Financial Infrastructure Assessment for Architecture & Engineering Firms
A financial infrastructure assessment scores the systems a design firm uses to see, control and predict money — utilization and realization tracking, project budget visibility, change order discipline, backlog and capacity planning, and the review rhythm around them — rather than the numbers those systems produce. This free 15- question assessment returns a FICS score out of 100 across five layers, benchmarks you against architecture and engineering firms at your revenue stage, and names the gap costing you the most margin and cash. It takes about three minutes. You see your score before you enter an email, and there is no sales call required to get the report.
Fifteen questions on utilization, realization, multiplier, backlog and cash. A FICS score out of 100, benchmarked against A&E firms at your revenue stage, and the one gap costing you the most. Three minutes, no sales call.
What the assessment scores
Each layer depends on the one below it. A company with a weak first layer cannot forecast its way out of trouble.
LAYER 1
Execution Truth
Time, fee burn, remaining effort and scope changes are captured by project and phase quickly enough to act.
LAYER 2
Financial Intelligence
Earned versus burned fee, forecasted final margin and utilization by role and discipline are visible.
LAYER 3
Control Layer
Scope authorization, billing readiness and project-margin thresholds prompt decisions before write-downs.
LAYER 4
Forecast Engine
Probability-weighted pipeline with realistic starts translates into staffing, revenue, billing and cash.
LAYER 5
Leadership Cadence
Project, practice and finance leaders use the same definitions for effort, capacity, scope and cash.
Frequently asked questions
What is a financial infrastructure assessment for an A&E firm?
It scores the systems that generate your financial picture — time capture, utilization and realization tracking, project budget controls, backlog and capacity planning — rather than the financial statements themselves. A firm can be profitable on paper and still have weak infrastructure if the multiplier is only calculated once a year, because by then every pricing decision for that year has already been made.
What is a good net revenue multiplier for an engineering firm?
Most firms target 3.0 on net revenue divided by direct labor, with stronger performers running 3.0 to 3.5 and tracking it monthly by service line rather than annually at the firm level. A multiplier calculated once at year end cannot influence a single proposal.
What is the difference between utilization and realization?
Utilization is how much of available time is charged to billable work. Realization is how much of that billable time actually gets invoiced and collected. A firm can hit a 70% utilization target and still lose money if realization sits at 78%, because the gap is written-down hours nobody traced back to a cause.
Why do A&E firms write down so many hours?
Usually because the overrun was invisible while it was happening. Hours accumulate against a fixed fee, the project manager sees the total at close, and the write-down is recorded as a fact rather than investigated as a cause. Firms that track write-downs monthly by PM, project type and root cause tend to see the same three causes repeat — scope not re-papered, the wrong seniority delivering the work, and fees set from last year.
Does this assessment require sharing my financials?
No. It asks fifteen questions about how your systems work, not what your numbers are. Nothing is uploaded, the scoring happens in your browser, and you see your score before entering an email.