Consulting Pro Forma Template

Move to the Revenue Projections sheet and review how the model translates your assumptions into monthly revenue. Check that the utilization rate feels realistic — most solo consultants are fully booked at 60–70% utilization once you account for business development, admin, and downtime between projects. Adjust the retainer count and average retainer value to reflect your current book of business, then set growth rate assumptions for how many new clients you expect to add each quarter. Run both the base case and optimistic scenario to understand your revenue range.

The right consulting pro forma separates direct project costs from overhead, which is the distinction that makes gross margin meaningful. If you're paying subcontractors to deliver client work, that cost should show up as cost of revenue — not as an operating expense — because it moves with revenue. When gross margin is calculated properly, you can see what the business earns before paying for the fixed infrastructure that supports it. Most healthy consulting firms run 50–70% gross margins and 20–35% net margins, depending on whether they're delivery-heavy (using lots of subcontractors) or leverage-heavy (senior partners billing at premium rates with junior staff doing execution).