Agencies and consultancies
Revenue booked the way your contracts read. Profit by client, every month.
ProvenCFO runs the finance side for marketing, creative and digital agencies. We book retainer and project revenue as the work is delivered, keep client media money separate from your own cash, show profit and team utilization by client every month, and keep a cash forecast that holds up if a big client leaves.
| Client | Retainer | Hours | Effective rate | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client A | $18,000 | 96 | $188 | Healthy |
| Client B | $9,500 | 104 | $91 | Over-serviced |
| Client C (prepaid Q4) | $36,000 | 0 | — | Deferred, not revenue |
| Client balances held | $412,000 | Reconciled to media spend |
Client B is delivering at half the blended rate. Recommendation: re-scope at renewal in November or move to time and materials.
Sound familiar?
- Retainers are booked as revenue the day they are paid, and the year-end adjustment is always a surprise.
- Client media or retainer balances sit in the same bank account as payroll, and nobody knows what is really yours.
- One client is 40% of revenue and there is no plan for the month they leave.
- Scope creep is invisible until the account manager says the client is unprofitable.
- Contractors, freelancers and 1099s are a spreadsheet nobody trusts.
- You are ready to hire, and have no idea what it does to cash.
Software we work in
QuickBooks Online, Xero, Harvest, Toggl, Asana and Monday (time exports), HubSpot, Productive, BILL, Ramp, Gusto.
Bookkeeping from $400 / mo
What ProvenCFO does for you each month
Revenue recognition for retainers and projects
Monthly retainers, project milestones and time-and-materials recognized as delivered, with deferred revenue on the balance sheet.
Client funds and pass-through reconciled
Media budgets, ad spend and client prepayments tracked by client and reconciled monthly, separate from agency cash, so a client's balance is always answerable.
Utilization and client profitability
Hours from Harvest, Toggl or your PM tool costed at loaded rates; contribution by client and service line every month.
Contractor and freelancer management
1099s, contractor payments through BILL or Gusto, and cost by project so margins include the people who are not on payroll.
13-week cash forecast
Built around retainer timing, payroll and media payments. Concentration risk modeled: what happens the month a top client leaves.
Growth and hiring model
Before the hire: what the role does to utilization, cash and margin over the first year.
Questions
How do you handle client media balances?
As a liability to the client, tracked by client, reconciled monthly to spend. Your P&L shows agency fees; the media is pass-through. Lenders and buyers ask for exactly this.
How do you treat retainers?
A retainer paid in advance is a liability until the work is delivered. We recognize revenue as the month is delivered, so the P&L reflects what the agency earned, not what it collected.
Can you tell us which clients make money?
Yes, if hours are tracked by client. We cost time at loaded rates and report contribution by client and service line monthly.
What does it cost for a 15-person agency?
Usually bookkeeping plus controller at $1,800 to $3,000 a month depending on client count and pass-through volume. CFO Foundation adds $1,500. Onboarding for an agency with large client balances is a fixed project of 30 to 45 days. See pricing.
Where are your agency clients?
All over America. The work is remote by design and the process is the same everywhere.
Start here
Find out what your numbers are telling you.
A 20-minute call. We look at how your books run today and tell you what we see. Nothing is sold on the call.