Data & reporting · Bleecker Street, New York
Reporting, data and operational systems for established firms
We consolidate a firm's accounting, project and client records, issue periodic reports from them, and build supporting systems for routine work. All reported figures are reconciled to the general ledger.
Practice
Areas of work
Consolidation
Accounting, client and operational records combined into one consistent source, with duplicates and gaps resolved.
Recurring reports
Weekly or monthly reports on cash, profitability by job or client, and receivables, reconciled to the books before issue.
Analysis
Fixed-scope studies of a single question: pricing, estimate accuracy, lead performance, margin by line of work.
Operational systems
Systems built on the firm's existing software, including project archives, estimate verification and scheduled administrative tasks.
Clients
Firms of ten to two hundred people without an internal data function
Most run on a combination of accounting software, industry systems and spreadsheets.
- Contractors and specialty trades
- Restoration and conservation firms
- Property managers
- Restaurant and hospitality groups
- Bookkeeping firms adding reporting for their clients
Practice
Practice areas
From single studies to recurring reports, built on each firm's own records.
Consolidation
Most firms keep the same project, client or job in several places: the accounting system, one or more client databases, and spreadsheets kept by individual staff. We match these records, resolve the differences, and maintain a single consistent source that updates automatically.
Typical outputs: a reconciliation of every open project across systems; a list of missing or conflicting records with the value at stake; a clean, connected source for reporting.
Recurring reports
Reports are issued on a fixed schedule, drawn directly from the client's systems and checked against the books before issue. They cover what owners and finance leads need each week: cash position, receivables, work not yet invoiced, and profitability by job, client or line of work.
Typical outputs: a weekly position; a monthly profitability report; a rolling thirteen-week cash forecast; alerts when a figure moves outside agreed limits.
Reports
An example weekly report
The first page of a weekly report to the owners of a three-restaurant group. The firm and its figures are fictional.
Sales and costs, all locations
| 1 Nov | 25 Oct | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales | $186,400 | $179,200 | +7,200 |
| Covers | 4,912 | 4,770 | +142 |
| Average check | $37.95 | $37.57 | +0.38 |
| Food cost, % of sales | 30.8% | 29.6% | +1.2 pts |
| Labor cost, % of sales | 31.5% | 32.1% | −0.6 pts |
| Prime cost, % of sales | 62.3% | 61.7% | +0.6 pts |
For attention
- Food cost at Delancey rose to 33.4%, from 30.1%. Three produce items were invoiced above the prices on the order guide, by $1,460 in total.
- Tuesday card sales at Delancey in the register exceed the processor’s deposit by $1,180. The general manager has been asked to review the day’s voids and refunds.
- Kitchen overtime at Fulton was 61 hours, against 12 the week before, mostly for Saturday’s private event.
- Two catering invoices totaling $8,640 are more than 30 days past due.
Pages two to four cover each location, menu item margins and vendor price changes.
Analysis
Fixed-scope studies answer a single question with the firm's own history. The most common is pricing: comparing estimates with actual costs across past jobs to find the kinds of work that are consistently under- or over-priced.
Typical outputs: estimate accuracy by type of work; margin by client and sector; return on each source of new business; a written finding with recommended changes.
Operational systems
We build systems for recurring administrative work and for access to the firm's project history. They draw on the same consolidated records as the reports.
- Project archive. Past projects indexed by building type, material, treatment, client and outcome, for reference in pricing and proposals.
- Estimate verification. Estimates recorded in the CRM compared with their supporting documents, with discrepancies referred for review.
- Proposal materials. Qualification and past-performance sections prepared from the archive for staff review.
- Scheduled tasks. Invoice and retainage notices, change-order tracking and owner statements.
- Field records. Applications for site staff to record hours, materials and photographs against a project.
Where possible, systems are built on software the firm already licenses, and are maintained under the monthly engagement.
Engagement
Assessment, build, operation
Engagements follow the same three stages.
Each begins with one question about the records, answered before anything is built.
Assessment
A review of operations and data sources, concluding with the questions the reporting is to answer.
Build
Read-only connection to existing systems and delivery of the initial reports and systems.
Operation
Reports issued on schedule and systems maintained. Changes in source systems are addressed as they occur. A named principal is responsible for the engagement.
Terms
Standing terms of every engagement
- Read-only access. Connections are made through each system's authorized access. Shared passwords are not used.
- Reconciled before issue. Every report is checked against the books; a failed check holds the report.
- Data kept where agreed. Records stay in one secured environment, or inside the client's own systems, and are deleted at the end of the engagement.
- A named principal. One principal is responsible for each engagement.
- Owned by the client. Everything we build is documented and remains the firm's.
Questions
Common questions
How does this differ from our accountant?
An accountant keeps the books correct and files on time. We work from those books and from the operational records around them, such as estimates, jobs and timesheets, and issue reports that join the two. Many engagements run alongside the firm's accountant.
Why not use AI tools ourselves?
For a single question, they serve well. Recurring reporting needs connections that keep working, figures checked against the books every time, and someone responsible when a source system changes. That is the service.
Where do our records go?
Access is read-only. Records are held in one secured environment, or inside the firm's own systems, and deleted at the end of the engagement. Where AI tools are used, the terms exclude training on client data.
How is the work priced?
The assessment is a fixed fee, set once the scope is known. Ongoing work is a fixed monthly fee. There is no hourly billing.
How does an engagement start?
With one question about the firm's records, examined in the assessment. The written finding states what can be answered, from which records, and what it would take.
What happens if we stop?
Everything we build is documented and remains the firm's. Connections are handed over or closed, and any records we hold are deleted.
About
The counting house
Who we are
A reporting and data practice on Bleecker Street
Based on Bleecker Street in New York, Bleecker Counting House builds reporting and data systems for established firms.
Our clients run on several systems and spreadsheets without a data function of their own: contractors and specialty trades, restoration and conservation firms, property managers and hospitality groups.
The work starts from the records a firm already keeps. We connect them, reconcile them to the books, and keep the resulting reports and systems running, so the people who run the firm can rely on the figures in front of them.
Principal
Dexter Vandersall
Dexter Vandersall works in research data analysis, report writing and application development, including the automated reporting and records migration that this practice is built on.
Inquiries
Inquiries
Bring one question about your records. We will say whether it can be answered, and how.
Engagements begin with an assessment. Please include a brief description of the business and the systems it uses.
Bleecker Street, New York