Five numbers tell you whether your firm's revenue is healthy: realization, collection rate, days sales outstanding, AR aging, and work in progress. Here is what each one means and how to move it.
The core finance KPIs every law firm should track are realization rate, collection rate, days sales outstanding (DSO), accounts receivable aging, and work in progress (WIP). Together they reveal how much of the work a firm bills actually turns into collected cash, and how quickly it arrives, which is where most firms quietly lose revenue.
Illustrative dashboard. Shapes show direction, not a specific firm's figures.
| KPI | What it measures | How to improve it |
|---|---|---|
| Realization rate | How much of the work performed is actually billed and collected. | Capture time accurately, reduce write-downs, and bill promptly. |
| Collection rate | The share of billed amounts the firm actually collects. | Invoice on time, make paying easy, follow up consistently. |
| Days sales outstanding | Average days to collect after invoicing. | Shorten time to invoice and automate follow-up. |
| AR aging | How long invoices sit unpaid, bucketed by age. | Act on aging invoices before they become uncollectible. |
| Work in progress | Billable work performed but not yet invoiced. | Tighten billing cycles so work does not sit unbilled. |
The problem with these KPIs is timing. If a firm only sees them at month-end, the revenue they would have flagged is already lost. Oddr gives finance leaders a live view of realization, collections, aging, and cash across the invoice-to-cash cycle, so these numbers become something to act on, not just report. It runs on top of a firm's system of record, so the metrics stay current without a migration.
See how Oddr turns realization, collections, and cash into a live picture your finance team can act on.
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