The challenge

A creative agency with four full time staff and a roster of freelancers was billing more than ever but the founder could never figure out where the money was going. Revenue was growing but profit felt elusive. He had a vague sense that certain clients were more trouble than they were worth but no data to back that up. His bookkeeping was handled by a junior team member with no accounting background and his monthly reports were too inconsistent to be useful.

What we did

Vooks took over the bookkeeping and immediately introduced project level tracking so every client engagement could be measured for true profitability. We factored in direct costs, freelancer fees, software, and the proportional time of full time staff to produce a genuine picture of margin per client and per project type.

Through CFO advisory sessions we presented this analysis clearly and worked with the founder to identify which clients and service lines were driving real profit and which were consuming resources without adequate return.

The outcome

The analysis revealed that two of their largest clients by revenue were among their least profitable when true costs were factored in. The founder restructured those engagements, repriced two service lines, and declined to renew one client contract. Revenue dipped slightly in the short term but net profit increased by 35 percent within two quarters. The business became noticeably less stressful to run and the founder finally felt in control of where the agency was headed.