Everyone is busy. Not everyone is billable.
A services firm can be fully staffed, fully busy and still unprofitable. Bench time, unbilled hours, discounted rates, scope creep and slow-paying clients all erode margin without showing up as a single line in the accounts. For SaaS businesses, churn and discounting do the same to recurring revenue.
One long-standing client used us as their whole finance function:
Soatech has been an excellent partner to ideasurge for the last five years as our one-stop shop managing Accounts, Audit and Payroll. In addition, they have been instrumental in coordinating with a prior accounting firm and getting us up to date with all regulatory and statutory needs. Soatech now seamlessly operates as an extension of ideasurge for all Finance functions.
Quoted word for word from our clients. Some quotes use our former name, Soatech.
Follow ₹20 crore of revenue through a typical IT services firm
Here is the cash cycle of an illustrative services firm billing Indian and overseas clients:
At ₹20 crore of sales a year, 73 days means about ₹4.0 crore is permanently tied up in the cycle. That is what your bank limit and your own capital are really funding. Invoice on day one and collect 15 days sooner and about ₹82 lakh comes back, with no new loan and no new customer.
Illustrative composite figures, not a client's. Your own cycle comes straight from your balance sheet: stock, receivables and payables, each divided by a day's sales or purchases.
Six money problems specific to services and SaaS
Utilisation and realisation
Billable hours against available hours, and billed rates against list rates. We track both by person, team and client.
Unbilled revenue
Work done and not invoiced is a loan to your client. We bill on day one of the month and track what's left unbilled.
TDS credits
Clients deduct TDS that must match Form 26AS. We reconcile every quarter so credits aren't lost.
Dollar billing
Foreign receipts need the right documentation and currency planning. We track exposure and remittances.
SaaS metrics
Recurring revenue, churn, expansion and payback must be measured the same way every month. We build investor-grade reporting.
Fixed-price projects
Scope creep turns fixed-price work into losses. We track effort against estimate on every project.
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How we improve a services firm's margin
Utilisation and realisation dashboards
By person, team, client and project.
Billing discipline
Invoices on day one, milestone tracking and unbilled revenue reviewed weekly.
A TDS and GST reconciliation
26AS and GSTR matched every quarter and month.
Recurring revenue reporting
For SaaS: MRR, churn, cohorts and payback.
Fundraising support
Models, data room and investor calls.
Check your own numbers
Compare a full-time CFO's real cost with a CFO-led team:
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What clients say
Some of the businesses we work with.
They have facilitated us in putting both process and financial systems in place as well as take some very difficult but required decisions. We are indeed pleased to record our appreciation of their individualized, friendly and timely support in our activities during the course of their association.
Soatech is perfect for a company like ours that doesn’t have an in-house Accountant / CFO. They are very professional and do things in a timely matter. They always get right back to you with an answer to your question.
Quoted word for word from our clients. Some quotes use our former name, Soatech.
Questions owners ask us
What KPIs should an IT services company track?
Utilisation, realisation, revenue per employee, unbilled revenue, days sales outstanding, project margin and attrition, monthly.
Why don't my TDS credits match?
Usually because clients deducted TDS under a different PAN or section, deposited it late, or haven't filed their returns. Quarterly reconciliation with 26AS catches it early.
Can you help a SaaS company raise funds?
Yes. We build recurring-revenue reporting, cohort analysis, a three-statement model and the data room, and join investor calls.
