Understanding Your Finances: Overhead Percentage - FP Advance

Understanding Your Finances: Overhead Percentage

BY brett

Understanding Your Finances: Overhead Percentage

Last week we looked at gross profit margin. This week we’re looking at overhead percentage and how both these figures determine your eventual net profit. More importantly, you’ll see how you can use these figures to highlight key issues in your business and save months, or even years of time wasted by working on the wrong issues.

A Quick Recap:

As discussed last week, the starting point for understanding your financials are the three critical figures:

a) Gross Profit Margin

b) Overhead Percentage

c) Net Profit Margin

Here’s a very quick refresher on how to calculate your gross profit.


Turnover – Direct Expenses = Gross Profit


Make sure that you calculate your Direct Expenses correctly, especially when it comes to including a genuine market salary for working directors. Take a look at last week’s article if you haven’t already, for a step-by-step guide on how to do this.

Overhead Percentage

Overhead comprises all other costs of running your business, after direct expenses.

The overhead percentage is critical. Poor management of your overhead costs means you will end up with unsatisfactory net profit levels. Calculating your overhead is simple:


Total Expenses – Direct Expenses = Overhead


Then it’s one extra step to calculate your overhead percentage:


Overhead ÷ Total Revenue = Overhead percentage


In a business that is performing well, an overhead percentage that does not exceed 35% of total revenue is considered favourable.

In small or growing firms, the overhead percentage is usually the critical figure that is of concern. It is often compensated for by the owners accepting less than market salary, then convincing themselves they are making acceptable profit margins. This is a key pitfall to watch out for.

In the following example, we have two working directors who draw only £60,000 of salary and/or dividends each per annum. Yet with each of them bringing in £250,000 of annual revenue, they should be receiving far higher levels of remuneration.

Despite their overhead percentage being well above benchmark (55% instead of 35%), their bottom line net profit comes in at a respectable 21%; potentially misleading them into thinking they’re making an acceptable net profit.

For example:

Turnover: £500,000

Less direct expenses: £120,000

Gross profit: £380,000 (Margin = 76% or £380,000 ÷ £500,000)

Less Overheads: £275,000 (Percentage = 55% or £275,000 ÷ £500,000)

Net Profit: £105,000

Net profit margin: 21% (£105,000 ÷ £500,000)

However, if they were both drawing a genuine market salary (say £100,000 each pa), their true net profit figure is only 5%.


Net Profit Margins

Net profit is what remains after direct expenses and overhead are paid. This is the owner’s reward for the risks of running a business, over and above their market salary/drawings, which are fair compensation for the job they perform within the business.

Favourable performance within an advisory firm is a net profit margin of 25%. High performance firms can even exceed this level of profitability. The vast majority of UK firms don’t hit this basic profitability level, after the owners take a fair market salary (i.e. what they could be paid if they took a job down the road with one of their competitors).


Total Revenue – Direct Expenses – Overhead = Net Profit


And therefore:


Net Profit ÷ Total Revenue = Net Profit Margin


In a well-performing business, the critical percentages would look like this (highlighted in bold):

Turnover: £500,000

Less direct expenses: £200,000

Gross profit: £300,000

Gross Profit Margin: not less than 60% (£300,000 ÷ £500,000)

Less Overheads: £175,000

Overhead Percentage: not more than 35% (£175,000 ÷ £500,000)

Net Profit: £125,000

Net profit margin: 25% (£125,000 ÷ £500,000)


The Insight

By understanding and analysing these three critical figures you can begin to identify if you have a profitability issue, and if so where you need to focus your energies.

  • Is it a gross profit margin issue (paying away too much to advisers); or
  • Is it an efficiency and productivity issue (needing too many people in the back office to process the work)?

Simply pinpointing the problem can be a giant leap forward. Take a look at these three critical figures in your own business and see how things are looking.

It might be a real eye-opener.


Want more help understanding your numbers?

Take a look at our membership community, Uncover Your Business Potential Online

Did you know there are two other important sets of financial ratios that you need to understand in a financial planning business:

  • The Productivity Ratios
  • The Client Selection Ratios

When taken together, these numbers provide amazing insights that let you make better decisions. 

For example, if your business isn’t as profitable as you’d like, where is the squeeze coming from?

  • Do you pay too much away to advisers? (which shows up in your Gross Profit)
  • Are your overheads too high? (which shows up in your Overhead Percentage)
  • Do you have too many staff for a business your size? (which shows up in the Productivity Ratios)
  • Are your advisers producing at the right level? (which shows up in the Productivity Ratios)
  • Do your clients pay enough in fees? (which shows up in the Client Selection Ratios)
  • Is your average client size going up, down, or staying the same? (which shows up in the Client Selection Ratios)

Understanding your financial ratios provides a clear and simple diagnostic tool, so you can be working on the right issues. I’ve seen too many adviser owners grinding away year after year, but on the wrong issues. It breaks my heart. 

If you want some more help with your pricing, or communicating your value effectively, or diving deeper into the profitability ratios and how to fix them, then check out my online membership community, Uncover Your Business Potential Online. It’s all step-by-step.

I’ve got a bunch of video modules on there that will help you knock your business into outstanding shape. Each module comes with workbooks, tools, templates and cheat-sheets to get you solving issues quickly. You can find more information here.

Some of the topics we’ve covered already include:

  • Turnaround Your Business – A 5 Point Plan For Getting Things Back On Track
  • How To Price Your Service Perfectly 
  • Marketing Your Business Effectively (to improve lead flow)
  • Adviser Selling Skills
  • The Business Management Essentials Pack 
  • How To Elegantly Disengage From Unsuitable Clients 
  • Creating Your Client Service Packages 
  • Understanding Your Business Financials
  • Personal Effectiveness For Business Owners
  • Working With Professional Connections
  • Creating A Killer Ongoing Review Service
  • Creating An Excellent Annual Review Process
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ABOUT BRETT DAVIDSON When you work with FP Advance you work with me, Brett Davidson, directly. My motto is ‘advise better, live better’ and I practice what I preach. I’m straight talking and get to the heart of an issue quickly. There’s no beating about the bush, just a focus on helping things improve. Ask my clients – what I teach works.