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Numbers that hold up, client by client

Utilization, backlog, project margin, WIP and collections: numbers that hold up client by client.

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Your operating model

What project-based delivery does to the numbers

Projects and retainers connect revenue to the work delivered. Reporting needs to distinguish work completed, amounts billed and cash collected. Capacity and committed backlog both matter when forecasting how much work the team can take on next.

  • Utilization and capacity across client work
  • Backlog and the timing of future revenue
  • Project margin and work in progress
  • Invoicing and collections

Revenue is only earned as the work is delivered, the delivery team is the main cost, and the gap between finishing a project and getting paid decides what the business can take on next. The finance work follows delivery: project margin, work in progress, billing and collections, and a forecast built on capacity and backlog.

The finance work behind it

How the finance work runs

  • Reporting follows how work is delivered, so each revenue stream appears with the cost of delivering it.
  • Project and engagement margin reporting, with work in progress and unbilled revenue tracked before it is invoiced.
  • Billing and collections move into a process, so invoicing follows delivery and receivables are followed up.
  • Budgeting and forecasting start from capacity, backlog and the timing of collections.
  • Cypher does not set rates or commercial terms; time tracking and project management tools stay with their vendors.
  • Contract terms determine how work is billed and recognised; any technical accounting questions should be identified when the engagement is scoped.

Project-based businesses usually start with the accounting and the billing process, then add forecasting. Accounting & Financial Operations →

The team, tuned to your model

Connected support for Project-based & professional services

02

Planning capacity and cash

Bring utilization, backlog and collections into the conversation about budgets, forecasts and cash flow.

FP&A & CFO Advisory →

03

Processes from delivery to collection

Review financial workflows and system integrations around project activity, invoicing and receivables.

Systems & Process Improvement →

Client examples

Sharpen: Making the numbers tell the true story

See how Cypher adapted accounting for Sharpen’s content-creation and streaming business, aligning revenue streams and costs with financial reporting.

Read the Sharpen story →
MyPanda: another example →

A services business with several revenue streams and payment flows that were not reflected in its financials, rebuilt into records that could support a raise.

Each example describes work already delivered for that client, not a promise of the same result.

Keep exploring

Support for the stage ahead

Explore another operating model or learn about our work with VC-backed founders and private equity portfolio companies.

Let's talk about your finance needs

Tell us about your operating model, your current finance setup and what comes next.

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