04 · UTILISATION, BILLING AND COLLECTIONS

Professional & People Businesses

When people are your biggest cost, finance must understand people and clients.

You sell expertise and time. A business can look profitable overall while individual clients, partners, teams or projects tell a very different story.

Clients→Billable time→Billing→People cost→Utilisation→Collections

Talk to a finance expert Get the industries brochure

Recruitment & Staffing

Placements, contract staff and payroll at scale

Other Service Businesses

Agencies, facility, logistics and field services

Firms, partners and engagement margins

Professional Services

Law, architecture, design, accounting and other firms billing for expertise by engagement, retainer or hour.

Engagements→Time→Billing→Realisation→Partner cost→Collections

Where finance gets stuck

Work done but not billed (WIP)
Write-offs and discounts never analysed
Partner drawings mixed with business cost
Long collection cycles

What your MIS must show

Revenue and margin by client and engagement
Utilisation by person and team
Realisation after write-offs
WIP and unbilled days
Debtor days

Compliance to watch

GST on professional services, incl. reverse charge where applicable
TDS deducted by clients and 26AS reconciliation
Partnership / LLP compliance
Partner remuneration and capital accounts

How Vasudhaiva helps

Engagement-wise profitability
Billing and collections discipline
Partner and capital accounting
Business Accountant + Backup™

Which clients pay for our best people's time?

Let’s answer it together →

Retainers, projects and pipeline

Consulting

Advisory businesses with retainers and projects, where pipeline and team capacity decide next quarter.

Pipeline→Retainers→Projects→Consultant cost→Margin→Cash

Where finance gets stuck

Lumpy revenue that is hard to forecast
Associates and freelancers not costed to projects
Travel and expenses not recovered
Founder time not priced

What your MIS must show

Pipeline and win rate
Retainer vs project revenue mix
Project margin incl. associate cost
Expense recovery %
Revenue per consultant

Compliance to watch

GST on domestic and export consulting
TDS on associate and freelancer fees
GST treatment of reimbursements
Overseas client receipts under FEMA

How Vasudhaiva helps

Project and retainer MIS
Cash-flow forecasting
Associate payments and compliance
Fractional CFO for pricing and growth

If two clients leave, how many months do we have?

Let’s answer it together →

Placements, contract staff and payroll at scale

Recruitment & Staffing

Permanent placement fees and contract staffing where you pay salaries before clients pay you.

Placements / deployed staff→Markup→Payroll→Statutory cost→Client margin→Cash gap

Where finance gets stuck

Paying deployed staff before clients pay
Statutory costs not passed through correctly
Thin markups eroded by attrition and replacement
Placement fees refunded or disputed

What your MIS must show

Gross margin per deployed associate
Client-wise markup and payment days
Placements, fees and refunds
Associate attrition
Working-capital gap

Compliance to watch

GST on manpower supply
PF, ESIC, PT, LWF and gratuity for deployed staff
TDS on salaries and contract payments
Labour-law records and returns

How Vasudhaiva helps

Payroll and statutory compliance at scale
Client margin and cash-gap MIS
Working-capital funding
Finance hiring through VRecruitFirst

How much cash does every new contract eat before it pays back?

Let’s answer it together →

Fees in advance, batches and centres

Education & Training

Schools, coaching, edtech and corporate training where fees arrive before delivery and capacity drives margin.

Enrolments→Fees collected→Deferred revenue→Faculty cost→Batch / centre margin→Cash

Where finance gets stuck

Fees collected upfront and spent before they are earned
Refunds and dropouts not provided for
Batch and centre profitability unknown
Faculty paid through mixed salary and fee structures

What your MIS must show

Enrolments and conversion
Revenue per student and per batch
Faculty cost %
Deferred fee balance
Centre-wise P&L

Compliance to watch

GST exemption vs taxable training (depends on the service)
Trust / Section 8 compliance where applicable
TDS on faculty fees
Revenue recognition for advance fees

How Vasudhaiva helps

Fee and deferred-revenue accounting
Batch and centre profitability
Payroll and faculty payments
Trust and non-profit compliance

How much of the fee in our bank is still owed in teaching?

Let’s answer it together →

Agencies, facility, logistics and field services

Other Service Businesses

Marketing agencies, facility management, logistics, maintenance and other models built on people and contracts.

Contracts→Delivery cost→Billing→Collections→Margin→Cash

Where finance gets stuck

Contract-level margin unknown
Field and vendor costs booked late
Retainers not reviewed against effort
Founders chasing collections themselves

What your MIS must show

Margin by contract / client
Cost per job or site
Billing and collection cycle
Vendor and subcontractor cost
Revenue per employee

Compliance to watch

GST on services and reverse charge
TDS on contractors
Payroll for field staff
Vendor reconciliations

How Vasudhaiva helps

Contract-wise MIS
Billing and collections discipline
Payroll and compliance
Business Accountant™ model

Which contracts would we take again at the same price?

Let’s answer it together →

Whatever your industry

Every client gets the same finance discipline.

Books by the 12th

Closed by the 12th of the following month, wherever agreed data availability permits.

Daily banking discipline

Transactions updated and monitored every day.

MIS around your drivers

Built for your business model, not an accounting template.

Monthly MBRICKS™ review

Numbers become decisions, every month.

Backup and escalation

No single point of failure in your finance team.

Documented processes

Knowledge doesn’t live in one person’s head.

Not sure where to start?

Don’t guess. Assess.

Finance Function Assessment™

Is my finance function ready for where the business is going? Seven dimensions: people, process, discipline, systems, MIS, controls and business partnership. You get a scorecard and a 30/60/90-day roadmap.

Assess my finance function →

Custom MIS Assessment™

What are my numbers really telling me? Share your data. We build an MIS around your industry drivers, explain it and recommend action. ₹10,000, adjustable against your first engagement.

Start an MIS assessment →

Or ask us for the Vasudhaiva Industries brochure: one page per industry family, with the drivers, MIS and compliance checklist for your sector.

Request the brochure

Your business is unique. Your finance function should be too.

Let’s understand your business before we recommend anything.

Talk to a finance expert