Ledgermont Accounting
Chargeable hours, realization, collections, and engagement profitability
About Ledgermont Accounting
Industry
Mid-size CPA firm
Staff
110 accountants and paraprofessionals
Clients
380; Engagements: 2,400
Service lines
6
Offices
6
Annual billed fees
about $32M
Utilization
about 82%
Realization
about 85%
Days sales outstanding
about 67
Dataset scope
9 Standard-tier tables
Ledgermont Accounting is a fictional mid-size certified public accounting firm created for synthetic BI demos and training; its staff, clients, and engagements represent no real firm or person. The firm sells time: six service lines log hours against engagements, release work in progress to billing, and collect fees, with a tax busy season lifting the front of every year. BI builders can move from chargeable hours and standard value into utilization, realization, billing, collections, receivables aging, budget variance, and engagement profitability. Chargeable hours are growing about 10% a year, and the growth comes from winning larger engagements rather than simply opening more.
Operating Profile
- Six service lines span recurring compliance and project work: tax, audit and assurance, advisory, bookkeeping, valuation, and tax controversy.
- Staff run from partner to paraprofessional, each with a standard chargeable rate and an internal cost rate, and log about 1,730 hours a year.
- Timekeepers log preparation, review, fieldwork, client meetings, research, and administration, and administration is never chargeable.
- Engagements carry a fee arrangement, an active window, a budget in hours, and a lifecycle status, and start logging time about 25 days after they open.
- Each service line carries its own season, from a sharp tax peak to near-flat recurring bookkeeping and counter-seasonal advisory work.
- About 71% of recorded work in progress releases to billing with write-ups and write-downs, and the rest carries as unbilled WIP.
Recent Business Events
- 1Chargeable hours are up about 10% year over year, and every month beats the same month a year earlier.
- 2Average engagement size has grown faster than engagement count, so the book is shifting toward larger pieces of work.
- 3Utilization runs highest at staff levels near 86% and lowest for partners near 71%, who carry practice management work.
- 4Realization runs highest on retainer and time-and-materials work and lowest on fixed-fee compliance; audit realizes best by line, advisory worst.
- 5Collections hold days outstanding near 67, with most of the open balance inside 60 days and little aging past six months.
These are the operating questions this kit is optimized to answer first.
Chargeable hours, standard value, and utilization by service line and staff level
Realization by service line, client industry, and fee arrangement
Budgeted hours against actual hours by engagement, service line, and office
Billed fees, collections, and outstanding receivables by aging bucket
Engagement profitability across standard value, billed fees, WIP, labor cost, and margin
Staff and engagement productivity
Embedded Analytical Stories
Chargeable time and WIP
Track recorded hours, chargeable hours, and standard value over time, by service line and task type.
Utilization and leverage
Compare utilization and effective rates across staff levels, where partners bill fewer hours at higher rates.
Realization
Compare standard value released, billed fees, and realization across service lines, client industries, and fee arrangements.
Budget versus actual
Compare budgeted hours against hours logged; about 90% of engagements land within 30% of budget.
Collections and AR aging
Trace billed fees through collections into a balance that ages from current into the over-180-day tail.
Engagement profitability
Rank engagements by margin, realization, and unbilled WIP against labor cost, with in-flight work shown as unbilled.