Mighty Citizen - PlotPath

Better Decisions & More Time to Focus on Growth

PlotPath offers flexible bookkeeping, financial reporting, and CFO services to improve your profitability and cash flow.

Austin’s Mighty Citizen drives branding and digital transformation for mission-driven organizations. Nonprofits, governments, associations, and universities turn to them for great-looking websites, strong brands, and creative marketing initiatives.

Like most digital agencies, Mighty Citizen thrives on diversity. A full spread of creative services earns them bragging rights, not to mention their bread and butter. A mix of long-term, short-term and ongoing projects keeps the creative team buzzing. Unfortunately, it sometimes left the financial team scratching their heads.

Challenge

Diverse Revenue Streams Lead to Complex Financial Reporting

Like many digital agencies, Mighty Citizen’s financial profile was complex. A website build is priced and invoiced differently than a multi-month marketing campaign. Ditto for an ongoing retainer. Some clients pre-pay, some post-pay, and some pay monthly. There’s a mix of salaried employees and contracted freelancers on payroll.

While all this diversity was great for business, it made tracking costs, labor, and revenue a pain for the growing company. It was a web of spreadsheets and tedious calculations. It was chasing invoices and wondering under which month to file income. It was not knowing whether month-end numbers were a true reflection of company performance – or rather a distorted view caused by improper tracking of revenue and labor costs.

A Growing Need to Increase Efficiency

As with most businesses in growth mode, the Mighty Citizen team wears multiple hats to get things done. Even the agency’s founder and CEO, Nick, had a hand in monthly accounting processes. And he wasn’t the only one. Instead of focusing on clients and growing the business, his VP of Client Services, Carly, and Executive Assistant, Clare, were spending valuable time chasing financial data.

Without the right financial support, Nick realized he was wasting key talent on admin tasks. Not ideal for a bustling company looking to scale.

Solution

A Financial Solution with Company-Wide Benefits

Nick knew he needed a solution that was tailor-made for the challenges of his business. PlotPath provided that in two main ways:

TAKING OVER MONTHLY ACCOUNTING RESPONSIBILITIES: PlotPath controllers and bookkeepers worked closely with Mighty Citizen’s in-house team to redesign the monthly bookkeeping process. They streamlined everything from calculating revenue and costs of services to reconciling the books. Now, the two teams work in tandem to complete workflows on a monthly basis. Nick says it’s almost like having an in-house finance department.

CONVERTING TO ACCRUAL-BASED REVENUE RECOGNITION FOR ALL LINES OF BUSINESS: Switching to accrual-based revenue recognition was a game-changer for Mighty Citizen. Before, there were always questions about how and when to ‘count’ a sale. After switching to accrual-based accounting, keeping one-time, retainer, and hourly project earnings straight became easy. No one has to worry about whether the financial reports match up with when payment actually hits.

Results

Their profit and loss statement and balance sheets are now clean, accurate, and easy-to-read. And with PlotPath, you gain access to interactive dashboards that let you see all your key metrics at a moment’s glance.

Outsourcing their financial duties has made work easier for Mighty Citizen, not to mention saving them at least 20 hours per month. At their current billing rate, that’s $3,900, which means an ROI of 460% for the company’s monthly investment in PlotPath.
Now the time Nick spends on financial tasks is strategic. It involves using real-time data to make key financial plays. PlotPath gives Nick access to graphical financial results charts where he can see gross profit by month, line of business, client, and project at a glance—which is important when you need to make quick decisions.
With PlotPath handling most of the monthly accounting, Carly and Clare can focus on account management and business growth. And they’re happy knowing everything is in the right place and it’s correct.
What’s more, the entire business runs better. No matter how long a project runs, the team knows it’s budgeted properly because PlotPath is keeping an eye on things. The management can even use real-time data to improve service operations.

Mighty Citizen Achieves Accurate Revenue Recognition and Frees Up Time for Business Growth

Benefits