Pre-launch draft — this page is still being written. Copy and imagery are indicative.
Rule Four Consulting

Articles

One question a consulting firm owner is actually asking, answered with a number you can go and check.

The programme

Weekly, from 1 September 2026

Every article carries a real number with a public source, and first-hand experience of the mechanism behind it. We name the source, state the denominator it was computed on, show the conversion onto UK consulting terms, and give the verdict. Everyone quotes agency benchmarks at UK consulting firms; we are the ones who check them.

The first six clusters cover pricing and rate-setting, utilisation and capacity, project margin and scope, cash and working capital, measurement and the finance function, and commercial governance. A seventh covers valuation and sale-readiness.

01

Simple but not easy

Why the consulting business is easy to describe and hard to run. 1 Sep 2026

02

Profitable, and still short of cash

The structural gap between the cash-out date and the cash-in date. 8 Sep 2026

03

The recruiter fee before the first invoice

Why a placement fee is a working-capital event before it is a cost. 15 Sep 2026

04

What invoice financing actually buys you

It buys time, not margin — and the arithmetic tells you whether the time is worth the price. 22 Sep 2026

05

Five ways to get paid faster

Every lever, priced, against what each one actually costs you. 29 Sep 2026

06

The 50/30/20 firm

What a healthy consulting P&L actually looks like. 6 Oct 2026

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