New book asks finance and HR to spot duplicate people spending before 2027 budgets

Jim Rembach’s new book applies cost-of-quality thinking to people spending and argues that organizations should ask whether they are paying twice for the same performance. The book, published by LEI Press on Oct. 12, 2026, is already an Amazon best seller in two management and leadership categories.

Why it matters: - The book is aimed at finance and HR leaders who are finalizing 2027 budgets. - It argues that organizations often pay once to build capability and again to replace it when execution slips. - That duplicate spending can hide inside separate budget lines, making the full cost hard to see.

What happened: - Jim Rembach, executive director of the Leadership Execution Institute, published The Drift Tax: Why Organizations Pay Twice for the Same Performance and How to Stop through LEI Press on Oct. 12, 2026. - Two days later, the book earned Amazon Best Seller status in two Management & Leadership categories. - The book’s central prompt asks: “Did we already pay for the capability this spend is replacing?”

The details: - The book borrows from Joseph Juran’s cost-of-quality framework and applies it to people-related spending. - A composite case in the book starts with a company of about 1,100 employees. - The company approves a $240,000 package for a vice president of operations to lead across departments. - Eight months later, a supply chain analyst flags a bottleneck between procurement and fulfillment on a weekly call. - The vice president asks a clarifying question, suggests the departments work it offline, and moves on. - Rembach says the exchange takes 11 seconds. - Three weeks later, the company pays an $80,000 consulting fee to redesign the same handoff. - The book says the consulting fee is booked as process improvement, the expedited freight as logistics variance, and the CEO’s mediation hours are not booked at all. - The vice president’s salary continues on a separate budget line approved in a different year. - The book says no one involved described the situation as paying twice. - Rembach writes that the accounting works, but the root cause stays invisible because each cost lands in a legitimate line with its own departmental explanation. - The book cites McKinsey research saying more than half of CFOs report that transformations now consume the largest share of their time, and roughly 7 in 10 say organizational buy-in and human behavior are the main barriers to those transformations sticking. - The book says completion rates and satisfaction scores can show that a program happened, but they do not show whether the behavior still holds months later. - Two tools are designed for budget review: the Repurchase Audit and the Compounding Signals Check. - The Repurchase Audit sorts the last 24 months of people-related spending into first purchases and repurchases. - The Compounding Signals Check asks four questions, including who caught the last problem before it surfaced. - A team can score poorly on those signals even when official metrics remain green.

Between the lines: - The book’s argument is not that finance is broken. - It says the problem is that standard accounting can correctly classify every cost while still hiding the larger performance pattern. - James K. Weeks, Ph.D., dean emeritus and professor emeritus at UNC Greensboro’s Bryan School of Business and Economics, endorsed the book and said Rembach identifies a costly line item missing from many P&Ls. - Weeks said the book explains how execution failure grows from erosion in systems and standards. - The framing suggests organizations may need a new lens for human-capital spending, not just better reporting.

What’s next: - The book offers a free Drift Tax Diagnostic at the diagnostic, which returns an Exposure Report in a few minutes. - Rembach suggests colleagues take the diagnostic individually and compare results. - The book says disagreement between readings is where the conversation should start. - Hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook editions are available through Amazon and other major retailers. - Excerpts are available at the full book site. - Review copies and interviews are available on request.

The bottom line: - The book’s core message is simple: before approving 2027 spending, organizations should ask whether they are funding new capability or repurchasing capability they already paid for once.