Free agency and studio finance resources

Every free calculator, workbook, checklist and guide we have built for UK agencies and studios. The rate card built from cost, the two leaks measured apart, projects tracked while they are still alive, retainers metered, and the WIP cut that decides the profit. One worked agency runs through all of it, every convention is stated, and none of it sits behind an email form. Each section leads with the one worth opening first.

Format

22 resources, all free, no signup

Calculators

Work the number out on the page, then take the Excel version away.

Start hereUtilisation and Recovery CalculatorThe two leaks, measured apart: 739 unbilled hours cost £56,364 and an 87 per cent recovery costs £68,904, which is £125,268 a year together.Unbilled capacity and writedowns need different medicineNobody authorised the discount; the £700 card realises £610Closing half of each funds £62,634, roughly a hireCalculator plus Excel Agency Rate and Cost Multiple CalculatorA £42,000 fee-earner costs £63,623 fully loaded, which is £55.61 a billable hour, and the three-times-salary test wants £881 a day.Calculator plus Excel Project Profitability CalculatorQuoted at a 51.7 per cent margin and delivered at 36: 265 hours against 200 budgeted cost £3,770 while the job was still open.Calculator plus Excel Retainer Over-Servicing Calculator£4,500 for 45 scoped hours is £100 an hour until 62 go in and it is £72.58. That is £11,832 a year given away at cost.Calculator plus Excel Pitch Cost and Win Rate CalculatorA pitch costs £3,880 in team time and hard costs, and at one win in four the client who says yes costs £15,520 to acquire.Calculator plus Excel Next Hire Break-Even CalculatorA £38,000 salary is £58,903 of cost and 1,144 billable hours: the hire breaks even at £412 a day, if the pipeline holds the hours.Calculator plus Excel

Workbooks and trackers

Excel files that keep working after you close the tab.

Start hereRate Card BuilderThree tiers built from cost rather than folklore: £439, £593 and £810 a day from salaries of £28,000, £42,000 and £62,000.Loaded salary, overhead share and utilisation, per tierThe margin turns cost into the card, not the other way roundRound up to card prices, and reprice when salaries moveExcel workbook Project P and L TrackerEvery live job on one sheet: £77,000 of fee, £42,246 of margin, and the video 55 per cent over its hours and £1,320 underwater.Excel workbook Capacity and Utilisation PlannerSix fee-earners, one row each: the floor reads 58 per cent against a 65 target, and two names carry most of the shortfall.Excel workbook New Business Pipeline TrackerThe funnel with the pitch cost attached to every row: £10,730 of pitch time against £36,000 of fees actually landed.Excel workbook WIP and Revenue Recognition WorkbookThe month-end cut both directions: £9,300 earned but unbilled against £3,600 billed but unearned, a net £5,700 of WIP.Excel workbook

Checklists

Printable, timed, and ordered so nothing depends on something later.

Scoping and Statement of WorkForty five minutes per statement of work, because every unprofitable project was scoped into being before anyone opened a design file.Checklist, printable Agency Year-End ChecklistAbout an hour, mostly cut-off: the WIP cut, the accruals, the bonus decisions and the reliefs, before the choices expire.Checklist, printable

Guides and e-books

The longer reads, with worked examples on current rates.

Start hereThe Agency Owner's Tax and Money HandbookEight chapters on one worked agency: the card built from cost, the two leaks, the projects, the WIP cut, the bench and the year end.Six fee-earners running through every chapterEvery figure checkable on the free toolsRates and thresholds stated, 2026/27E-book, free Utilisation, Rates and RecoveryThe three numbers that run an agency, defined honestly: billable share, the cost of an hour, and the rate a day actually collects.E-book, free Retainers That Do Not Eat YouScope the hours, meter them, report monthly and renew on the ledger: the worked renewal moves the fee to £6,200 and restores the rate.E-book, free

Look it up

For when you need one word or one answer rather than a tool.

Agency Glossary36 terms from accrued income to the win rate, defined plainly with the worked figure and the tool that deals with each.Reference page Ask an Accountant: Agencies21 questions agency owners actually ask, answered the way they would be on a call: short answer first, then why, then the tool.Reference page

From the CFO hub

Once the numbers go to a board or a bank, these four carry the reporting the vertical's own tools stop at.

Start hereBoard Pack TemplateOne page a month that a board can read: the operating numbers, the portfolio, the pipeline priced and cash to thirteen weeks.Utilisation, realised rate and the WIP position togetherComputed from the trackers rather than retypedThe same pack every month, so trends are visibleExcel workbook 13 Week Cash Flow ForecastThe buffer question answered concretely: how many weeks losing the biggest client would be a plan rather than an emergency.Excel workbook Month-End Close ChecklistThe close that stops the year end being a surprise: cut-off, accruals and doubtful debts handled monthly instead of annually.Checklist, printable Budget versus Actual with Variance BridgeThe bridge that says which of price, volume and cost moved, so a missed quarter arrives with a reason attached.Excel workbook

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