Forensic Analysis · Consulting & Engineering Services · as of Nov 9, 2026
Fti Consulting, Inc (FCN)
A forensic read on Fti Consulting, Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
4.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
13.6%
ROE
2.4%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Fti Consulting, Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
917% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $859M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 917% of free cash flow. That is $765M (817%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. New debt covered part of it: total debt rose $365M over FY2025 — $365M of the $765M. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $1M from shares issued; net cash used in investing activities of $59M; net cash used in financing activities of $510M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $39M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 959%.
0.93×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.93× cumulative net income. Cash is lagging reported profit. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
+13.0%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +13.0% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. Net operating assets also rose $13.0M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by payables paid down 42% against +2% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 7% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 13.0%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
13.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 13.4% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.2-point range. After-tax operating profit was $290M in FY2023 and $284M in FY2025, with operating income at 10.8% of revenue in FY2023, 9.4% in FY2024 and 10.3% in FY2025. The capital base behind it cannot be compared across FY2023–FY2025: short-term debt is tagged in one of those two fiscal years and not the other, and an untagged line enters this calculation as zero, so any change in the base would be a change in what the filer tagged.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.79B
Revenue Growth YoY+2.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.2%
Net Margin7.1%
Free Cash Flow$93.6M
Return on Equity13.6%
Debt / Equity0.21x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Fti Consulting, Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?