Automate the calculation of profitability per mission in an accounting firm

Customer request

This company faced a major challenge: precisely measuring the profitability of all its activities.

Their time monitoring and cost calculation were based on a relatively arbitrary rule, limiting their analysis of boni/mali per mission, business unit or partner. Data from the past, entered into their DIA tool, presented quality disparities between teams, making analyses less robust. With many different professions (legal, accounting, social, asset management, auditors, etc.), the firm navigated its activities at sight.

The need was clear: setting up a complete controlling system to obtain a real cost per employee, an analytical vision by activity, and dynamic management tools under Power BI.

Our mission was to connect and make three key systems reliable (DIA for time, SILAE for payroll, ACD for accounting), automatically calculate the Deferred Income/Invoice to be issued, then deploy a complete cost model integrating salaries, variable and fixed expenses, to arrive at an accurate calculation of boni/mali per mission.

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Results

In a few weeks, we transformed the firm into a data-driven organization. The first milestone was to automate the Calculation of Deferred Income/Invoice to be issued directly in DIA, making it possible to adjust the accounting turnover monthly and to obtain a reliable vision of turnover by business. We then have built a comprehensive standard cost model per employee, including the salary costs divided by profession (via SILAE), variable mission expenses as well as fixed costs.

Three Power BI dashboards have been deployed : one for monitoring Deferred Income/Invoice to be issued, a second for the analysis of boni/mali by mission and by partner, and a third consolidating the firm's global KPIs (Sales, Gross Margin, EBITDA) via implemented EPM Amelkis.

Each partner now has a real-time view of the profitability of their missions, with the possibility of filtering by profession, mission manager or period.

A data reliability process was co-constructed with mission managers to guarantee the quality of the time entered, a prerequisite for the sustainability of the system. The reconciliation between Power BI calculations and Amelkis' analytical income statements ensures the overall consistency of the system.

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Observed gains

Six months after deployment, the benefits are measured at three strategic levels.

‍At the decision-making level, the partners now manage their activities on reliable data: they identify the most profitable jobs and missions, adjust their rates according to real costs, and reallocate their resources to activities with the highest margin.

‍Operationally, the time spent on reporting has been reduced by 30%, freeing up finance teams for strategic analysis.  

‍On the commercial side, the firm has concrete arguments to justify prices to customers, with complete traceability of the time spent and the costs incurred.

Data culture has taken hold: mission managers regularly consult dashboards to adjust their budget estimates and anticipate overruns. The firm has identified key jobs, which generate 40% of the gross margin with only 25% of the workforce, making it possible to reorient the recruitment and commercial development strategy. Building on this transformation, the firm has deployed the same controlling system on its new acquisitions, accelerating their integration and increasing their profitability.