>There's always a little danger in talking with people in a...

>There's always a little danger in talking with people in a business who may not have the whole picture but it's good info nonetheless.

There are always slight difference is accounting treatment - but management KPI's even more so.

>I think in a consultancy environment there shouldn't be non-chargeable staff.

Agree - though I am told this view is "old fashioned".

> It's a good point though - 85% cost based utilisation is unrealistic - more of an ideal situation to try for.
I don't think 75% or 80% cost based utilisation is unrealistic - the larger and more beuracratic a business becomes the worse the utilisation I suppose.

Many clients have spoken openly about the high projects costs in Australia. Larger resources projects in particular had large bureaucracies attached to them. This overhead is a hard sell in the current market as the project mix adjusts.

Agree all insights are useful.
The timing of the dip towards 55% in the utilisation trend coincides with holiday closure. The step up is positive.