Business Consulting Software to Scope, Deliver and Bill Every Engagement
Thousands of consultants rely on Avaza to quote engagements, staff and deliver the work, capture every billable hour and expense, and get invoices paid faster. Utilisation and profitability reports show which engagements make money before the final invoice goes out.
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Trusted by 70,000+ businesses in 150+ countries
Run Every Engagement from Proposal to Paid Invoice
Management, strategy, HR, engineering, environmental and financial-advisory consultancies use Avaza to replace the spreadsheet-plus-five-apps setup. Estimates, projects, timesheets, expenses, resource scheduling, invoicing, chat and 30+ reports share one set of clients, projects and rates, so the hours a consultant logs on Tuesday are on the client's invoice and in the utilisation report without anyone re-typing them.
Why Do Business Consultants Love Avaza?
Consultancies sell expertise by the hour, the milestone or the retainer, and margin disappears when hours go unrecorded, budgets creep and invoices lag. Avaza ties the work to the billing: every task, timesheet, expense and schedule booking belongs to a client engagement with a budget and a rate card, and the dashboards show what is unbilled, overdue and over budget.
1. Set Up Each Engagement as a Project with a Budget
Structure the engagement the way the proposal was written, then track delivery in the view each consultant prefers.
Workstreams and deliverables
Group tasks into sections such as Discovery, Analysis and Recommendations, with sub-tasks, time estimates, priorities, tags and custom fields
List, Kanban, Gantt and calendar views
Plan phases and task dependencies on the Gantt chart, run the day-to-day on a Kanban board, and switch views without re-entering anything
Budgets with threshold alerts
Give every engagement an hours or fee budget and get warned when a threshold is crossed, not after the overrun
Templates for repeat engagements
Save a due-diligence, audit or strategy-review project as a template and reuse it for the next client
2. Capture Every Billable Hour and Get It Approved
Consultants track time where they work; engagement leads and clients approve it before it is billed.
Timers on any device
Start a timer on a task from the web, iOS or Android app, or fill in day and week views and copy last week forward
Rates per consultant, category or project
Bill a partner, a senior consultant and an analyst at different rates on the same engagement, with cost rates for margin
Approval workflows
Route timesheets to a default approver or the engagement lead, approve or reject by week, day or entry, and lock approved time
Client sign-off in the customer portal
Invite the client as a Timesheet Approver, at no cost, so hours are agreed before the invoice goes out
3. Bill Travel and Disbursements Without the Shoebox
Client-site travel, subcontractors and research subscriptions are captured against the engagement and billed alongside the hours.
Receipts from anywhere
Photograph receipts in the mobile app, forward them by email, upload files or import a CSV
Any currency
Log expenses in the currency you paid in and let Avaza convert them at the historical rate for that date
Approvals and reimbursements
Submit expenses for approval with email notifications, flag reimbursable items and lock approved expenses
Markups and client billing
Add a fixed or percentage markup per category and pull unbilled expenses onto the client invoice with the time
4. Know Which Engagements Make Money While You Can Still Act
The numbers a consultancy runs on, from live data instead of month-end spreadsheets.
Budget versus actual
Each project dashboard charts accumulated time and cost against the budget, with a threshold line before the overrun
Project Profitability
Revenue from billable time and expenses against cost rates, per engagement and per consultant
Staff Utilization
Billable versus non-billable hours for every person against their available hours, plus scheduled utilisation
Portfolio view
The Project Dashboard report flags every engagement that is over budget, at risk or ready to invoice
5. Staff Engagements and Forecast Revenue
See who is free next month before you commit to a start date.
One timeline for the whole team
Book consultants to engagements or tasks with hours per day, drag bookings to reschedule, and flip between team and project views
Real availability
Daily working hours, public holidays and leave feed a colour-coded availability bar, so part-timers and contractors are never over-allocated
Skills and forecast revenue
Tag skills to find the right specialist, and let billable rates turn scheduled hours into forecast revenue by engagement and person
From plan to timesheet
Bookings appear on each consultant's timesheet with a Create Time button, and the Schedule vs Timesheets report shows where plan and reality drift
6. Send Proposals Clients Approve Online, Then Convert Them
Scope the engagement once and carry it straight into delivery and billing.
Build from your service catalogue
Pick inventory items for workshops, day rates or phases, apply discounts and taxes, attach the proposal deck and set an expiry date
Online approval with an audit trail
Clients approve or reject with comments on any device, and every view and decision is recorded on the estimate
Estimate to project in one click
Line items become tasks and the total becomes the project budget, so scope and budget match the proposal
Staged billing
Convert the estimate to an invoice, or link it to several invoices for phase-based or milestone billing
7. Invoice Time, Expenses and Milestones, and Get Paid Faster
Whatever the engagement's commercial model, the invoice is built from data already in Avaza.
