Accountants for Professional Services.
You're billing more than ever. So why does cash always feel tight? In professional services, your profit is tied up in time– recorded, written off, unbilled, or waiting to be paid. We help solicitors, consultants, surveyors and architects see exactly where it's leaking and get it back.
220+
Businesses supported
Xero
Award winners
Brown & Brown
Among our clients
Sound familiar?
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The work is going well. The numbers tell a different story.
Time written off, work sitting unbilled, invoices paid late. Every one of those takes profit out of the business– and most firms don't find out until year-end, when it's far too late to fix.
• Lock-up
The firm is busy and fees look healthy, but your cash is stuck in work you've done and haven't been paid for.
• Who’s profitable?
You couldn't say which service lines or fee earners actually make money, you just know everyone seems busy.
• Write-offs
Time gets written off every month and nobody could tell you exactly how much, or which clients it keeps happening on.
• Drawings vs profit
Partners and directors take drawings based on how things feel, not on what the firm has actually earned.
What we track
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The numbers that matter in professional services.
Not generic accounts. The measures that show where your profit really goes and what to do about it.
• Lock-up (WIP + debtor days)
See exactly how long your cash sits between doing the work and getting paid– the single biggest drain on a professional services firm.
• Utilisation & chargeable time
How much of your team's time is billable versus absorbed, so you know whether you're under-resourced or over-staffed.
• Recovery rate
What you actually bill against the time you record. Track it by client and fee earner so write-offs stop being invisible.
• Profit by service line
Know which departments and types of work genuinely pay, and which are being quietly subsidised by the rest of the firm.
• Profit per fee earner
What each person genuinely contributes once salary and overhead are accounted for– so growth in headcount actually means growth in profit.
• Fee pipeline & forecasting
A forward view of committed and expected fees, so you can plan hiring, drawings and investment with confidence.
What changes for you
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From busy and stretched to busy and in control.
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See it
Find where the profit leaks.
A Xero setup built for professional services, with reporting on lock-up, recovery and profit by service line– not one lump sum at year-end.
Understand it
Sit down with us every quarter.
We walk through where time is being written off, which work is worth doing more of, and how to get cash in faster– all in plain English.
Act on it
Pay yourselves properly.
Proactive tax planning and clear profit forecasting, so drawings and investment decisions are based on facts, not gut feel.
Bold St Media
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Driving performance with data-led financial insights.
We transformed Bold St Media’s accounting setup with bespoke reporting and real-time financial insights, helping the team move from reactive decisions to a more proactive, growth-focused way of working.
Testimonial
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"We love working with the team at Ashton McGill. The way you approach accountancy is so refreshing and has brought so many positive impacts to our business. Thank you!”
Eilidh McCluskie, Bold St Media
Services
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Support that meets you where you are, and grows with you.
What you need from your accountant changes as your business evolves. Sometimes it’s about getting the foundations right. Sometimes you need a better understanding of how the business is performing. And sometimes you need someone alongside you as you think through a much bigger decision.
We build the right level of support around where your business is now, with the ability to evolve it as your ambitions, opportunities, and challenges change.
You're building the foundations.
You want to know the essentials are being handled properly and that the systems behind the business are set up to support you as it grows. We’ll help you build a strong accounting foundation from the start, with technology and processes designed around the way your business actually works.
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Accounts, tax, payroll and VAT taken care of reliably.
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Not an out-of-the-box setup. Your accounting system should reflect what you need to track and understand.
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Regular contact with a team that understands what you’re building and is there when you need support.
You want to understand how the business is really performing.
The business is established, but there’s more happening now. Revenue alone doesn’t tell you whether things are moving in the right direction. You want to know what’s performing, where money is going, what needs attention, and what your numbers mean for the decisions ahead. We’ll give you a clearer view of the business and the conversations that help you use it.
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See the numbers and performance measures that are genuinely useful for your business.
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Understand what’s changed, why it matters, and what deserves your attention next.
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Plan ahead rather than waiting until the year is over to find out what could have been done differently.
You're making bigger decisions about what's next.
Hiring. Investing. Changing your pricing. Raising funding. Expanding. Preparing for an exit. As the decisions get bigger, looking at what has already happened isn’t enough. You need to understand where different choices could take the business before you commit. We’ll help you plan ahead, test the possibilities and make those decisions with a stronger financial picture behind you.
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Turn where you want the business to go into something you can plan and measure against.
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Use forecasts and scenario planning to understand the financial impact of different choices.
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Funding, investment, and growth decisions thought through with someone who understands both the numbers and the business.
Let's find out where your profit is really going.
Book a free, no-pressure discovery call. We'll talk through where you are, what's frustrating you, and whether we can help.