Services
Performance Reporting & KPI Dashboards
One clear, consistent view of how your firm is actually performing — utilization, realization, WIP, and project margin — delivered monthly and built to drive decisions, not just document history.
The problem: month-end numbers arrive too late and say too little
Here's a familiar scene: it's the third week of the month and the financial statements for last month finally land. They tell you the firm made money — or didn't. They don't tell you why. They don't tell you which projects carried the result and which ones dragged it down. They don't tell you whether utilization is slipping or whether the backlog is quietly thinning. By the time you have the information, the month it describes is long gone.
Project firms feel this more acutely than most businesses, because a standard P&L hides everything that matters in a project business. Revenue and expense totals conceal the economics that actually drive the firm: how much of your people's time was billable, how much of the work performed was actually billed at full value, how much revenue sits earned but unbilled, and whether individual projects are on or off their margins. Two firms with identical P&Ls can be in completely different shape underneath.
What most firms get instead of real reporting is a patchwork: a timesheet report from one system, a WIP schedule from another, an aging report from the accountant, and the owner's intuition holding it together. Different versions of the truth, debated in every meeting, trusted by no one. Decisions get made on whoever argued most confidently rather than on what the data actually shows.
The fix isn't more data — it's the right data, defined consistently, reviewed on a rhythm. A management reporting pack that arrives on time, says what happened and why, and flags what's drifting before it becomes a problem.
What you get
A reporting system designed around project-firm economics — concise, consistent, and written for decision-makers, not accountants.
Monthly management reporting pack
A compact monthly report that connects actuals to the plan: financial results, variance commentary, and the project-level story behind the numbers. Written in plain language, focused on what needs a decision.
KPI dashboard
The core indicators of a project firm's health in one view: utilization, realization rate, backlog coverage, WIP and over/under-billing, and margin by project. Defined consistently, tracked monthly, trended over time.
Project margin analysis
Which projects made money and which didn't — budget versus actual, phase by phase or project by project. The analysis that tells you whether your best revenue is also your best margin.
Variance and trend commentary
Numbers without interpretation are trivia. Every pack includes what moved, why it moved, and what to watch — the bridge between the data and the decisions in front of you.
Typical cadence: a monthly close-to-report rhythm
Good reporting is a discipline, and discipline comes from rhythm. We run a consistent monthly cycle:
Close
We work with your bookkeeper or controller to tighten the month-end close — clean timesheets, current WIP, reconciled project costs — so actuals are reliable and on time.
Build
We assemble the management pack and refresh the KPI dashboard: actuals against budget and forecast, utilization and realization trends, project margins, and WIP position.
Review
A monthly session with leadership walks through the pack: what happened, why, and what it means for the forecast and the decisions ahead. This is where the numbers earn their keep.
Who it's for
This service is for project-based firms of 10 to 250 people where leadership has outgrown managing by gut and by P&L alone. If your monthly financials arrive late, if nobody can agree on utilization, if you can't say which projects are your most profitable — you're the firm this was built for. It also serves firms that report to lenders, boards, or ownership groups and need a professional, consistent reporting standard.
Outcomes
- One version of the truth: utilization, realization, and margin defined once, measured the same way every month. Debates about the data end; discussions about what to do begin.
- Early-warning flags: slipping utilization, thinning backlog, or a project drifting off margin surface in the pack while there's still time to respond.
- Faster, calmer decisions: when the numbers are current and trusted, leadership spends meetings deciding instead of reconciling.
- Professional credibility: a consistent, well-written reporting pack signals a well-run firm — to lenders, partners, and prospective acquirers alike.
Frequently asked questions
What KPIs do project firms actually need to track?
The core set is small: utilization (billable hours vs. capacity), realization (billed vs. standard value of work performed), backlog coverage (sold work relative to target revenue), WIP and over/under-billing, and margin by project. We tailor the set to your firm — some need phase-level margins, some need client concentration — but the discipline is the same: a handful of numbers, reviewed consistently.
Will this replace what our bookkeeper or accountant already does?
No. Your accounting function records what happened; we interpret it. The management pack sits on top of your existing books, connecting month-end actuals to project economics, KPIs, and the forecast. We work with your current bookkeeper or controller rather than replacing them.
How soon after month-end do we get the report?
That depends on how fast your books close — and one of the things we help with is tightening that cycle. Most firms we work with get a meaningful management pack within ten to fifteen business days of month-end, fast enough to still act on what it shows.
Related services
Reporting is most powerful when it's connected to the plan and to cash.
Forecasting & Financial Planning
Measure actuals against a rolling 12-month plan anchored in backlog, staffing, and margin — so variance means something.
Cash Flow & Financial Visibility
Translate the monthly results into week-by-week cash reality with a rolling 13-week cash forecast.
Decision Support & Profitability
Bring the reporting into pricing, hiring, and growth decisions with CFO-level judgment in a steady cadence.
Run your projects with financial confidence.
Talk to a finance advisor who speaks project economics — backlog, bench, WIP, and margin — not just accounting.