The monthly firm report that partners actually read.

Reporting at small firms tends to one of two extremes. The thin extreme: “billings last month were £X, drawings last month were £Y, partners nod, end of meeting.” The thick extreme: a finance-led pack with 14 tabs and 200 rows, opened once and never referenced again. Both leave partners running the firm on instinct.

The middle path is one page, twelve numbers, three sections, and a 20-minute conversation. Once it's running, it replaces a lot of guesswork.

The twelve numbers

Pick from this list — exact figures vary by firm, but the shape is consistent. Three sections, four numbers each.

Section A: how the firm earned this month (work + revenue)

1. Billed fees this month (and YTD vs prior year).
2. WIP closing balance and change vs last month — this is the leading indicator. Rising WIP without rising billings means work is being done but not invoiced.
3. Realisation rate (billed ÷ recorded) for the month. Anything below 90% of target is worth a conversation.
4. Average matter margin (closed matters in the month). Run the closed matters through the Matter Profitability Calculatorif you don't have native reporting.

Section B: how the work moved through (operations)

5. New matters opened this month, by main matter type.
6. Active matter count per fee-earner, with a flag where someone is structurally over capacity.
7. Utilisation by fee-earner, vs target. Surface the lowest-utilised seat, not just the average — averages hide the problem.
8. Enquiry-to-instruction conversionrate for the month — the leading indicator on next month's new matters. Run it through the Client Conversion Calculatorif you don't already track it natively.

Section C: how the firm sits financially (cash + risk)

9. Cash balance + 13-week low-water-mark (forecast minimum). One number that tells you whether you're comfortable.
10. Aged debtors— total outstanding + breakdown of what's 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 90+ days. The 90+ bucket is the one that needs action.
11. Headcount + open vacancies + any leavers this month.
12. One risk indicator — complaints opened this month, file review findings, AML flags — pick the one most live for the firm right now and rotate it quarterly.

What good visualisation looks like

Most of the time, none. The point of the page is the numbers, not the charts. Where you do use a visual:

• Trend sparklines next to each number — the last 12 months in a tiny line. The trend matters more than the absolute level.
• Three-cell traffic lightfor the section headlines — green/amber/red against target. Discourages turning every conversation into “is this a problem or not?” — the page already answered.

Avoid: pie charts, gradient fills, 3D anything. They're decoration. The whole pack should be readable in 90 seconds.

The 20-minute partner meeting

Same time each month, fixed agenda, three sections. The practice manager owns the pack; partners read it before the meeting and turn up ready to discuss the deltas, not to receive the numbers.

Minutes 0–5: anomalies

What surprised us this month? Specific things — “new matters dropped 30%,” “90+ day debtors doubled,” “Sarah's utilisation has been below target for three months.” Not all anomalies are bad; sometimes the surprise is upside. Naming them is the point.

Minutes 5–15: action on the persistent ones

For each anomaly that's been showing up for two or more months, decide one of three things: (1) we're accepting it, here's why, (2) we're acting, named owner with a specific next step, (3) we don't know yet, here's the question we're investigating before next month.

Minutes 15–20: forward look

What's the leading indicator we should watch this coming month? Often it's pipeline (new enquiries) or WIP age — the things that'll show up in next month's billed fees. End on a forward question, not a backward recap.

Common mistakes

• Adding numbers without removing any. Reporting bloat is the same as feature bloat — every quarter someone wants to add a number, nobody wants to remove one. The page should never grow past 12. Add one, retire one.
• Reporting on lagging indicators only. Billed fees is a lagging indicator. WIP, pipeline, conversion are leading. Both belong on the page; only one tells you what's coming.
• Letting the page become finance-led. Finance is one section of three. If the practice manager isn't involved in shaping the pack, it drifts toward accounting truth and away from operating truth.
• No follow-up between meetings.If actions from this month's meeting don't appear on next month's page (with status), the meeting is theatre. Put the open actions on the page itself.

What good looks like at month six

A one-page report that the partners actually read before the meeting. A 20-minute meeting that leaves with a specific action list, not a vibe. Two or three persistent anomalies that get worked over multiple months until they move. The reporting pack itself is unremarkable — which is the point. The work happens in the room, not in the spreadsheet.