Identify clients with declining profitability trends. Track margin shifts by quarter, spot loss-making accounts early, and take action before revenue erosion spreads across your client base.
Identify clients with declining profitability trends. Track margin shifts by quarter, spot loss-making accounts early, and take action before revenue erosion spreads across your client base.
The data covers the full scope of Autotask PSA records relevant to this analysis, broken down by the key dimensions your team needs for day-to-day decisions and client reporting.
Who should use this: MSP owners, finance leads, and operations managers tracking profitability
How often: Monthly for financial reviews, quarterly for strategic planning, on-demand for pricing decisions
Identify clients with declining profitability trends. Track margin shifts by quarter, spot loss-making accounts early, and take action before revenue erosion spreads across your client base.
Profit margin percentage across all clients, grouped by quarter. Q1 2026 is partial (January only).
Q2 2024 had minimal revenue ($2,279) and negative margin. Q1 2026 partial data (68.2%) excluded from trendline to avoid skewing.
EVALUATE
ADDCOLUMNS(
SUMMARIZE(
BI_Autotask_Contracts,
BI_Date[Calendar Quarter]
),
"Revenue", CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]),
"Cost", CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
"Profit", CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]) -
CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
"Margin", DIVIDE(
CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]) -
CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]), 0)
)
ORDER BY BI_Date[Calendar Quarter]Top 12 clients by revenue with profitability breakdown. Margins below 30% flagged red, 30-50% amber, above 50% green.
| Client | Revenue | Cost | Profit | Margin | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client A | $2,324,617 | $1,013,970 | $1,310,647 | 56.4% | Healthy |
| Client B | $2,212,915 | $894,222 | $1,318,693 | 59.6% | Healthy |
| Client C | $1,431,177 | $603,420 | $827,758 | 57.8% | Healthy |
| Client D | $637,092 | $248,212 | $388,880 | 61.0% | Healthy |
| Client E | $589,694 | $645,574 | -$55,879 | -9.5% | Loss-Making |
| Client F | $476,622 | $214,395 | $262,227 | 55.0% | Healthy |
| Client G | $469,660 | $224,394 | $245,267 | 52.2% | Healthy |
| Client H | $416,450 | $206,868 | $209,582 | 50.3% | Healthy |
| Client I | $328,165 | $107,091 | $221,073 | 67.4% | Healthy |
| Client J | $321,669 | $121,483 | $200,186 | 62.2% | Healthy |
| Client K | $320,832 | $141,416 | $179,416 | 55.9% | Healthy |
| Client L | $286,926 | $120,188 | $166,739 | 58.1% | Healthy |
EVALUATE
VAR _ClientProfitability =
ADDCOLUMNS(
SUMMARIZE(
BI_Autotask_Contracts,
BI_Autotask_Companies[company_name]
),
"Revenue", CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]),
"Cost", CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
"Profit", CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]) -
CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
"Margin", DIVIDE(
CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]) -
CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]), 0)
)
RETURN
TOPN(12, _ClientProfitability, [Revenue], DESC)
ORDER BY [Revenue] DESCQuarterly revenue and cost side by side. Watch for quarters where cost growth outpaces revenue.
Q2 2025 was the peak revenue quarter at $3.46M, but costs also peaked at $1.92M, pushing margin down to 44.4%. That is the lowest margin in the dataset outside of the Q2 2024 startup period. Q3 2025 saw revenue drop 10% while costs dropped 29%, which actually improved margin to 56.2%. The cost correction suggests seasonal staffing adjustments or project completions.
Client E generated $589,694 in revenue but cost $645,574 to service, a net loss of $55,879
Client E is the only client in the top 12 that is losing money. Their revenue ranks fifth at $589,694, but the cost to service them is $645,574. That is a gap of $55,879. Every other client in this list generates a margin above 50%.
This loss is not a rounding error. It represents an ongoing cost overrun that could be driven by excessive reactive tickets, scope creep on projects, or a contract that was priced too low relative to the workload. The next step is to pull Client E's ticket volume and time entries to find where the hours are going.
EVALUATE
ADDCOLUMNS(
SUMMARIZE(
FILTER(
BI_Autotask_Contracts,
RELATED(BI_Autotask_Companies[company_name]) = "Client E"
),
BI_Date[Calendar Quarter]
),
"Revenue", CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]),
"Cost", CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
"Profit", CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]) -
CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
"Margin", DIVIDE(
CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]) -
CALCULATE([Total Labor Cost]),
CALCULATE([Total Contract Revenue]), 0),
"TicketCount", CALCULATE(
COUNT(BI_Autotask_Tickets[ticket_id]))
)
ORDER BY BI_Date[Calendar Quarter]How many of the top 12 clients fall above or below target margin thresholds
Client Margins (sorted by margin %)
The only loss-making client in the top 12. Revenue of $589,694 does not cover the $645,574 cost to deliver service. This account needs an immediate profitability review to determine whether costs can be reduced or pricing needs adjustment.
The lowest margin in the operating period. Costs spiked to $1.92M while revenue grew only 11% over Q1. This suggests cost control slipped during the quarter. Q3 corrected, but it is worth checking if the same pattern repeats in seasonal cycles.
The overall portfolio is healthy. Client I leads at 67.4% margin, and even the lowest profitable client (Client H) is at 50.3%. That consistency across the top 12 is a strong foundation. The issue is concentrated in a single account.
4 priorities based on the findings above
Pull all time entries, ticket volumes, and project hours for Client E over the past four quarters. Identify where the $645,574 in costs is going. Look for excessive reactive tickets, project overruns, or staffing mismatches. This is a $55,879 problem that will grow every quarter it goes unaddressed.
If the cost structure on Client E cannot be meaningfully reduced, the contract price needs to go up. A -9.5% margin on a $589K account is not sustainable. Compare their per-device and per-user pricing against your standard rate card and identify the gap.
Q2 2025 showed the largest cost spike ($1.92M) and lowest margin (44.4%). Check if this aligns with project timelines, new employee onboarding, or seasonal workload increases. If Q2 is consistently your most expensive quarter, plan staffing and project scheduling around it.
Client I (67.4% margin) and Client D (61.0%) show what good pricing looks like relative to delivery cost. Use their contract structures as a template when pricing new deals or renegotiating existing contracts that fall below 50%.
Revenue comes from Autotask PSA contract billing data. Cost comes from labor cost calculations based on time entries and internal cost rates in Proxuma Power BI. The AI queries both through MCP and calculates profit and margin per client and per quarter.
Cost includes all labor hours logged against a client in Autotask, multiplied by the internal cost rate per technician. It does not include third-party licensing costs, hardware procurement, or overhead. This means actual margin may be lower than reported if you factor in those additional expenses.
Q1 2026 only contains partial data (likely January). The 68.2% margin reflects a smaller sample with lower-than-average costs. As the quarter fills in with more time entries and project work, that margin will likely settle closer to the 52-56% range seen in recent quarters.
Most MSPs target a gross margin of 50-65% on managed services. Below 40% on a per-client basis usually indicates either under-pricing or over-servicing. Below 30% warrants an immediate contract review. Anything negative means you are paying to service that client.
Yes. Connect Proxuma Power BI to your Autotask PSA instance, add an AI tool (Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot) via MCP, and ask the same question. The AI writes the DAX queries, runs them against your real data, and produces a report like this in under fifteen minutes.
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