For consultancies, law and accounting firms
Leave management for professional services firms
Keep client work covered, give people back the overtime they're owed, and see leave next to utilisation — without a spreadsheet that drifts the week before a deadline.
Free for up to 10 people · 11 to 50 people: $37.50 a month on Pro
In a professional services firm, a day off is never just a day off — it's a gap in a client engagement, a partner's matter, or an audit timeline. The question isn't only "can we spare them?" but "who covers the work, and does anyone else on that account need the same week?" Absenca's wallchart answers the second before you approve, so leave doesn't quietly blow a delivery date.
It's leave and absence management built around how consultancies, law firms and accounting practices actually run: billable people who routinely work over, busy seasons you have to protect, and partners who want leave trends sitting next to utilisation, not in a separate file nobody opens.
What you get
Coverage before approval
See who else in a team or department is already off that week, with optional limits per department, so an approval never leaves an engagement uncovered.
TOIL for the hours they worked
Track time off in lieu so the late nights before a filing or close turn into banked time, with a clear balance instead of a vague IOU.
Leave next to utilisation
Export leave and absence data to sit alongside your utilisation and billable numbers, so partners see the whole picture in one place.
Busy seasons protected
Blackout periods cover audit season, year-end close or a trial window, so leave can't be booked when the firm can least afford it.
Protect billable coverage on every account
Before approving a request, the manager or partner can check the wallchart for who else in that team or department is already booked off — so two people on the same client engagement don't take the same week and leave it uncovered. Set a maximum number of people who can be away at once per department, and Absenca refuses any request that would breach it when it's submitted.
The shared wallchart makes coverage obvious at a glance across the whole firm: who's in, who's out, and where the thin weeks are. For a practice juggling several live matters or engagements at once, that visibility is the difference between approving leave with confidence and finding out too late.
Law firms: block court dates and trials
A hearing or trial date is set by the court, not the firm, and the team on that matter can't be on holiday. Add a blackout period for the trial window, for the whole office or only the litigation department, with a short message such as "Trial window: all hands on the NovaTech matter". A leave request inside those dates is refused when it's submitted, and the person sees why.
Each blackout period has a fixed start and end date, so add one as each hearing is listed and remove it if the date moves.
Accounting firms: 31 January and filing season
In the UK, online Self Assessment returns are due by 31 January, and most practices can't spare anyone in the weeks before. Add a blackout period running up to 31 January, and others for year-end close or any other filing season, so leave can't be booked inside them. Set the next year's dates when you plan the year, since each period has fixed dates.
The late nights don't vanish either: log them as TOIL and the team books the time back once the deadline has passed.
TOIL that actually gets repaid
Billable professionals work late — the week before a deal closes, a return is filed, or an audit signs off. Absenca tracks time off in lieu as a real, visible balance: log the extra hours, and they accrue as TOIL the person can book back later, with the same approval flow as any other leave.
No more informal "take a day whenever" promises that get forgotten by the next busy period. TOIL sits in the same balances view as annual leave, so people can see what they're owed and managers can see the liability they're carrying.
Leave that informs utilisation and reporting
Partners care about utilisation, and leave is part of that story — available days, capacity lost to absence, and patterns worth watching. Absenca's reports export to CSV, XLSX or PDF (and can be scheduled), so leave and absence data can sit alongside your billable and utilisation numbers rather than in a disconnected spreadsheet.
Bradford Factor scoring surfaces frequent short-notice absence early, and per-office leave years, accruals and carry-over keep balances correct for staff who joined mid-year or work part-time across clients.
Why teams choose Absenca
- The wallchart before any approval, and per-department limits at submission
- TOIL tracking so overtime turns into banked time off
- Blackout periods for audit season, close and trial windows
- Leave and absence reports that export alongside utilisation
- Bradford Factor analytics and per-office leave years
- Free for up to 10 people; Pro is $37.50 a month for up to 50 people
Frequently asked questions
- Why do professional services firms need dedicated leave management?
- Because leave directly affects client coverage and billable capacity. A firm needs to see who else on an engagement is off before approving, protect busy seasons, and repay the overtime billable staff work — things a generic spreadsheet or basic HR add-on handles poorly. Absenca focuses on exactly that.
- Can Absenca track TOIL for staff who work overtime?
- Yes. Time off in lieu is tracked as a proper balance — log the extra hours worked, and they accrue as TOIL that can be booked back later through the normal approval flow, so overtime around deadlines actually gets repaid.
- How does Absenca help protect coverage during busy periods?
- Blackout periods let you block leave during audit season, year-end close or a trial window, and you can cap how many people in a department are off at once. Managers can also check the wallchart for who else in the department is booked off before they approve.
- Does it work for reporting on utilisation?
- Absenca tracks leave and absence, not billable time itself — but its reports export to CSV, XLSX and PDF (and can be scheduled), so leave data sits alongside your utilisation numbers. Bradford Factor analytics also highlight absence patterns worth watching.
- Is it really free, and what does it cost as we grow?
- Absenca is free for up to 10 people. Pro is $37.50 a month for up to 50 people, or $33.75 a month billed annually ($405 a year). You keep all your history, balances and policies as the firm grows.