Budgeting and forecasting tools for professional services

A budget that is approved in November, may need revising well before March.Two fixed-priced projects have used more hours than expected and a retainer has started a month late. The spreadsheet you're working from still suggests you're on target because those changes haven't translated to the forecast.

"Budgeting and forecasting tools" cover two different categories of software. Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) plans the firm's budget and profit and loss (P&L). Project and resourcing software uses delivery data to estimate costs, capacity and revenue over the coming weeks. Comparing them in a single ranked list leaves a 40-person agency choosing between products built for very different needs.

Magnetic is a professional services automation (PSA) platform for agencies, consultancies and architecture and engineering firms. We connect pipeline, project delivery and invoicing, so our focus is project and resource forecasting. This guide explains where that type of software is enough, and where a separate FP&A tool becomes useful. It covers both categories with pricing recorded in October 2026.

Two different products share the same name

A search for budgeting and forecasting tools returns products for both financial planning and project delivery. The distinction matters because each uses different data and serves different people

Firm-level FP&A software supports the annual budget, headcount planning, scenario modelling and board reporting. It usually draws data from the accounting system and is managed by finance. Workday Adaptive Planning, Vena, Planful, Prophix and Cube are examples.

Project and resource forecasting software estimates the cost of completing each project, schedules people against future work and includes potential revenue from pipeline deals. Project managers, resource managers and finance teams use it to assess the next few weeks or months and to plan ahead. This category includes PSA platforms such as Magnetic, Kantata, Productive and BigTime alongside resource planning tools such as Runn.

Accounting software provides the financial records used by both. Xero and QuickBooks online offer budgets and comparisons with actual results. NetSuite and Sage Intacct also offer more extensive budgeting and planning capabilities within their financial systems.

Both categories contribute to revenue forecasting. That overlap is why buyers sometimes expect one system can do the work of the other.

Why generic budgeting breaks in professional services firms

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Which layer you need: a decision guide

The tools compared

We've grouped the tools by later, rather than ranking them in one list, because a ranking across layers isn't meaningful. We chose them because they're the names that come up most often when services firms evaluate this category, they all have a clear fit for agencies, consultancies or A&E firms, and each one either publishes pricing or makes it clear that pricing is quoted based.

Project and resource forecasting (PSA)

1. Magnetic

Best for: Agencies, consultancies. and A&E firms that want CRM, projects, timesheets, resourcing and finance in one system.

What if forecasts: Revenue by opportunities from pipeline, resource availability and estimated billings; project budgets vs actuals as time is logged; overservicing on retainers, WIP and unbilled revenue.

What it doesn't do: multi-entity consolidation or board-level FP&A modelling. Firms that need those paid Magnetic with an FP&A tool or a spreadsheet model.

Pricing: 

Integrations: Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Pastel for accounting, plus HubSpot via Zapier.

2. Kantata

Best for:

What if forecasts:

Pricing: 

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3. Productive

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

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4. BigTime

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

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4. Runn

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

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Firm-level FP&A

2. Workday

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

What it doesn't do:

Pricing: 

Integrations:

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3. Vena Solutions

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

What it doesn't do:

Pricing: 

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4. Planful

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

What it doesn't do:

Pricing: 

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5. Prophix One

Best for: 

What if forecasts:

What it doesn't do:

Pricing: 

Integrations:

Jirav

Best for: Smaller firms, including those whose accountant handles FP&A. Jirav's guide to FP&A for professional services uses the same four revenue drivers described earlier in this article.

Accounting-led

Sage Intacct and NetSuite both build budgeting and planning into the accounting system itself. Netsuite describes collaborative budgeting and what-if modelling as part of its offer for consulting firms. They suit firms that want one financial system of record and are prepared for an ERP-style rollout. Sage prices Intacct by quote and NetSuite doesnt publish a price list either.

At a glance

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Worked example: one quarter, two forecasts

Consider a 45-person agency with 36 billable staff. This is an illustrative model, not customer data.