Time and materials
Pull uninvoiced hours and expenses for a client onto an invoice, grouped by project, consultant, category or task, with the rounding rules your contract specifies
Fixed fees and milestones
Add fixed amounts to the engagement and bill them as each phase is signed off
Pay Now
Clients pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank debit through Stripe, or via PayPal, and automatic reminders chase late invoices
Xero and QuickBooks sync
Invoices, payments, contacts and taxes flow two-way to Xero or QuickBooks Online, so your bookkeeper never re-keys an invoice
8. Run Retainers and Recurring Fees on Autopilot
Advisory retainers and monthly service fees are the backbone of consultancy cash flow. Avaza bills them without a calendar reminder.
Retainer subscriptions
Invoice the retainer in advance on schedule, hold the payment as credit and draw it down against the work delivered
Retainer statements
Show the client every retainer invoice, payment, draw-down and expired credit in one PDF statement
Recurring invoices
Bill monthly fees automatically, with unbilled time and expenses included and smart tags naming the billing period
Auto Charge
Charge a saved card or bank account the moment each invoice is issued (paid plans, via Stripe)
The Reports Partners Ask For Every Week
30+ reports with filters on everything, saved views, Excel, PDF and Word export, and scheduled email delivery.
Staff Utilization
Billable and non-billable hours per consultant against available and scheduled hours, with timesheet revenue.
Project Profitability
Budget, tracked and remaining hours per person, and margin once cost rates and billable revenue are compared.
Report library
Timesheet Summary, Schedule vs Timesheets, Estimate List, receivables and profit and loss: filter, save and schedule any of them.
What Makes Avaza Different?
Elevate your client collaboration experience: Avaza's pioneering Client Users feature gives you unlimited client access to projects, estimates, invoices and timesheet approvals without adding a dime to your costs.
Customer Support You'll Love
Our dedication doesn't stop once you've signed up. The support team is on hand 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday, ready to help with any query, big or small.
Ease Meets Expertise
Basic tools fall short as you grow, and advanced ones feel daunting. Avaza strikes the balance: an intuitive platform that doesn't skimp on powerful, high-level features.
Avaza Mobile Apps
Stay connected in the office or at the client's site. Track time and expenses and collaborate with your team and clients right from the palm of your hand.
Onboarding
Get up and running faster with personalised onboarding sessions tailored to your team.
“Avaza has given us the freedom that project managers are able to really look at all facets of their projects, from timesheet entries, expenses and scheduling – using the various reports and functions that Avaza supports – and quickly get a project summary report that tells you everything you need to know about the project. The ability to do that has really saved our operations team a lot of time. The full-on impact is huge.”
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Encrypted in transit and at restFrequently asked questions
How much does Avaza cost for a small consultancy?
A solo consultant can run on the Free plan: one timesheet and expense user, one scheduling user, five active projects, ten customers and five invoices a month. Paid plans start at $11.95 per month (Startup), with Basic at $23.95 and Business at $47.95, and additional timesheet, admin or scheduling users are $7 per user per month. Client collaborators are unlimited and free on every plan.
Can clients follow their engagement without paying for a seat?
Yes. Invite clients as project collaborators through the free customer portal, where they can follow tasks, comment, approve estimates, view and pay invoices and, if you give them the Timesheet Approver role, sign off hours before they are billed. There is no limit on client users on any plan.
Does Avaza handle retainers, fixed fees and time-and-materials billing?
Yes. Time-and-materials invoices pull uninvoiced hours and expenses onto the invoice with your rounding rules, fixed fees and milestones are billed as fixed amounts, retainer subscriptions invoice in advance and hold payments as credit to draw down, and recurring invoices bill monthly fees automatically. Every invoice can carry a Pay Now button for online payment.
Does Avaza integrate with Xero or QuickBooks?
Yes. The native two-way integrations with Xero and QuickBooks Online sync invoices, payments, contacts and taxes (and supplier bills with Xero), so your bookkeeper works from the same numbers without re-keying. Avaza also connects to Slack, Google Workspace and thousands of other apps through Zapier, and offers a REST API and webhooks.
Can consultants track time and expenses from a client site?
Yes. The iOS and Android apps include timers, day and week timesheets, expenses with receipt photos, tasks and chat. A timer started on a phone can be stopped on a laptop, and every entry lands on the same timesheet that approvers, reports and invoices use.
Can I see utilisation and profitability by consultant?
Yes. The Staff Utilization report shows billable versus non-billable hours for each person against their available and scheduled hours. The Project Profitability report compares revenue from billable time and expenses with cost rates per project and per person, and both can be filtered, saved, exported and emailed on a schedule.
Is our client data secure, and what support do we get?
Avaza is GDPR compliant and protects your data with bank-level security. Support is available 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday, by chat and email, and new teams can book personalised onboarding sessions to set up rates, approvals and invoice templates the way the firm bills.
Ready to run your consultancy on Avaza?
Join thousands of consultants who quote, deliver and bill every engagement in one place. Free to start, and your clients join for free too.