Success Story
Halloran Consulting Group
Halloran Consulting Group is a life-sciences consultancy that runs a classic professional-services finance model: project-based work, blended billing rates, multi-stage revenue recognition, and the kind of DSO concerns that can quietly erode a year's cash flow. After moving to Sage Intacct, Halloran added $4 million in new profit through a refined billing model, cut DSO from 120 to 68 days, and unlocked $1 million in additional monthly cash flow.
Outcomes
+$4m
New profit
From a refined blended-rate billing model.
120 → 68 days
DSO
−43% — material cash-flow improvement.
+$1m / month
Cash flow
Released by the DSO improvement.
1 week → 2 days
Invoicing cycle
From close to invoice, sharper and faster.
Sage Intacct modules deployed
The problem
What the client faced
Halloran's finance team was running on disjointed systems and a twenty-tab Excel close. There was no unified view across project-based revenue, project-based costs, and project-based billing. Reports could not be trusted because no one could lock down a number long enough to publish it. The CFO was spending 90% of her time in spreadsheets — which is to say, she was not spending 90% of her time being a CFO.
The approach
How Sage Intacct consultants ran it
Professional-services firms have a particular shape: revenue is project-based, billing is rate-based, gross margin is per-project and per-consultant. The Sage Intacct module set for these firms is well-defined — General Ledger, Project Accounting, Revenue Recognition, Time & Expense — and the implementation patterns are mature. These engagements are best approached with a project-accounting-first lens: get the project structure, the rate tables, and the revenue rules right, and the reporting flows from there.
The solution
What Sage Intacct delivered
Sage Intacct gave Halloran a unified, real-time view of project profitability. Revenue recognition rules tied to project milestones replaced the manual reconciliation between billing and finance. Dashboards replaced the twenty-tab spreadsheet. With genuine real-time data on project performance, Halloran's leadership refined the consultant billing model to a blended-rate approach that added $4 million in profit. DSO dropped from 120 to 68 days, releasing $1 million in monthly cash flow. The CFO got her time back.
What a professional-services CFO actually needs
The professional-services finance pattern is unusual. Revenue is project-based and time-based, often with multiple billing rules per contract. Gross margin is per-consultant and per-project. Cash flow swings on DSO and on the rhythm of milestone billing. Reporting needs to slice by client, by project, by practice, by consultant, by month, by stage. None of that works in QuickBooks or in a generic GL. It needs Project Accounting as a first-class concern.
Sage Intacct's Project Accounting module is built for this. Combined with Revenue Recognition (for ASC 606 / IFRS 15 milestone-based revenue) and Time & Expense (for consultant utilisation and billing), it gives a professional-services finance team the operating system the business actually needs.
The billing-model conversation
The Halloran outcome — $4 million in new profit from a refined billing model — is worth dwelling on, because it is not a software outcome. It is a strategy outcome that the software made possible. With real-time project-margin data, the leadership team could see which engagements were profitable, which consultant rates were below market, which clients absorbed cost without value. They then made the strategic call to refine the billing approach. The software did not invent the answer. It removed the fog that had been hiding the answer.
This is what it means to position Sage Intacct as a strategic platform rather than an accounting tool. The financial machinery has to be in place before the strategic conversations become possible.
How this lands for an SA professional-services firm
For South African professional-services firms — consultancies, law firms, engineering practices, advisory shops — the Halloran story translates with a few adjustments. ZAR-based billing with USD or EUR project work for international clients runs through Intacct's multi-currency. B-BBEE category tagging on projects becomes a dimension. SARS VAT201 reporting is configured natively. POPIA-friendly access controls keep client data tight. DSO conversations with clients become evidence-based rather than emotional. Book a consult if your firm is running a twenty-tab Excel close and wondering why margins look fine on paper but the bank balance disagrees.
"The visibility we have through Sage Intacct is great. It's helped us improve profitability and make faster, better decisions."
Key takeaways
- New profit: +$4m — From a refined blended-rate billing model.
- DSO: 120 → 68 days — −43% — material cash-flow improvement.
- Cash flow: +$1m / month — Released by the DSO improvement.
- Invoicing cycle: 1 week → 2 days — From close to invoice, sharper and faster.