The Metrics Accounting Firms Need: Utilization, Realization, and WIP
Why tracking breaks down in growing firms? As an accounting practice adds clients, services and staff, visibility gets harder. Work moves across email, spreadsheets and disconnected tools, so partners rely on instinct to judge performance. The problem is not effort. The problem is that profitability and productivity are outcomes of many small decisions: how work is assigned, how time is captured, how scope is controlled and how billing follows delivery. An accounting practice management system brings those inputs into one place, which makes the numbers reliable enough to manage. Profitability starts with clean engagement structure To track profit, the system needs consistent engagement setup. Each client should have defined services, frequency, pricing model and a standard workflow. When tasks and time are attached to the correct service line, you can see which work pays and which work drains margin. Fixed-fee engagements become easier to evaluate because you can compare hours spen...