Billable Utilisation Rate
Percentage of consultant time billed to clients versus total available working time
What is Billable Utilisation Rate?
Billable utilisation rate is the percentage of available working hours that professional staff spend on billable client work. It shows how much of the team's time earns fees.
For professional services firms, utilisation is the main driver of revenue and profit.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Sales
- Sub-function
- Utilisation
- Industry
- Professional Services
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Revenue
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Weekly / Monthly
- Formula
- (Billable hours / Total available hours) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide billable hours by total available hours, and multiply by 100.
For example, if a consultant has 160 available hours in a month and 112 are billed, utilisation is 70%.
Set targets by role, since senior staff usually have lower targets because of other duties, and account for leave and training in available hours.
Where it is used
Managing profitability
Track time that earns fees.
Planning staffing
Match people to work.
Setting targets by role
Define realistic goals.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Very high utilisation risks burnout and quality.
- Read with realisation rate, the share of billable time actually billed.
- Allow time for development and business development.
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