Update on GBA’s Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Annual Financial-Performance Survey

How does your firm stack up? What are the trends for GBA member firms? What should you be watching? What should you be leveraging? The results of GBA’s Business Practices Committee’s annual financial-performance survey can help provide guidance for leaders involved in planning and decision making.

For more than 20 years, GBA has been collecting and sharing key financial metrics from member firms in our annual, confidential, financial-performance survey. Results of the survey – presented in a GBA Business Brief made available to all member firms – allow our members to measure their success against other member firms, improve business performance, and optimize efficiency.

We have exciting news to share about the survey process this year!

GBA has partnered with Environmental Financial Consulting Group (EFCG) to streamline our yearly survey process and reporting. EFCG is the leading  advisor to architecture, engineering, and consulting (AEC) firms. Their mission is to provide a data-driven and strategic edge to AEC firms to advance the innovation, sustainability, and success of the industry. Over the last 30 years, EFCG has served as a retained advisor to more than 300 firms and developed a proprietary database of financial and business metrics. What does this mean for GBA members? An easier and more streamlined process when completing the survey and access to in-depth data from across the industry. We hope this will result in more participation and better data.

The survey will look a little different and the questions will differ slightly from previous  versions, but ease of use should be greatly improved. Also, the survey will be sent to member firms a little later in the year than in previous years. It is important to note that only those member firms who participate in the survey will have access to the entire EFCG data set, which includes more data and trends so our participating members can track their progress on key financial indicators for companies that match your firm’s size (including firms outside of GBA’s membership).

Benefits of GBA/EFCG survey partnership:
• Survey improvements – easier to fill out and provide information.
• Member firms who fill out the survey will have exclusive access to in-depth data from across the industry (including firms outside of GBA’s membership).
• Data will be presented in a new, easier-to-understand format.
• Data is still customized to GBA member firms, but also meets EFCG’s survey needs so there is no duplication of efforts for firm staff (i.e., there is no need to complete EFCG’s survey).
• Elevating the quality and quantity of information for GBA member firms by accessing a bigger data set from the EFCG survey community of comparable AEC firms.
• Continued commitment of GBA and EFCG to provide survey confidentiality.

What comes next?
• Each member firms’ CEO, CFO/Controller, and GBA Ambassador will receive the survey via email from GBA on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. Only member firms’ CFO/Controller should complete the survey.
• The full results of the survey will be provided in September 2023 only to all who complete the survey.