# Check whether a client project is making money

A profitability check comparing budget to actual hours, my effective hourly rate, where time leaked, and what to fix now.

- Topic: Finance & Accounting
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Finance, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/check-whether-a-client-project-is-making-money

## Prompt

```text
Help me work out whether a client project is profitable.

**Fee structure:** [fixed fee / retainer / hourly with a cap, and the amount]
**Budgeted hours by phase or task:** [ESTIMATES]
**Actual hours logged so far by phase or task:** [ACTUALS]
**Other costs:** [subcontractors, software, travel]
**My target hourly rate or margin:** [TARGET]
**How much is left to do:** [REMAINING WORK]

Analyze:
1. Effective hourly rate so far and projected at completion, showing the math.
2. Budget vs. actual by phase, with the biggest overruns highlighted.
3. Likely causes of overruns: unpaid scope creep, extra revision rounds, meetings, my own underestimate, or client delays. Separate what was in my control from what wasn't.
4. Projected final margin under a best, likely, and worst case for the remaining work.
5. Actions for this project: what to raise as a change request, what to streamline, and what to stop doing for free.
6. Lessons for pricing the next similar project: a revised estimate per phase.

Use only the numbers I provide. If key data is missing (e.g. untracked time), say how that affects the result instead of guessing.
```

## What to fill in

- fixed fee / retainer / hourly with a cap, and the amount
- ESTIMATES
- ACTUALS
- subcontractors, software, travel
- TARGET
- REMAINING WORK

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.