In professional services, your capacity is your inventory, and unbilled hours don't come back. Finance teams have to forecast revenue from work that hasn't been billed yet, track margin one engagement at a time, and make hiring decisions months before demand shows up in the pipeline.
Most firms still piece this together across their PSA, ERP, CRM and HR systems, with spreadsheets filling the gaps. The result is a forecast that's always a step behind, and hard questions that take too long to answer: Are we staffed for what's coming? Which clients and projects actually make money? Where is margin slipping before it hits the P&L?
In this session, Christian Wattig sits down with Armanino's Dean Quiambao and [Speaker 2] to share how leading professional services firms answer those questions with confidence.
What you'll learn
Forecast revenue from pipeline to backlog to billable hours. Connect CRM pipeline, signed backlog and utilization into one revenue forecast.
Measure profitability where it's made. See margin by project, client, practice and service line, not just at the firm level.
Plan capacity ahead of demand. Model headcount, ramp time and bench so you hire for the work that's coming, not the work you already lost.
Catch margin leaks early. Track realization, write-offs, WIP and billing cycles before they show up in the close.
Plan for what-ifs. Build scenarios for rate changes, hiring freezes, a big client win or a slowdown in demand.
Who should attend
CFOs, VPs of Finance, Controllers and FP&A leaders at consulting, accounting, legal, engineering, architecture, marketing and other professional services firms.
