Our bookkeeping for professional services firms (marketing and creative agencies, consultancies and design studios) shows profit by client and project, recognizes retainers when they are earned and keeps pass-through costs on their own lines. Fixed monthly fees start at $150, with no long-term contract.
Fixed monthly fees from $150/month
Six problems that distort an agency’s numbers, and what we do about each one.
Revenue sits in one lump, and the cost of serving each client (team time, freelancers, tools) is not tracked by client.
What we doIncome and direct costs tagged by client, with team hours priced at a loaded cost rate, so you see profit by client every month.
Media you buy for clients inflates revenue and makes your margin look far smaller than it is.
What we doPass-through costs kept on their own lines, so you always see revenue after pass-throughs, often called agency gross income.
A three-month retainer or a project deposit was booked as revenue when the cash arrived.
What we doHeld as deferred revenue and recognized month by month as the work is delivered.
Time and billing tools are not reconciled to the ledger, so unbilled work goes unseen.
What we doTime and billing data brought into the books each month, with unbilled time reviewed at month end.
There is no current receivables aging, so nobody knows who to chase.
What we doInvoices tracked and an aging report every month, so you know who is late and by how much.
W-9s were never collected, and contractor bills are not coded to the clients they served.
What we doEach contractor bill coded to its client, and 1099-NECs filed on time (for 2026 payments, by February 1, 2027).
Agencies and service firms often carry a client or two that lose money without anyone noticing. The books show it only if they are kept at client level.
We structure the reporting so profit by client and by service is visible, and pricing and renewal decisions have real numbers behind them.
Team time at a loaded cost rate: salary, payroll taxes and benefits, divided by working hours.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Your fee | $8,000 |
| Team time, 70 hours at $40 | −$2,800 |
| Freelancer | −$1,200 |
| Delivery margin | $4,000 (50%) |
Pass-through$20,000 of media bought and rebilled to the client, kept on its own lines.
Count the $20,000 of media as revenue and the same month reads as a margin of about 14%.
The same monthly books, set up around how your kind of firm bills and spends.
Retainers, projects and media bought for clients. Digital and creative agencies need pass-through costs kept apart, or profit by client is fiction.
Bookkeeping for interior designers has one trap: client money for furnishings. Spend it before the order arrives and the books say you are richer than you are.
Often a firm of one or a few. Bookkeeping for consultants mostly means income by client, expenses you can back up and travel billed back.
Fees billed by phase, reimbursable expenses billed back, and unbilled work reviewed at month end.
Recurring support contracts kept apart from hardware and license resale, so the margin on each is visible.
Payroll is most of the cost. Gross margin by placement, multi-state payroll and wages reported by workers’ comp class.
Switching from another bookkeeper, or months behind? Catch-up bookkeeping brings the file up to date first, at a fixed price agreed before any work starts.
Everything runs inside your own QuickBooks or Xero for one fixed monthly fee. Each task links to the service that does it.
From $150/month. Payroll and its filings are part of Growth, from $350/month. Cash-flow reporting and fractional CFO support are part of Scale, from $650/month.
Starter covers the monthly profit and loss and balance sheet. Profit by client, agings and unbilled work are priced into your fixed monthly fee after a short look at how you bill, and your quote lists each report.
Numbers you can watch: revenue after pass-throughs, delivery margin by client, client share of revenue, days to get paid and effective hourly rate.
Free books review
Add us as your accountant in QuickBooks Online, Xero or the software you use. You get a written list of what is misclassified or unreconciled, and what it would take to fix. Yours to keep.
Two minutes. Your software, and how you bill: hourly, by project or on retainer.
Invite hello@remotebookkeepersllc.com as your accountant in your QuickBooks Online, Xero or other software. We only read the file, and nothing in it changes.
Within about 48 hours, in plain English.
Free, no obligation. No sales call required. Nothing in your books changes.
Once the books show profit by client, the next questions are about price, people and cash.
Our fractional CFO services are part of Scale, from $650/month, and work from the same file we keep every month.
What each client costs to serve against what they pay, before the renewal call.
Hours sold against hours available, so you know when the team is full.
What a new hire has to bill to pay for themselves, and when.
When clients actually pay against when payroll and freelancers fall due.
| Client | Fee | Hours | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client A | $9,600 | 80 | $120 |
| Client B | $6,300 | 90 | $70 |
| Client C | $4,500 | 30 | $150 |
| All clients | $20,400 | 200 | $102 |
Client B takes the most hours and pays the least for each one. That is where a pricing conversation starts.
Example only: a made-up business. The figures add up but belong to no real client.
We would rather tell you up front than take on work we cannot do well.
You keep your apps and your own QuickBooks or Xero file. Nothing to switch, and your data stays yours.
QuickBooks
Xero
Stripe
PayPal
Square
Gusto
WiseYes. Income and direct costs are tagged by client, and team time is priced at a loaded cost rate: salary plus payroll taxes and benefits, divided by working hours. Each month you see what every client actually earns you.
A retainer billed for this month’s work is revenue this month. A prepayment for several months, or a project deposit, waits in deferred revenue and moves to income as the work is delivered.
It depends on your contracts. If you only arrange the media, usually just your fee counts. If you buy and control it, the full amount may.
Either way we keep pass-through costs on their own lines, so you always see revenue after pass-throughs. Your CPA confirms the presentation for formal statements and tax.
Yes. Time and billing data comes from your practice tools into the books each month, and unbilled work is reviewed at month end.
Yes. Collect a W-9 before the first payment, and we code each contractor bill to its client. Unincorporated US contractors paid $2,000 or more for services in 2026 get a 1099-NEC by February 1, 2027 (January 31 falls on a Sunday). Payments made by card or through PayPal are reported on a 1099-K instead. The threshold was $600 through 2025. Foreign freelancers give you a W-8BEN instead and do not get a 1099.
Our guide to 1099s for freelancers covers who gets one.
It depends on the state and on what you sell. Pure consulting is often not taxed, but some states tax certain services, and selling products (furnishings, hardware, printed materials) usually brings sales tax with it.
We track sales tax where you have an obligation and file the returns where you are registered.
Yes. Client deposits are held as a liability until the furnishings are delivered, each purchase is costed to the client’s order, and design fees stay apart from product sales and markup, so you see what each side of the business earns.
Whether you collect sales tax on furnishings, or buy them tax-free for resale, depends on your state. We track it either way.
Starter, from $150/month, for small firms without payroll. Growth, from $350/month, once you have a team on payroll and a return to file. Scale, from $650/month, when you want cash-flow reporting and fractional CFO support for pricing and hiring.
The exact fee is confirmed after a short look. If your volume grows a lot, we talk first, and any change is agreed with you in advance. No long-term contract.
Still have a question? Book a free consultation (opens in a new tab)
Two free ways to start. No obligation, no long-term contract.
(906) 268-9778 hello@remotebookkeepersllc.com
Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm EST
We only read the file. Written findings in about 48 hours.
A free intro call at a time you pick. No pressure, no jargon.