Articles

By Paul Foden, CEO, Aedon.Accounting

Professional services companies face a fundamental challenge: the services they offer are intangible—based on intellect, knowledge, and experience. Selling them is hard, and buying them isn’t any easier. These businesses rely heavily on feedback—not only from clients but also from employees.

You cannot deliver consistently high-quality services with disengaged or unhappy staff. Service excellence depends deeply on the individual’s mood: are they inspired? Can they be creative? Do they feel empowered?

3 Key Areas of Focus

Projects

Projects are the foundation for delivering successful services. They must be important as the destination. Burning out consultants is unsustainable—they must enjoy the projects too.

During my time at Accenture in the 90s, we were evaluated on each project and annually—but never given the opportunity to provide upward feedback or share our experience. The projects were often brutal, involving excessive overtime and pressure. Shouting and tears were not uncommon. Many staff left as a result. Thankfully, those days are behind us—but such behaviours can still simmer beneath the surface if not managed properly.

Managing Time

Every month, project managers must juggle four types of time: Budget, Timesheet, Invoiced, and Billed. Comparing Timesheets with Budget raises the ongoing dilemma of what to invoice: do you charge for over- or underspends, or simply stick to the budget?

Billed time reflects what your associates or subcontractors invoice you—and typically aligns with their Timesheets. Yet they, too, face the same dilemma when deciding what to charge.

These are the daily management challenges for leadership. But shareholders—often the founders and directors—must also keep the long game in mind: building a business with lasting value and a viable exit strategy.

KPI Horizons

Aedon.Accounting offers a suite of management dashboards spanning different time horizons. These include not only financial KPIs like EBITDA and Revenue Growth, but also operational metrics such as Revenue per Consultant, Customer and Employee Churn, Customer Net Promoter Scores, and Employee Satisfaction.

We also support investor-favoured metrics like the Rule of Forty (Revenue Growth Rate % + Profit Margin %) which, while more common in SaaS firms, are increasingly relevant to consultancies too.

Aedon.Accounting integrates these financial and non-financial indicators into Effectiveness and Efficiency Dashboards to enhance traditional management accounts.

This transformation reshapes the finance function. Out go passive reviews of stale figures; in come dynamic conversations around project performance and strategic progress. So, ask yourself—what kind of Finance Director do you want to be: active or passive?

A Compelling Business Case

The Harvard Business Review defines a compelling business case as one with a payback in under a year. At Aedon.Accounting, we use the same definition.

A blend of improved approval processes and granular, bottom-up reporting changes the behaviour of project managers and consultants—resulting in better cost control. This is underpinned by the Hawthorne Effect: behaviour changes when individuals know they are being observed.

These techniques can also apply to departmental costs, where personal accountability and supervision can yield further savings.

Typically, we see reductions of 2%–5% in project and departmental costs. Even at the lower end, the business case is straightforward: do the savings outweigh the recurring licence fees and one-off implementation costs? If not, think carefully before proceeding.

How Aedon.Accounting Can Help

At Aedon.Accounting, we believe finance teams should lead with insight—not just oversight. By combining financial precision with operational clarity, we help professional services firms manage projects more sustainably, empower their people, and build long-term value.

Whether you’re aiming for better cost control, clearer reporting, or a more strategic finance function, we’re here to help.

👉 Contact Aedon.Accounting for further information or call us on 0161 262 3355.