Each billable employee has about 450 hours available in the quarter after holidays are accounted for. At 70% utilisation and a realised rate of £95 an hours, the agency expects 11,340 billable hours an £1,077,300 in revenue. Quarterly costs are £833,400. The FP&A model prepared in January therefore forecasts a margin of 18%.

Five weeks into the quarter, project data shows that the original assumptions need revising:

• Project A has an agreed fixed price of £120,000 and an estimate of about 1,260 hours. It has used 85% of those hours, with only 60% of the work complete. If it continues at that rate, it will require roughly 1,790 hours in total, about 526 more than originally planned.
• Project B has an agreed fixed price of £80,000 and an estimate of about 840 hours. At the same level of progress and hours spent, it is forecast to exceed its estimate by 351 hours.
• A £25,000-a-month retainer will start a month later than planned.

The extra 877 hours on the fixed-prices projects bring no additional revenue. In this example, those hours would otherwise have been available for other billable work. At £95 an hour, that reduces revenue capacity by about £83,300. The retained delay moves another £25,000 from the quarter.

With costs unchanged, forecast revenue is now at about £969,000 and margin is 8.8%, down from 18%. The extra hours accounted for 7.7% of planned billable time, below the 10.7% average project overrun reported by SPI. The example shows how even an overrun below that benchmark, can materially affect a quarters result.

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The January FP&A model will continue to show the original result until it received updated project assumptions. Reviewing the project forecast in week five gives the agency time to discuss additional scope with both clients, review wether a senior person is still needed on Project A, and bring forward other work to replace the delayed retainer. Our guide to corrective action in project management explains how to respond when a project needs intervention.

What these tools cost and how to judge payback

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Rolling it out without slowing down delivery

Accurate rates and consistent time records are essential to a useful forecast. Deal with these before introducing more detailed reporting.

Fix rate cards and cost rates first. Agree on the rate card for each client type and a cost rate for each role. Check these before importing project budgets, because an incorrect rate affects every calculation that follows.

Get timesheets in on time. A forecast based on timesheets submitted two weeks late is already two weeks behind. Decide between daily or weekly submission and an approval process that keeps the records current. Our guide to spreadsheet versus automated time tracking explains the impact on reporting.

Establish your triggers. Set thresholds that require a project review. For example, a fixed-fee project that has used 80% of its budget with less than 70% of the work complete should prompt a discussion. Make clear who receives the alert and who is responsible for taking action.

Phase it. Begin with one service line or office. Run it for a month, resolve problems with the data and process, then expand.

Set a cadence. Project leads should review forecasts weekly, with finance updating the firm forecast monthly using the revised project estimates, overheads, and hiring plans. Use the same information for the cash flow forecast, so expected receipts and payments are reviewed along side revenue.

How Magnetic handles budgeting and forecasting

Magnetic connects the information used to forecast project delivery and revenue. Opportunities in the CRM include estimated value and probability. Won work becomes a project with a budget based on your rate cards. As people record time in timesheets, the budget-versus-actual figures update automatically. Resource management shows future bookings and availability and revenue forecasting brings together pipeline opportunities, booked work and available capacity.

The profitability dashboard reports margin by client, project and service, while over-dashboards compare the effort spend on retainers and fixed-fee work against the agreed amount. Approved time and milestones support invoicing, while WIP and unbilled revenue remain visible until billed. Reporting and the accounting integrations with Xero, QuickBooks and Sage, support the transfer of financial records into your accounting system.

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Magnetic covers project and resource forecasting. For group consolidation or board scenarios across several currencies, you will also need an FP&A tool or a suitable financial model. The delivery data from Magnetic can provide the operational figures that model needs.

Good utilisation means nothing if you're not billing on time. Unbilled WIP might look like progress on a report, but all it really shows is effort that isn't turning into earnings. When teams are managed well, you see it in the numbers, work progresses, invoices go out, and time actually becomes revenue. - Byron Riddle, CFO, Silversoft

To try this with your own figures, start a 14-day free trial. You can also book a demo and bring a project that exceeded its budget so we can work through it with you.