Know whether each project is profitable before the invoice goes out
Ongoing margin monitoring by client engagement — so budget overruns surface while there's still time to act, not after the work is wrapped and the damage is done.
Margin data by project, updated while the work is still in progress
Weekly or bi-weekly status reports
Regular updates on where each active project stands relative to its budget — hours tracked, direct costs incurred, allocated overhead applied, and margin remaining.
Early warning on overruns
Projects approaching budget thresholds are flagged in the report before they cross the line — giving project leads enough time to adjust scope, billing, or resource allocation.
Billable hours versus costs
Time tracked against direct costs for each engagement — so the gap between what you're billing and what you're actually spending becomes a number you can see and manage.
Retainer and project billing supported
Works whether you're billing by the project, on retainer, or a combination. Revenue recognition and cost tracking adapt to how your specific engagements are structured.
Finding out a project ran at a loss after the work is done
Most agencies discover a project was unprofitable during the next monthly close — or when someone adds up the hours and realizes the team spent two weeks more than the budget allowed. By then, the client has been invoiced and the work is filed away. There's nothing to adjust.
Scope creep accumulates gradually. A few additional rounds of revisions, a brief that expanded over two months — individually, each feels manageable. Collectively, they've consumed margin that was never accounted for.
Retainer clients are particularly hard to assess mid-engagement. Without tracking what the retainer is actually covering each month, it's difficult to know whether you're under-billing, over-servicing, or both.
Project managers often lack visibility into financial data in real time — they're making resource decisions based on feel rather than actual cost figures, which makes it hard to course-correct early.
End-of-month reporting, by the time it arrives, is a post-mortem. Project Profitability Tracking shifts that visibility earlier in the process, where it can still make a difference.
Margin tracking built into the rhythm of active project delivery
Project Profitability Tracking sets up a monitoring layer over your active engagements. Revenue, direct costs, billable hours, and allocated overhead are tracked continuously — not just when it's time to close the books.
Continuous monitoring
Revenue and costs tracked as they accumulate, not assembled at month-end from whatever records are to hand.
Threshold alerts
Reports flag any project approaching or exceeding its budget — so project leads have the information before decisions become irreversible.
Per-project reporting
Each active engagement gets its own line in the report — margin remaining, cost breakdown, and status relative to budget.
What the ongoing service looks like week to week
Once the tracking structure is in place, Project Profitability Tracking becomes a background layer on your project delivery. Reports arrive consistently. Flags surface early. You spend less time wondering and more time deciding.
Weekly or bi-weekly report delivery
A status report for all active projects arrives on your chosen schedule. Each project shows current spend against budget, margin remaining, and any threshold flags for the period. Clear, consistent, and delivered without follow-up required.
Flagged projects discussed promptly
When a project is flagged, we're available to walk through the numbers — what's driving the variance, what the options are, and what the financial picture looks like under different scenarios. You get context, not just a number.
Project close-out summaries
When a project completes, a final summary shows actual versus budget across every cost category. Over time, these summaries build into a dataset that informs how similar engagements are quoted and resourced.
A fixed monthly rate for continuous project visibility
One monthly fee covering all active projects in the reporting period — whether you have three engagements running or twelve.
- Weekly or bi-weekly project status reports
- Revenue and cost tracking by client engagement
- Billable hours and direct costs tracked against project budgets
- Allocated overhead applied per project
- Budget threshold flags with lead time to course-correct
- Project close-out summaries with actual versus budget breakdown
- Available to discuss flagged projects and variances as they arise
What to expect, and when
Project Profitability Tracking tends to deliver useful information fairly quickly — because active projects are generating data from day one of monitoring.
First reports
Tracking structure configured, active projects mapped. First status report delivered with current cost and margin snapshot across all engagements.
Pattern visibility
Recurring cost patterns become visible. Which project types tend to run close to budget, which consistently overrun, and where the allocation assumptions need refining.
Informed pricing
Completed project close-outs accumulate into a body of data that meaningfully informs how similar future engagements are quoted and staffed.
A conversation to start — nothing more required
We'll start by asking about your current projects — how many you're running at any given time, how they're billed, and what visibility you currently have into their financial status. From there, we can give you a clear picture of what tracking would look like for your studio specifically.
If the service isn't the right fit — maybe your project volume is lower than the service is built for, or you're already getting this from your existing accounting setup — we'll tell you honestly. There's no pressure to proceed if it doesn't make practical sense.
A clear path forward
Reach out
Use the contact form or write to [email protected]. A few lines about your studio, how many projects you typically run, and what your billing structure looks like is enough to start the conversation.
Initial conversation
We'll discuss your current setup, what visibility you have now, and what the tracking structure would look like for your active projects. No obligation — just a practical discussion about fit.
Tracking goes live
We configure the monitoring layer over your active engagements and deliver the first report on your chosen schedule. Most of the setup happens on our end with minimal time required from yours.
Stop finding out your projects ran over budget after the fact
Project Profitability Tracking puts the numbers in front of you while there's still something to act on. A conversation about your studio's project structure is a good place to start.
Start a conversationMore from Wroughton
Many clients combine Project Profitability Tracking with one of our other services for a more complete financial picture.
Creative Agency Accounting
Full financial management for advertising agencies and creative consultancies — project revenue recognition, billing reconciliation, overhead allocation, and monthly profitability reporting.
Contractor & Vendor Payment Management
Organization and processing of payments to freelancers, production vendors, and media partners — invoice review, scheduling, and year-end documentation handled completely.