Professional Services
Your expertise is what you sell. We make sure it pays, with clear profit by client and service, work turned into cash sooner, and tax planned for every partner and director.
Firms that sell expertise
Whether you bill by the hour, by the project or on retainer, your value lies in your people.
- Consultancies and advisersManagement, IT and specialist consultancies and recruitment firms, paid by the day, the project or the retainer.
- Regulated practicesLaw firms, architects, surveyors and other practices governed by a professional body and its rules.
Where profit slips away
Uneven cash flow
Milestone billing and slow-paying clients create long gaps between completing work and being paid for it.
Unclear profitability
Without time and costs recorded against each client, it is difficult to see which clients, services and people are profitable.
Partner and director pay
Salary, dividends, drawings and profit shares are taxed differently, and are best planned before the year begins.
Hiring ahead of the work
Each new hire is a fixed cost from day one, often before the work to support it is secured.
Where we make the difference
One dedicated team for your books, accounts, tax and advice, shaped around how professional services works.
- Billing and work in progressMonthly reporting on unbilled time and unpaid invoices, so cash gaps are visible early.
- Profit by client and serviceManagement accounts that show where margin is earned, and where it is lost.
- Pay for partners and directorsThe right balance of salary, dividends, pension and profit share for each partner and director, agreed before the year begins.
- Pricing and fee adviceHourly rates, fixed fees and retainers tested against the time each engagement actually takes.
- Advice for the next stageSupport when you admit a partner, open an office or plan a sale, with the tax implications of each option set out first.
Our latest thinking
- Growth and advisoryAccounting and bookkeepingLock-up in professional firms: turning time into cash soonerInsight2 min read2 min read
- TaxGrowth and advisorySalary or dividends in 2026/27? For higher-rate directors, it is closer than it wasInsight2 min read2 min read
- Growth and advisoryLeadership and strategyThe arithmetic of price: why a small discount needs a lot more salesInsight2 min read2 min read
Frequently asked questions
How should we pay ourselves as directors?
Usually through a modest salary, dividends and employer pension contributions rather than salary alone. The best balance depends on the company’s profits, the tax rates of the day and your other income, so we set it at the start of each year and review it before the year ends.
How can we get paid sooner for the work we do?
Look at lock-up, the days your work sits unbilled plus the days invoices sit unpaid. Agreeing fees and billing points at the start of each engagement, billing more often in smaller amounts and chasing on a fixed routine all shorten it. We report it every month, so you can see it fall.
Read: Lock-up in professional firms: turning time into cash soonerWhy does work in progress affect our profit and tax?
Accounting standards treat work you have done but not yet invoiced as income once it is earned, not only when you bill it. For firms with long projects or retainers, that can move profit, and tax, between years. We agree a consistent method for valuing it, so your accounts show what you have really earned.
Do the IR35 (off-payroll) rules affect us?
They can, from either side. If you engage contractors through their own companies, medium and large businesses must decide their employment status and may need to run them through payroll; small businesses are exempt. If you work as a contractor yourself, you may need to assess your own status. We review your arrangements and record the reasoning.
Read: Contractors and IR35: who decides, and why small clients are differentShould our firm be a partnership, an LLP or a company?
It depends on how much profit you keep in the business, how partners or directors want to be paid and the protection from liability you need. A company pays Corporation Tax and lets its owners choose when to take profits; a partnership or LLP taxes each partner on their share as it is earned. We model each option on your own figures before you decide.
Read: Sole trader, partnership or company: structuring a private practiceTalk to us about professional services
Tell us about your business. We will reply within one working day and arrange a call with the people in our team best placed to help.