Expert Networks and Travel: The Spend That Actually Moves the Needle
For an M&A advisory or growth strategy firm, expert network calls and travel are the biggest controllable costs, and the way to control them is to track each one against the engagement it supported. Airbase suits fast mid-engagement expert calls, while Procurify suits travel planned days or weeks ahead.
Vendors Covered in this Article
Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It doesn't change what we recommend.
Why Expert Network Spend Needs Engagement-Level Visibility
Expert network platforms typically bill per call or per hour of specialist access, and a firm running several active engagements at once can rack up a meaningful bill without anyone stepping back to ask whether the calls actually informed the deliverable or just felt useful in the moment. Tracking expert network spend by engagement, not as one firm-wide line, is what makes it possible to ask that question at all: which engagements are using expert calls efficiently, and which ones are running up a bill that doesn't show up anywhere in the final deck.
Airbase for Fast Expert Network Access Mid-Engagement
When a consultant realizes mid-engagement that a call with an industry specialist would sharpen the analysis, waiting days for approval defeats the purpose, the insight is needed now, while the deck is still being built. Airbase's card-first model, with a spend limit for the expert network category, lets a consultant book that call immediately and tag it to the engagement afterward, which matches how this kind of spend actually gets used well.
Procurify for Travel Booked Days or Weeks Ahead
Travel, by contrast, is almost always planned in advance, a client meeting scheduled two weeks out, a site visit for due diligence coordinated with the target company's availability, which makes it a better fit for Procurify's request-first approval. Naming the client engagement and confirming the trip is necessary before booking, rather than after, gives an engagement lead a chance to catch redundant travel, two team members booking separate trips to the same meeting, for example, before the cost is committed.
A Worked Example: An Engagement That's Burning Expert Calls Without Results
Say a growth strategy engagement has run up a dozen expert network calls in its first three weeks, more than double what similar past engagements typically used by that point. If those calls are tagged to the engagement from the start, the engagement lead can see that pattern in real time and ask whether the team is using expert access efficiently or reaching for a call as a substitute for doing the underlying research themselves. Without that tagging, the same pattern only surfaces when the monthly firm-wide expert network bill arrives, well after the behavior that drove it has already happened.
A Common Mistake: Booking Travel Without Checking Who Else Is Going
On a multi-consultant engagement, it's common for two team members to independently book travel to the same client meeting without realizing the other already planned to attend, especially when booking happens through a fast, individual approval path with no visibility into what the rest of the team has already committed to. A request-first flow that shows an approver what's already been booked for that engagement catches this before both trips are paid for, which is a small thing that adds up meaningfully across a firm running several concurrent engagements.
Setting Expert Network Norms by Engagement Type
A due diligence engagement on a tight deal timeline typically needs more expert network access, fast, than a longer-running growth strategy study where the team has more time to build primary research from client data and public sources. Rather than applying one firm-wide expectation for expert call volume, set a rough norm by engagement type, informed by what similar past engagements actually used, and let engagement leads flag when they expect to run above it and why. That context, captured at the point of spend rather than reconstructed later, makes the monthly firm-wide expert network bill something a managing partner can actually interpret, rather than just a number that went up or down.
The same logic extends to travel: a due diligence engagement with a target company in another city has a legitimate reason for heavier travel than a remote market-sizing study, and building that expectation into how spend gets reviewed avoids treating every engagement's travel budget as if it should look the same. Engagement leads who set this expectation at kickoff, rather than mid-engagement, tend to see fewer surprises on the monthly spend review.
Set expert network norms with these steps:
- Tag every expert call to its engagement from the start, so the engagement lead can see the pattern in real time.
- Set a rough call-volume norm by engagement type, since a tight-timeline diligence project needs more fast access than a longer growth study.
- Compare current usage with similar past engagements at the same stage instead of applying one firm-wide expectation.
- Route travel requests through a single approver per engagement, so duplicate bookings to the same client meeting get caught.
What Good Looks Like
A well-run advisory firm can show, for any active engagement, exactly what expert network and travel spend it has incurred, and whether that spend is proportionate to similar past engagements at the same stage.
Building The Capability (5-Stage Skill Ladder)
How to Get Started
Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It doesn't change what we recommend.
Expert network platforms and specialized research vendors that invoice outside the system still need an approval trail tied to the right engagement, and BILL's workflow keeps that connection intact.
A firm that brings in independent subject-matter experts directly, outside a network platform, needs W-9 collection handled at intake, and Tax1099 catches that before the first payment.
Travel and expert network spend can swing month to month with engagement volume, and Mercury's real-time balance visibility makes that swing easier to track against the firm's overall cash position.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much expert network spend per engagement is reasonable?
There is no universal number, because reasonable spend depends on the engagement's complexity and how unfamiliar the market is to the team. A more useful benchmark is current spend against similar past engagements at the same stage, and a sharp jump is worth a conversation, not necessarily a red flag on its own.
Should junior consultants have the same expert network access as engagement leads?
Most firms give junior consultants access but set a lower per-call or monthly spend limit, since the judgment about whether a given call is worth the cost develops with experience. The engagement lead reviewing tagged spend weekly catches any pattern that needs a conversation regardless of who booked the call.
What's the fastest way to catch duplicate travel bookings on the same engagement?
Require travel requests to route through a single approver per engagement rather than letting each consultant book independently, so that approver has visibility into what's already been booked before approving a second trip to the same meeting.
About the numbers
This guide doesn't quote a sourced benchmark. Figures in it are estimates or general guidance, so check them against your own numbers.
Related Guides
Sales Tax for M&A and Growth Strategy Advisors
Success fees and retainers for M&A advisory are exempt, but a licensed diligence tool or diagnostic platform is not. Here is how to think about it.
Ramp vs Brex for an Advisory Firm's Diligence Spend
See how Ramp and Brex handle data room fees, expert network calls, and travel spend for deals that die before closing at an advisory firm.
BILL vs Tipalti for M&A Advisory and Growth Strategy Firms
M&A advisory and growth strategy firms face deal-driven vendor spikes and heavy travel costs. Here's how BILL and Tipalti compare for that spend.
Cap Table Hygiene for an M&A Advisory Boutique
Criteria for an M&A advisory or growth strategy boutique choosing between Pulley and Carta, with diligence readiness as the central concern.
Success Fees Change How You Recognize Revenue
Why M&A advisory and growth strategy firms need contingent fee discipline before comparing FloQast and AuditBoard for audit readiness.
Paying Diligence Experts Whether or Not the Deal Closes
Two approaches to paying local market experts and translators on cross-border diligence work that gets paid regardless of deal outcome, compared.