Thank you for agreeing to participate in this survey of SME UK-based digital agencies, technology consultancies, and close cousins! The survey is intended to provide all participants a report on how KPIs are looking today for this tight niche only.

The survey is conducted by Beyond the Quarter, an independent business consultancy supporting SMEs, especially in this sector, to achieve their strategies based on financial and purpose/values-led objectives. The analysis that will be provided will be KPIs that are primarily ratio-based (current typical margin %, what % typically spent on training, CEO compensation, etc).

A couple of points about the data you provide:

• Most important - we will not share your data with anyone. Period.The data you provide will be aggregated. No individual company's data will be shared.
• Please provide data aligned with your financial year. Hopefully that makes it easier!
• There are quite a few questions here! Please provide as much data as you're able to. We'll give you benchmarks and comparative data for the ratios from the data that you've provided us. For example, you'll get comparisons on team churn if you provide us employee numbers. Basically, the more info you provide, the more you'll get back.
• As your data will form a part of the aggregates and averages we'll report back, please be as accurate as you can so as not to compromise its quality.

Thank you!

Three thank yous for participating. First, once we've compiled the report, you'll get a copy so as to compare your own ratios with the sector.

Second, we'll happily arrange a discussion with Iyas, our managing partner who is doing all the analysis, on how your numbers compare - what's great, what's not, and how the numbers you're not happy with might be improved. He's led his own startup in this space from 2 people to a team of 500 (including IPO, turnaround, acquisition and trade sale).

Finally, Beyond the Quarter will donate £10 for each completed survey to a charity working to eradicate digital poverty.

Thank you!

This section is the highest level overview and will allow us to give you comparisons on margin (gross and net). Different companies calculate Gross Margin differently. To overcome that, we'll use the numbers you provide here so that comparisons are consistent, and in the way that we believe to be the most useful.

Please enter the data for your last annual accounts as per the date in the previous section.

One of the toughest dilemmas especially for founder CEOs is how much to pay themselves. This section will allow us to give you comparison to the other CEOs in the sector. Note:

1. This is for the exec with the ultimate control in the company. For the purpose of this survey, we call the role CEO, but you may call it MD, Managing Partner, Superior Being, or something else.
2. It is not about founders or shareholders, who may or may not be the same as your CEO.
3. If there's more than one CEO, then fill in how many, and aggregate the payments for them. We'll use an average in our reporting back to you.

These numbers should all be available from your last P&L. We'll use them to provide you with a comparison in terms of % spent on key areas of the business - sales & marketing, recruitment, training and donation.

If you didn't spend anything in any of the categories, please actually put in "0" rather than leaving them blank, as this will make the averages across companies more accurate.

Note that as with all other areas, you'll receive comparisons only for those areas that you're able to complete.

These inputs will allow us to give you comparisons with regards to client concentration (alongside our guidelines), customer churn and customer retention. Revenue numbers should align with your P&L year.

For clarity, different divisions within a large company or multinational count as one for the purposes of the analysis here, even if they "might as well be different clients".

Note that as with all other areas, you'll receive comparisons only for those areas that you're able to complete.

These fields will allow us to calculate and compare project over-runs, % fixed price vs T&M vs retainer revenue, average utilisations, revenue capacity, and use of contractors / freelancers.

A couple of key definitions for consistency:

1. Permanent employees refers to team members who have a permanent contract with you. This doesn't include contractors who "we treat just like employees" or who "might as well be employees".
2. Billable employees refers to permanent employees who deliver paid work to your clients.
3. Contractors refers to contractors or freelancers who you used to deliver paid work to your clients.

We'll use your inputs here to calculate employee churn so you can compare that with the sector, as well as growth, revenue per employee, geographical spread and diversity. We'll also compare who has permanent staff in key internal roles - marketing, people and finance.

"Permanent employees" are employed by you on a permanent contract. This doesn't include contractors who "are treated as though" or who "might as well" be permanent.

Note that as with all other areas, you'll receive comparisons only for those areas that you're able to complete.