Professional Services Firm: $185K Recovered in 45 Days

Industry: Professional Services | Revenue: $8.2M | Timeline: 45 Days

"Partner distributions had fallen 30% over two years. No single expense stood out as obviously wrong -- which is exactly the problem."

A professional services firm with 22 employees and 6 contractors was generating $8.2M in revenue but partner distributions had fallen by 30% over two years. No single expense stood out as obviously wrong. Revenue was stable, client relationships were strong, and the team was working hard. The problem was invisible in aggregate.

Contractor Overlap: $62,000 per Year Recoverable

Three contractors were billing a combined $8,400 per month for deliverables already covered by two salaried employees. The overlap had developed gradually -- the contractors were added for a project 18 months prior and their scope was never wound down after the project ended. Nobody made the decision to keep them on. It just never got revisited.

Unbilled Delivery Time: $74,000 per Year Recoverable

A time-tracking audit across the team revealed 380 or more hours per month of client-billable work being logged as "internal" due to unclear billing guidance from project managers. At the firm's blended rate of $195 per hour, this represented $74,000 per year in earned but uncaptured revenue.

Software and Tooling: $18,000 per Year Recoverable

Two separate CRM platforms were running simultaneously following a partial migration the prior year. The old platform had 14 active users generating no billable output. Consolidation saved $1,500 per month.

Vendor Contracts: $31,000 per Year Recoverable

Three vendor contracts had auto-renewed at rates 20 to 35% above market. Renegotiation at renewal produced $31,000 in annual savings. No relationships were terminated. All three vendors agreed to revised terms.

"The most expensive finding was the unbilled hours -- not because the team was dishonest, but because nobody had ever defined what billable versus internal actually meant in practice."

--- Results are from a real client engagement. Specific identifying details have been changed to protect client confidentiality.