WHOSE NUMBERS ARE RIGHT?
Most finance teams have data but still can’t get to trusted numbers quickly.
In professional services, planning, reporting and performance data move through different systems before finance has one clean view.
By the time the numbers are checked, reconciled and explained, leadership may already be making decisions from an outdated view of the business.
Answer our benchmark questions to receive your Planning & Reporting Confidence Report.
You’ll get a result band, a clear explanation of what it means, the area that appears strongest and the part of the model most likely to slow progress.
You’ll receive immediate results, a personalised report and practical next steps.
WHERE THE NUMBERS START TO DRIFT?
The symptoms look different from firm to firm, but the common pressure points in professional services include:
Utilisation and Chargeability
Billable time sits in one place. Capacity sits somewhere else. Finance still has to reconcile what counts as billable, available or chargeable.
Headcount and Capacity
Hiring plans, leavers, grade mix and delivery demand are often updated in different places.
Project Margin
A project can look healthy at kick-off and drift before finance sees the full margin impact.
Rate Realisation and Leakage
Discounts, write-downs, write-offs and over-service can reduce value before leaders see the full margin impact.
Forecasting and Reporting
Forecast assumptions, partner reporting and board packs often need manual checks before being usable.
Cash, WIP and Unbilled Work
Delivered work does not always turn into invoiced, collected cash quickly enough.
The Numbers Exist But They’re Not Ready to Use
Every planning or reporting cycle should help leaders decide what to do next.
Too often, finance has to spend the first part of the cycle chasing data, checking spreadsheets and reconciling different versions of the same number.
If utilisation, headcount, margin, revenue, OPEX, WIP and cash are all moving through different systems, someone in finance has to stitch everything together before the business can use it.
This may be necessary but it should not be where finance spends most of its time.
Recent FP&A operating model research shows:
● 46% of effort is consumed by data collection and validation
● 31% of time is spent on insight and action
● 45% of FP&A departments still primarily rely on spreadsheets
● Only 21% have implemented a modern cloud planning platform
Source: FP&A Trends Group, The FP&A Operating Model: Designing the Corporate Decision System for the AI Era, 2026.
SEE WHERE THE PROCESS IS SLOWING DOWN
This report is designed for CFOs, Finance Directors, Heads of FP&A, Controllers and senior planning owners in professional services firms.
It gives you a practical read on how quickly finance can get to numbers the business trusts.
This is not to assess your business. It helps describe where the strain may be showing up and what firms with similar results usually check first. The benchmark questions cover six connected areas:
Decision Support
Does finance help shape decisions, or mainly explain the numbers afterwards?
Process Responsiveness
Can the forecast or performance view change quickly when the business changes?
Data and Assumptions
Are teams working from the same definitions, assumptions and drivers?
Systems and Integration
Do systems reduce manual work, or create another layer of reconciliation?
Finance & Business Alignment
Do finance, practice leaders and operational teams plan from the same drivers?
Ownership & Adoption
Is the planning and reporting model clearly owned, used and kept up to date?
Your Report Will Include:
● Your Planning & Reporting Confidence result band
● What that result usually means in a professional services firm
● Where firms with similar results often lose time
● The strongest area in your planning and reporting model
● The area most likely to slow progress
● Three practical priorities to consider
● A suggested 90-day focus
WHAT CHANGES WHEN FINANCE CAN TRUST THE NUMBERS FASTER?
Leaders spend less time debating whose spreadsheet is right and more time deciding what to do.
A focused improvement can help finance:
● Reduce manual reconciliation
● Standardise definitions for utilisation, chargeability, margin and cash
● Connect headcount, capacity and delivery demand
● Shorten forecast update cycles
● Show project margin movement earlier
● Give leaders clearer answers before the next meeting, not after it
Cleaner data, clearer ownership and fewer manual hand-offs also make future automation easier to trust.
But the first step is to find the part of the process where the numbers take too long to reconcile, then fix that first.
HOW PROPRIETY GROUP
HELPS?
You do not need to start with a transformation programme.
Propriety Group helps finance teams replace spreadsheet-heavy, disconnected planning and reporting with a more controlled, trusted and responsive model.
We start with the area casuing the most issues. That may be:
● Forecasting or OPEX planning taking too long
● Utilisation, capacity or headcount not lining up
● Project margin needing too much manual explanation
● Rate realisation or leakage showing up too late
● WIP, DSO or cash not matching the operational view
● Board packs or partner reporting needing too many manual checks
Instead of replacing every system or starting an 18-month programme, we find the first place where better data, clearer ownership and fewer manual hand-offs can get the numbers trusted faster.
GET A SINGLE VERSION OF THE
TRUTH FOR FASTER, BETTER
DECISIONS
Your business is losing time, money and opportunities if finance is manually reconciling numbers that leaders end up doubting.
Start the diagnostic to get an instant, detailed report that helps you identify what's working well and where.
www.proprietygroup.com