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Industries We Serve

Bookkeeping for Agencies & Marketing

Pass-through ad spend is not your revenue.

Call (310) 800-4494Book a Free Consultation

Remote bookkeeping — monthly close, cleanup, and books ready for your CPA.

Agencies that buy media on behalf of clients routinely book the full pass-through as revenue, inflating the top line and destroying any read on real margin. Retainers and project work compound it.

At a glance

Pass-through separated

Client media spend never inflates your revenue line.

Margin per client

Real profitability by account, so unprofitable ones surface.

Retainers as liabilities

Recognized as delivered, not on receipt.

Freelancers tracked

Contractor spend coded for accurate 1099 reporting.

What we handle

  • Separating pass-through ad spend from agency fee revenue
  • Client and project-level profitability
  • Retainers recorded as liabilities until earned
  • Contractor and freelancer 1099 tracking
  • Recognizing project revenue as work is delivered

Common problems we fix

  • Pass-through media spend inflating revenue
  • No client-level margin, so unprofitable accounts persist
  • Retainers recognized on receipt rather than as earned

Trades and specialisms we cover

Agencies & Marketing is a broad category, and the bookkeeping differs meaningfully between the trades inside it. Here is what actually changes, trade by trade — each is handled under this service rather than as a separate engagement.

PPC and Media Buying — jump to this section

Media buying moves enormous client spend through agency accounts, and whether that spend is agency revenue or pass-through depends entirely on how the relationship is structured — the same agency can be several times larger or smaller on paper depending on which model is applied. Committing to one and applying it consistently is the first job. Card rewards and rebates earned on client spend are income that needs a deliberate treatment, not an accident.

SEO Agencies — jump to this section

SEO is retainer work delivering an outcome over months, which makes monthly retainers straightforward revenue but makes the profitability question entirely about hours consumed per client — and the clients that consume most are rarely the ones paying most. Content and link costs are direct costs of delivery and belong in cost of revenue rather than overhead, or gross margin means nothing.

PR Firms — jump to this section

PR runs on monthly retainers with project surges, plus real pass-through costs — wire distribution, event costs, media monitoring subscriptions — that should be recovered rather than absorbed. Long-term retainer relationships mean revenue is predictable but scope creep is the main threat to margin, and it only becomes visible when time is tracked against the retainer it belongs to.

Web Development Shops — jump to this section

Development work is quoted as a fixed project and delivered over months, so revenue recognised on invoice milestones will not match effort, and work in progress is real. Hosting and maintenance retainers sold alongside build work are recurring revenue with a completely different margin, and blending them hides that the recurring side may be the healthier business. Subcontracted developers are a direct cost of delivery.

Branding Studios — jump to this section

Brand work is project-based with deposits taken up front — usually a substantial share — which is deferred revenue until the work is delivered. Projects run in phases with client approval gates that can stall for months, so a project can sit half-delivered across a year end. Photography, illustration, and licensing bought for a project are direct costs and often billed on, which needs separating from studio overhead.

Influencer and UGC Agencies — jump to this section

These agencies sit between brands and creators, frequently receiving the full campaign budget and paying creators out of it — which makes the pass-through question the defining one, exactly as it is in media buying. Creator payments are contractor costs requiring information reporting. Campaigns run across periods with payment on completion, so accruing both the receivable and the creator liability is what keeps a month legible.

Not listed? Tell us what you do — these are the ones we are asked about most, not the limit of what we handle.

We keep the books. You run the business.

Categorization, reconciliation, month-end close, and clean financial statements — with nothing left for you to chase.

Call (310) 800-4494Book a Free Consultation
View pricing

How It Works

1

Free review

We look at how your agencies and marketing books are set up today.

2

Fix the structure

Chart of accounts rebuilt around how your industry actually earns and spends.

3

Catch up

Anything behind gets cleaned up at a fixed quoted price.

4

Close monthly

Current, reconciled books every month — ready for your CPA.

Agencies & Marketing — Frequently Asked Questions

Do you understand agencies and marketing specifically?

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Yes — that is the point of setting the books up by industry. Agencies that buy media on behalf of clients routinely book the full pass-through as revenue, inflating the top line and destroying any read on real margin. Retainers and project work compound it.

What does bookkeeping for agencies and marketing actually involve?

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Separating pass-through ad spend from agency fee revenue; Client and project-level profitability; Retainers recorded as liabilities until earned; and 2 other recurring pieces. It is done monthly rather than reconstructed at year end, so the numbers are usable while the decisions are still open.

What usually goes wrong in agencies and marketing books?

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The three we see most: pass-through media spend inflating revenue; no client-level margin, so unprofitable accounts persist; retainers recognized on receipt rather than as earned. Pass-through ad spend is not your revenue.

Do you work with ppc and media buying, seo agencies, pr firms?

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Yes — those are three of the 6 trades covered under this service, and each is listed on this page with what changes about its books. They are handled under one engagement rather than quoted separately.

Do you work in the accounting file my agencies and marketing business already uses?

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Yes. We work inside your file so you keep ownership and full visibility. If you do not have one set up yet, we build it around your industry from the start, including a chart of accounts that matches how you actually earn.

Can you clean up agencies and marketing books that are months behind?

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That is our specialty. Cleanup is quoted at a fixed price after a short no-obligation review, so you know the cost before any work begins. Scope varies enormously, so we look first and quote second.

Related

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Bookkeeping built for agencies and marketing

Book a free consultation and we will tell you what your books need — and what it costs.

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  • Done-for-you
  • Solo or group
  • Nationwide

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