Professional services firms and agencies — whether in IT consulting, creative, marketing, engineering, or managed services — share a common financial challenge: your people are your product, and managing the economics of talent, utilization, and project delivery determines whether you’re building a valuable business or just buying yourself a job.
At DMW Advisory, we bring Wall Street-caliber financial leadership — powered by AI tools that let us operate at the speed and depth of a full finance team — to fractional CFO professional services agencies companies doing $5M to $50M in revenue.
Growing companies in this space face a unique set of financial complexities that most bookkeepers aren’t equipped to handle — and that don’t yet justify a $250K+ full-time CFO:
We help professional services firms and agencies build the financial discipline needed to grow profitably:
We’ve helped companies across the fractional CFO professional services agencies landscape gain financial clarity, optimize cash flow, and scale with confidence. Here are a few examples:
IT Services · Managed Services · $11M Revenue
The Challenge: An IT managed services firm had grown to $11M in revenue but owner profitability was declining despite growing top line. The founder suspected pricing was the issue, but had no project-level margin data to confirm. Contractors were being used alongside full-time staff with no visibility into blended cost rates.
Our Approach: We built a project-level profitability model that allocated all costs — direct labor, contractors, tools, and overhead — to each client engagement. The analysis revealed that 4 of their 12 major clients were margin-negative due to scope creep and underpriced change orders. We also implemented a real-time utilization dashboard.
The Results: Margin leakage was identified and corrected within one quarter:
Creative Agency · Digital Marketing · $8M Revenue
The Challenge: A digital marketing and creative agency had a dangerous client concentration problem — one client represented 45% of revenue. When that client signaled a budget cut, the agency faced a potential cash crisis. They also had no financial model showing what growth needed to look like to reduce concentration risk.
Our Approach: We built a client-level revenue and margin analysis, created a diversification roadmap with hiring and sales targets, and established a cash reserve policy to buffer against client losses. We also modeled the financial impact of transitioning key clients from project-based to retainer relationships.
The Results: The agency diversified its revenue base while growing overall:
Professional Services · Engineering Consulting · $18M Revenue
The Challenge: An engineering consulting firm with $18M in revenue and three partners needed to structure a buyout of a retiring partner. The firm had no formal valuation, partner compensation was discretionary, and the financial records couldn’t support a fair buyout calculation.
Our Approach: We conducted a comprehensive business valuation, restructured the chart of accounts for partner-level reporting, built a multi-year financial model projecting the firm’s performance post-buyout, and structured the buyout terms with a payment schedule tied to future performance.
The Results: The buyout was completed smoothly, preserving firm stability:
If your services firm or agency is growing but margins aren’t keeping pace — or you’re navigating a transition — let’s talk about how fractional CFO support can change the trajectory.
Or contact us at genevieve@dmwadvisory.com
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