Bookkeeping for marketing and creative agencies
Monthly QuickBooks bookkeeping for Los Angeles agencies with small teams. Contractors paid and tracked, client costs billed back, and a clear view of which accounts actually make you money.
An agency's books get complicated faster than most. You have staff on payroll and freelancers on invoices. Clients pay retainers, project fees and sometimes the media or printing you bought on their behalf. Software subscriptions land on three different cards. And at the end of the year, every contractor needs a 1099.
When the books are only roughly right, the damage is quiet. Pass-through costs look like profit until the card bill arrives. A client who feels like your best account turns out to barely break even. January arrives and nobody has the contractor W-9s.
Larchmont Bookkeeping focuses on service businesses with small teams, and agencies are first on that list. We are a QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor practice in Larchmont, a short drive from Hollywood, Silver Lake and Culver City, and we work remotely with agencies anywhere in the US. See how monthly bookkeeping works, or start with a QuickBooks cleanup if the file is behind.
The problem
Where agency books usually go wrong
- Freelancers paid all year with no W-9 on file, so 1099s turn into a January scramble.
- Media spend, printing or other client costs recorded as your expenses and never billed back.
- Retainers and project fees lumped into one income line, so you cannot see what each client is worth.
- Software subscriptions scattered across personal and business cards.
- Payroll from Gusto or ADP posting as one big number nobody has checked.
What we handle for agencies
Contractors and 1099s
We collect a W-9 when a freelancer starts, not in January, and keep contractor payments tracked so the year-end 1099-NEC filing is ready before the January 31 deadline.
Client costs billed back
Media, printing and other reimbursable costs are marked billable when they come in, so they make it onto the invoice instead of eating your margin.
Profit by client
Income and direct costs are tagged by client or project, so you can see which accounts pay for themselves. Exactly how depends on your QuickBooks Online plan, and we will tell you what yours can do.
Payroll that ties out
Gusto, ADP or QuickBooks Payroll entries are split into wages, taxes and benefits, then checked against the payroll reports every month.
Every account reconciled
Bank, credit cards and your payment processor are matched to their statements, line by line, every month.
One report by the 10th
What you billed, what you spent, what is still owed to you, and a short note on what changed. One page.
Who this fits
Agencies, studios and consultancies with roughly 3 to 20 people, earning fees rather than selling products, and using QuickBooks Online or willing to move to it.
Questions
Do you prepare 1099s for our freelancers?
We keep contractor payments tracked and W-9s on file all year, then prepare the 1099-NEC information in QuickBooks Online so it is ready to file by the January 31 deadline. We do not prepare your business tax return. That stays with your CPA, and we hand them a clean file.
How do you handle media spend or costs we pass through to clients?
We mark those costs as billable in QuickBooks when they are recorded, so they show up on the client's invoice and are not mistaken for your own overhead. If you mark them up, we set that up too.
Can we see profit by client or by project?
Yes, in most cases. We tag income and direct costs by client or project. The exact tools depend on your QuickBooks Online plan, and we will tell you in the consultation what yours supports.
We use Gusto for payroll. Does that work?
Yes. Payroll from Gusto, ADP or QuickBooks Payroll posts into QuickBooks, and we check each run against the payroll reports so wages, employer taxes and benefits land in the right places.
How much does bookkeeping for an agency cost?
One flat monthly fee, with no hourly billing and no contract. The fee depends on how many transactions, accounts and people you have, so we quote it after a free consultation once we have seen your books.
We also work with therapy group practices and architects and interior designers.
Know which clients actually make you money.
Start with a free consultation. We look at your books and tell you honestly what needs doing. Nothing to sign.
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