SERVICE-BASED BUSINESSES
See which clients and projects really make money.
Accounting, profitability reporting, and cash planning for consultants, agencies, and professional-service firms, so you know what to prioritize next.
WHEN BUSY ISN’T THE SAME AS PROFITABLE
What service firms run into.
Profitability by client or project
Revenue, hours, and cost by client, project, or practice area, so you know which work earns its keep and which quietly doesn’t.
Billing and cash timing
Work is delivered long before it’s paid. We track invoicing, collections, and retainers so cash doesn’t catch you off guard.
Payroll and owner pay
Payroll, owner draws, and distributions set up correctly and reconciled, so the books reflect how the firm actually pays people.
Hiring and capacity
Before you add a person, we model what it costs, what work it takes to cover it, and when it pays back.
Pricing and scope
Rates, retainers, and fixed fees tested against real hours and margin, so your pricing reflects the work.
Books that only serve tax time
A chart of accounts built for taxes, rebuilt so your reports answer the questions you run the firm on.
HOW I HELP
Three ways I support service firms.
Accounting & Controller Support
Reconciled books and a reliable monthly close, with payroll, cards, and bank accounts tied out and ready for your CPA.
See Accounting →Fractional CFO
Profitability by client or project, cash planning, and hiring and pricing models for the decisions in front of you.
See Fractional CFO →Finance Education
Learn to read your own reports, so partners, managers, and owners make decisions from the same numbers.
See Finance Education →A WORKED EXAMPLE
Busier, but not more profitable.
A firm can grow every year and keep the same profit. We connect the revenue to the hours and costs behind it, then decide what to change.
The report says
Revenue up 25%, but profit is lower
What it means
Clients asked for additional work, but the scope never changed. The extra hours became unpaid delivery cost.
What you decide
Rescope or reprice the engagements before taking on more work.
WHY THIS FITS
I understand how firms run, so the numbers make sense to me.
I spent 25 years in finance, operations, and system project implementations before starting my own practice, so I understand how a firm’s people, systems, and numbers fit together. I explain what I find in plain language.
Firms I work with
Law firms
Medical practices
Architecture and design firms
Construction trades and millwork
Consultants and agencies
SYSTEMS I WORK IN
Comfortable in the tools your firm already uses.
No need to change how you work. I tie your accounting, payroll, and payment systems together so the numbers agree.
Accounting
Time, billing & practice management
Payroll
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions service firms ask first.
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Bookkeeping records what happened. It doesn’t show which clients or projects earn money. I add the review and reporting that does: profitability by client, project, or service line, and what to do about what shows up.
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Usually billing and collections lag the work, or the work costs more to deliver than it was priced for. I line up invoicing, payroll, and collections against your cash so you can see the gap and what’s causing it.
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Often it is, or a scope problem. I compare quoted hours to actual hours and margin by client and engagement, so you can rescope or reprice based on evidence.
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Yes. I model what a new hire or a pricing change would cost and return, using your real numbers, before you commit.
Start with a conversation about your firm’s numbers.
A short intro call is the easiest way to see where your profitability, cash, and books stand and what support would help most.
Prefer email? stephanie@berwickfinancial.com