Contract to Cash: Control Finances for Engineers and Event Producers
You might be designing skyscrapers or running back-to-back event builds, but if your revenue is trapped in unbilled hours or last-minute expenses never pushed to clients, then congratulations, you are financing your clients' lifestyles for free.
Let’s be clear. You did the work. You earned the income. But until it is invoiced, followed up, and collected, that money is just a ghost in your P&L.
The Cash Leak That Kills Firms Quietly
A recent survey of environmental consulting and engineering firms showed massive hidden revenue left on the table because of unbilled time. Projects were finished. Results were delivered. But invoices? Missing. Late. Forgotten. That is how good businesses quietly bleed out.
For event producers, it is the same story: vendors are paid, venues are booked, and staff are on site. Yet when it is time to send the full invoice, half the costs are buried in chats and inboxes.
If your billing system cannot tell you what is unbilled, overdue, or undercharged, you have already lost the financial game.
Fix #1: Use an Aging Unbilled Work Report Like a Bloodhound
Track every unbilled project and how long it has been sitting in limbo. This is not optional. Xero’s reporting and project tracking features give you clear visibility into what has been earned versus what is still in limbo.
What you track, you can fix:
Highlight projects past 30 days unbilled
Cross-check time entries against billed hours
Automate reminders for project managers to push billing forward
Once you start seeing the numbers, you will never go back to “we will get to it later.”
Fix #2: Real-Time Dashboards to See What is Bleeding
Use Xero’s integration with live dashboards and reporting tools to plug your finance into a rolling feed:
Real-time profit and loss per project
Billing velocity per client
Alerts on unbilled milestones or cost overruns
Make it visual. Make it ruthless. If a job is done, the cash should already be inbound. If not, the dashboard should scream.
Fix #3: Milestone Billing Because You Are Not a Bank
Never wait until the end of a job to invoice. Break your contracts into phases:
Architects: invoice at concept, schematic design, design development, and construction documents
Engineers: invoice at planning, execution, review, and closeout
Event Producers: invoice at deposit, 30 days out, load in, and post-event wrap
Clients respect structure. They will pay what is due when you train them to expect it. Milestone billing smooths cash flow, reduces disputes, and keeps everyone honest.
Fix #4: Sync Time Tracking with Billing Automatically
Manual timesheets are for amateurs. Use Xero’s integrated time tracking features to link every logged hour to a task and invoice line. No more “Did we bill for that site visit?” or “Where is that receipt?”
Set up automated timesheet approvals
Link every time entry to an invoice code
Review weekly. Not quarterly. Not annually.
For event firms juggling dozens of gigs a month, this one fix alone can add five to six figures back into the bottom line.
Fix #5: Lock Down Procurement and Expense Flow
Procurement is where projects leak profit silently. One missed invoice. One untracked order. One AV rental was booked outside the system. Boom, margin gone.
Use Xero Projects to tie every purchase order to a job. Create rules:
All vendor invoices must be linked to the project before payment
No last-minute buys without pre-approved purchase orders
Weekly variance checks between estimated and actual spend
You would not let your site manager ignore structural plans. Don’t let your accounts team ignore financial architecture.
Fix #6: Set Weekly Financial Sprint Reviews
This is not just a CFO problem. Every department lead, ops, design, and production, needs weekly sit-downs to review:
What has been billed?
What is outstanding?
Where did we lose money?
Agencies and firms that do this regularly not only plug holes faster, they build a culture where finance is part of the operating rhythm, not the cleanup crew at the end of the quarter.
Fix #7: Automate the Paper Trail, or Drown in Admin Hell
Chasing receipts, compiling timesheets, forwarding supplier invoices, these are 1990s problems. Xero’s integrations handle it for you:
Auto-scan receipts and match them to line items
Create project folders for document centralisation
Send invoice reminders on autopilot
Engineers and event producers are notoriously time poor. Automate the paper trail or watch admin costs eat your margins alive.
Fix #8: Bring in Advisory Grade Financial Support
You don’t need just any bookkeeper. You need a team that gets how your projects operate contract to cash. That understands job costing, milestone forecasting, and client billing psychology.
Finance advisors who speak project project-based business
Monthly reporting that drills into client-level profitability
Clear visual cash flow forecasts tied to pipeline and WIP
If your current financial support only tells you what happened last month, fire them. You need someone to show you what is going to happen next month.
Fix #9: Track Cost to Serve Per Client
Your best client might be your worst payer. Or they might drain five times the resources of your average client. Start tracking:
Time and materials per client
Rework and scope creep trends
Collection delays and payment history
Then make decisions. Either price accordingly or cut them loose.
Fix #10: Build a Connected System That Talks Contract to Cash
Contract signed. Work delivered. Now what? If the tools between ops, PMs, and accounts don’t sync, that contract-to-cash cycle will stretch until it snaps.
Use Xero as the central finance platform. Integrate your CRM, project delivery tools, and time tracking so everything flows without re-entry or breakdowns. Every handoff should be seamless. Every step is traceable. That is how firms scale without hiring five more admin people.
Final Word: Stop Doing Work for Free
You would not let clients walk away with unapproved scope changes. Why are you letting them walk away with unbilled work?
Tighten the system. Train your team. Build discipline around billing. It is not just about getting paid, it is about building a firm that lasts.
Want help closing the cash leaks?
Book a strategy session with The Kartel Solution. We are your finance ops team that sees the project from blueprint to bank account.
Next Up: Recruitment and Marketing agencies, your financial funnel is next on the chopping block. Stay close.