PROFESSIONAL SERVICESSECTOR · UNITED STATES AND CANADA

Finance leadership for professional services.

Everyone is busy and the firm is not making money. Utilization looks fine, which is why nobody investigates — but utilization only measures whether time was recorded, not whether it was worth anything. Realization is eroding quietly: work written off at billing, scope that grew without a change order, juniors on work that should have been leveraged differently. Work in progress and lock-up climb because nobody bills promptly and nobody chases. And partner economics are a matter of history rather than contribution.
THE MEASURE THAT FINDS ITRealization against standard, by client and by team
WHAT WE DO ABOUT IT, BELOWREMOTE-FIRST, ON SITE WHEN IT CHANGES THE OUTCOME
How We Run It Here
01 / 03
What a finance function in this sector actually needs.

We separate utilization from realization and report both, because the gap between them is where the money goes. Realization is tracked by client, by matter and by team, so the write-offs concentrate visibly rather than averaging out.

Scope discipline is made mechanical: what was quoted, what has been delivered, and what has been added without a change order — reviewed monthly while the client relationship is still warm enough to have the conversation.

Then lock-up: WIP days plus debtor days, tracked as one number, with billing frequency and collection treated as a process rather than an afterthought.

WHO YOUR CFO DRAWS ON FOR THIS SECTOR

Practice economics specialists for the realization and lock-up rebuild

What Changes
02 / 03
What you can do afterwards that you cannot do now.
See which clients and which teams are giving away margin. Bill and collect on a rhythm. Have the scope conversation while it is still easy.
Who Holds The Seat
03 / 03
Matched to the sector, not to the postcode.
We hire for what somebody has run rather than where they live, which is the only reason we can put a CFO in your seat who has already done this in a business like yours.
YOUR CFO, FOR THIS SECTORHas carried a book of clients and been measured on realization

With a named controller alongside them, a named backup on every seat, and the specialist bench behind both — all inside one fixed monthly fee.

THE OTHER ELEVEN
The rest of the scope.
Nobody needs all of it at once. The diagnostic decides which two or three matter first in your business, and you keep that assessment either way.
Construction and tradesDistribution and wholesaleManufacturingMulti-unit and hospitalityProperty and real assetsTechnology and recurring revenueHealthcare and clinical groupsTransportation, fleet and logisticsFranchise and multi-unit operatorsConsumer brands and e-commerceNonprofit and member organizations
SEE THE FULL SCOPE →
What Happens Next

Your sector is one conversation away from a written answer. Start with what is actually going on.

One hour on your business, with the CFO who would hold the seat rather than a salesperson. Nothing to prepare and nothing to sign. A written note back within two working days saying what we heard and what we would look at first.
BOOK A CONVERSATIONREAD THE AGREEMENT
ONE HOUR · NO CHARGE · A WRITTEN NOTE BACK WITHIN TWO WORKING DAYS
THE HOURWhat the business does, how the cash moves through it, and what would have to be different in a year.
THE NOTEWhat we heard and what we would look at first, in writing, within two working days.
THE PODA CFO who has run finance in this sector before, with a named backup who already knows your file.
THE STANDARDClose by the seventh working day, pack on the eighth, and a published response standard in between.