Ask VeraSage: How do you measure client profitability and employee productivity?
Dan Kravitz with the most frequently asked question we at VeraSage get:
Mr. Baker:Our firm is reviewing the possibility of moving away from a time and billing system. We are a third party administrator in the retirement plan industry with 65 employees and about 1,000 clients. We work and function like many accounting firms.
We are having difficulties understanding how you (1) measure client profitability and (2) measure employee productivity if you are no longer tracking time?
Thanks,
Dan Kravitz
Thanks for the question Dan. As you can imagine, we have devised ways to both measure client profitability and team member effectiveness without timesheets. So have the 400+ firms around the world that don't operate with timesheets.
There's no way I can provide a short answer in a post. Instead, I'm going to have you read the following, from our Web site:
No timesheets, is it possible?
My ACCA book, Trashing the Timseheet
Timesheets are training wheels
For much greater depth, get my book, Measure What Matters to Customers: Using Key Predictive Indicators
I also strongly recommend the essays by Paul and O'Byrne and Paul Kennedy.
Once you've read these, you can find even more by typing in "Timesheets" in the VeraSage Search engine. Also, read our Trailblazers and Main Thread sections for more examples of firms without timesheets.
Better yet, have each of your executive team read various articles and provide a report to the group. You'll be amazed at how simple the answers to your questions really are.
I hope that helps.
