You Bill by the Hour.
We Make Sure
Every Hour Counts.
Attorneys, consultants, architects, and professional service firms face a unique financial challenge: your revenue is invisible until it's billed and collected. We build the financial systems that turn your expertise into a profitable, well-run business.
You bill $250/hour. But after write-downs, slow-pay clients, and unbilled WIP, you're collecting closer to $180. That gap — your realization rate — is the single most important number most professional service firms never track.
We build the reporting that makes your realization rate visible — and the systems that improve it. For many firms, this is the single highest-leverage financial change they can make.
What's Actually
Holding Your
Firm Back
Professional service firms face financial challenges that general accountants often miss. These are the ones we see most often — and fix.
Billing Rate vs. Realization Rate
Revenue leakYou bill $250/hour but collect $180 after write-downs, discounts, and slow-pay clients. Most professional service firms don't track realization rate — and it's costing them tens of thousands per year.
WIP & Unbilled Revenue
Cash timingWork in progress that hasn't been invoiced represents real value sitting on the table. Without proper WIP tracking, you're flying blind on how much revenue you've actually earned vs. billed.
Partner Draws vs. Profit
ClarityMany professional service firms confuse partner draws with profit. Without clean books and proper entity structure, you can't tell if the business is actually profitable after paying yourself.
Trust Account Compliance
Compliance riskAttorneys and some other professionals must maintain strict trust account separation. Commingling client funds is a bar complaint waiting to happen — and it happens more often than anyone admits.
Project Profitability Tracking
Margin visibilityYou know your top-line revenue, but do you know which clients, which practice areas, or which types of projects are actually profitable? Most firms don't — and they keep taking on unprofitable work.
Quarterly Estimated Taxes
Tax planningSelf-employed professionals and S-corp owners face quarterly estimated tax obligations that can catch you off guard if you're not tracking income and setting aside reserves throughout the year.
Staff Utilization & Overhead Allocation
CapacityUnderstanding how much of your staff's time is billable vs. administrative — and how to allocate overhead across service lines — is critical for pricing decisions and hiring.
Entity Structure & Tax Efficiency
Tax savingsSole proprietor, S-corp, partnership, or professional LLC? The right entity structure for a professional service firm can save thousands in self-employment tax — but it requires careful analysis.
What a Well-Run Professional
Service Firm Looks Like
Most firms never see this state — not because it's hard to achieve, but because nobody ever built the systems to get there. This is what we're building toward.
Realization Rate Tracked Monthly
You know exactly what you billed, what you collected, and what you wrote off — by client, by project, and by staff member. No surprises.
WIP Actively Managed Each Month
Earned revenue is billed while it’s still fresh and visible. Unbilled work is reviewed monthly so nothing falls through the cracks and revenue is recognized when it’s earned.
Trust Account Always Reconciled
For attorneys: your IOLTA is reconciled monthly, three-way. You sleep at night. Bar audits are a non-event. Client funds are never at risk.
Owner Pays Less, Keeps More
S-corp election analyzed and implemented if it saves money. Quarterly estimates current. Year-end has no surprises. You keep more of what you earn.
We Don't Just Clean Your Books —
We Understand How You Bill
Most accountants treat professional service firms like any other small business. We don't. We understand realization rates, WIP aging, trust accounting, partner draws, and the difference between a firm that's busy and a firm that's profitable.
“Most accountants tell professional service firms to find a specialist. We are the specialist.”
Billing System Expertise
We've worked inside the billing workflows of law firms, consulting practices, and architecture firms. We know how to connect your time-tracking software to your books — and how to make the numbers tell the truth.
Trust Account Compliance
IOLTA and client trust accounts require specific handling. We set them up correctly, reconcile them monthly, and make sure your three-way reconciliation is always current — so a bar audit is never a crisis.
Partner & Owner Economics
We model partner draws, profit distributions, and S-corp elections so you're not overpaying in self-employment tax or leaving money on the table. This is where most professional service firms have the biggest opportunity.
What Are You Trying to Solve?
Not every firm has the same goal. We work with professional service businesses at every stage.
Get Clean & Compliant
Your books are behind, your trust account makes you nervous, or you've never had a real accounting system. We start by getting you clean — no judgment, no drama.
Understand the Numbers
You're profitable on paper but cash is always tight. You want to understand which clients and projects are actually making money — and which ones are draining you.
Build for the Future
You're adding staff, opening a second location, or planning an exit. We build the financial infrastructure that supports growth — or helps you position for a clean sale.
Not every firm wants to grow.Some of our best clients are solo practitioners who want to stay solo — they just want to stop losing sleep over their books, pay less in taxes, and know their numbers. That's a completely legitimate goal, and we're good at it.
Services for Professional Firms
Each service category addresses a specific layer of reporting strength and control discipline. Most clients start with operations and add advisory as they grow.
Need something specific? Our Advisory Services menu includes à la carte projects like realization rate analysis, billing system reviews, and entity restructuring — priced transparently with no retainer required.
The foundation. Clean books, reconciled accounts, and WIP visibility so you always know where you stand.
The insight layer. Which clients, projects, and staff are making money — and which are quietly costing you.
The protection layer. Trust accounts, quarterly taxes, and entity structure done right so you're never caught off guard.
The strategy layer. For firms ready to hire, borrow, or build something transferable.
What Changes When We Work Together
When You're Ready to Borrow,
We Know What Banks Look For
Professional service firms often need financing to hire ahead of growth, fund a partner buyout, or bridge a slow-pay client situation. Our founder Carrie spent years in commercial lending — reviewing credit spreads, structuring SBA loans, and analyzing business financials from the lender's perspective.
When you need a business line of credit, an SBA loan, or equipment financing, we prepare your financials the way a lender wants to see them — not just clean, but compelling.
Most professional service firms don't think about their banking relationship until they need money. By then, it's too late to clean up the books. We keep you bank-ready all year long.
Software We Work With
We integrate with your existing tools — no switching required.
What We've Done for Professional Services Firms
Real outcomes from real professional services businesses — not projections.
Engineering Firm — $2.8M, Montana
Restructured from partnership to S-corp, implemented project-level profitability tracking, and corrected 2 years of misclassified R&D expenses. Net tax savings of $22K in year one.
Law Firm — $4.1M, Colorado
Transitioned from a reactive CPA relationship to a full controller engagement. Built partner draw reporting, trust account compliance, and monthly P&L by practice area.
Consulting Group — $1.6M, Remote
Built lender-ready financials and a 3-year projection model. Secured an SBA 7(a) loan to fund a strategic acquisition. Bank required DSCR modeling — delivered in 10 days.
What Professional Services Firms Say
“We were filing taxes and calling it financial management. 406 showed us what project-level profitability actually looks like. We cut two unprofitable service lines and grew revenue 18% in one year.”
“The controller engagement changed how we run the firm. Partner draws are structured, trust accounting is clean, and we finally have monthly P&L by practice area. It's a different business.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Know Your Numbers?
Whether you're a solo practitioner or a growing firm, we build the reporting infrastructure that lets you focus on your clients — not your books.
Serving professional service firms across Montana and the Mountain West.