slide 1 — Principles​

Your buying model is your margin engine

In 2018, Craig Faulkner made a deliberate call. The Clearance Shed became Crackerjack — and the model shifted from pure opportunistic clearance to planned category buying.

The sourcing team started hunting for deals on a schedule. New product ranges. Quality brands. Planned forward commitments. The rebrand was not cosmetic — it was a model upgrade. And it worked. Fifteen stores, from Whangarei to Masterton, stocking products that customers recognise at prices that surprise them.

The sourcing advantage is the business. Not the stores, not the brand — the buying model. The ability to find a branded UK grocery line, a clearance run of US confectionery, a clothing category from an Asian manufacturer — and land it in your stores at 40% below what The Warehouse can sell it for.

That advantage is real. The question we are here to ask: is the margin on that advantage being protected? Or is a 15% NZD depreciation quietly eating it every quarter?

Slide 2 — Performance​

The CFO can't see the FX risk until it hits the P&L

A container ships from a UK supplier in September. Invoice in GBP. Payment terms: 60 days. The NZD/GBP rate when the commitment was made: 0.46. The NZD/GBP rate when the invoice lands: 0.43.

The goods are already in the store. The price tag is already printed. The margin that looked healthy at 0.46 is compressed at 0.43. There is no lever to pull — you cannot reprice a discount retail offering mid-season without breaking the value proposition.

The numbers on the board today:

  • NZD/USD: approximately 0.56 — roughly 15% below the 7-year average
  • Estimated import base: NZD $8–24M annually (40–60% of estimated $20–40M revenue)
  • P&L impact of a 10% NZD move on that base: NZD $800K–2.4M

That number is not a projection. It is the exposure that exists right now, on today's purchase commitments, at today's exchange rate. The question is not whether the exposure is there — it is whether you know exactly what it is before you need to know.

Currently: the CFO finds out when the quarterly accounts are reconciled. By then, the commitments have shipped, the goods are on shelves, and the margin has already moved.

Slide 3 — Platform​

What if you knew the margin before the container shipped?

Before we answer that — here is what we are not saying.

We are NOT saying:

  • AI replaces the CFO's judgment on when and whether to hedge
  • Forward contracts are automatically the right instrument for every commitment
  • The buying team should change how they source
  • The business model needs restructuring

We ARE saying: The FX scenario model — flat NZD, down 5%, down 10% — applied to your current purchase order book is a calculation. It takes the same inputs every time: open purchase orders by currency, current exchange rate, payment terms. That calculation should run automatically, every morning, and land in the CFO's inbox before the working day starts.

Currently it runs manually, when someone has time to do it, after the commitments are already made.

What changes: the timing of visibility. The CFO sees the exposure before the goods ship — not after they arrive.

What doesn't change: who decides whether to hedge, which instrument to use, which relationships to execute through. Those calls remain exactly where they should be.

The CFO becomes more informed, not more automated.

Slide 4 — Process​

One audit maps the exposure

The Currency Exposure Audit — NZD $3,500 + GST

One half-day session. One number from you: annual import payables by currency. Thirty days. Board-ready output.

What you receive:

  • The exact P&L sensitivity to NZD moves — flat, -5%, -10% — using your actual payables data (not estimates)
  • REAL vs ARTIFACT map of your FX management workflow: what the AI handles automatically, what stays with the CFO
  • 90-day roadmap: three sequenced steps to automate FX monitoring and connect to hedging execution
  • Competitive intelligence baseline: Temu pricing in your three highest-margin-risk categories

Before you commit — the sniff test:

Send us one number: your estimated annual import payables in USD and GBP (combined or separate). We return a three-scenario exposure model within 24 hours, at no charge.

If the exposure is below NZD $300K on a 10% NZD move — the audit is not the right next step and we will tell you honestly.

Common questions:

"The AI will make errors in the FX calculations." The model uses your purchase order data and live rates — the same inputs you use now, running on a schedule instead of manually. Every number is traceable to its source.

"We don't have the data in the right format." That is the first finding the audit surfaces. Most businesses at your stage have the data — connecting it is the first step of the 90-day roadmap.

"$3,500 is too much for an audit." If the audit surfaces NZD $500K in unhedged exposure and one forward contract is placed — the audit pays back in 25 days of protected margin. One delayed hedge costs more than ten audits.

Slide 5 — Players​

NZD $800K isn't a rounding error

A NZ food importer — similar scale, similar import currency mix (USD/GBP), similar planned buying model. FX management was quarterly reconciliation: find out what happened, explain it to the board.

After the audit and 90-day implementation:

  • FX exposure report: from quarterly reconciliation to weekly automated dashboard
  • Hedging decision timing: from post-shipment to pre-commitment (4–6 weeks earlier)
  • Margin protected on a 10% NZD move: NZD $180K in the first quarter of hedging
  • CFO preparation time for board reporting: 4 hours → 45 minutes
  • Outcome: The CFO presented the Q3 FX result to the board with the exact number — and the hedge position that protected it — before the quarter ended

What that means for Crackerjack:

If the CFO can see a real-time FX exposure number every Monday morning:

  • The hedge decision is made with full information, not partial
  • The buying team gets a live FX risk signal alongside every new purchase commitment
  • The board receives a monthly FX narrative that is generated, not assembled

The CFO does not become faster. The CFO becomes more capable — because their judgment is applied to better information, at the right time, before the cost of being wrong is locked in.

Next step: Send one number — your estimated annual USD/GBP import payables. We return a three-scenario FX exposure model within 24 hours. No systems access required. If the number is less interesting than expected, you'll know before spending anything.