A firm's "realization rate" is the percentage of recorded billable time that is actually billed and collected from the client. A low realization rate (e.g., generating £10,000 in WIP but only invoicing £7,000) means your team is leaking massive amounts of effort. Here is how to fix it.
1. Stop "Scope Creep" Immediately
Scope creep destroys realization. An engagement is signed for an annual return, but the client keeps casually asking for "quick cashflow advice." Because there is no central tracking, staff just do it.
In Accupe, every job is clearly defined on a Smart Board. If a client requests out-of-scope work through the Client Portal, it requires creating a new Job Card. This physical act forces the team to immediately ask: "Is this included in their fixed fee?"
2. Frictionless Time Capture
If your staff wait until Friday at 4:45 PM to fill out their entire week's timesheet from memory, they are wildly guessing—and usually under-recording out of guilt for being inefficient. Accupe integrates Time Tracking directly onto the working job card. They click "Start" when they begin reviewing the file, capturing the true time spent natively.
3. Automate the Low-Value Administration
You cannot bill a client £150/hour for the time junior staff spend formatting an envelope to mail an engagement letter. Automating these steps boosts the overall margin of the job.
Accupe's built-in E-Signatures eliminate this friction entirely. The document is uploaded, tagged, and sent via the portal in seconds.
4. Leverage AI for Document Review
Reviewing a 40-page messy client lease agreement manually might take 3 hours. Using Accupe's AI Document Chat, you can interrogate the document instantly for specific clauses, reducing a 3-hour internal cost to a 10-minute task. You still bill based on the value delivered, massively increasing the realization rate on that specific task.
The Goal: 90%+ Realization
A high realization rate means your pricing is accurate and your team is efficient. By using a visual OS like Accupe to tighten up job tracking and automate admin, firms typically see a 15-20% boost in realization within the first quarter of adoption.