InsightTrack Bookkeeping gives marketing agencies full-service monthly bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online — transaction coding, bank reconciliations, AR/AP, and monthly financial statements — on flat-rate packages starting at $300 per month. One bookkeeper on your file every month. See package pricing or book a free consultation.
Who This Is For
Agency books go wrong in a specific way: revenue looks bigger than it is. Client ad spend billed through the agency inflates the top line, a retainer collected in advance shows up as income before the work happens, and a big project invoice gets recognized in one month while the freelancers who delivered it get paid over the next three. Meanwhile the agency's real economics — what each client pays versus what it costs to serve them — are nowhere on the P&L.
InsightTrack sets up agency books that separate agency fees from pass-through media and reimbursables, record retainers and project milestones as they're earned, and code contractor and staff time to the clients that consumed it. You get a monthly P&L with gross margin by client, revenue per employee, and AR aging that shows who's slow before it's a cash problem.
Built for digital marketing, SEO/PPC, social media, content, PR, branding, and web design agencies across Arkansas and remotely nationwide — from a founder with a freelancer bench to a 20-person shop.
What Makes Bookkeeping for Marketing Agencies Different
Pass-through ad spend
Media dollars billed to clients and paid to Meta or Google aren't agency revenue. We record them as pass-through so your top line, your margins, and your tax picture reflect the fees you actually earn. Management fees on media stay in revenue.
Retainers and project revenue
Retainers collected in advance are deferred until the month they cover. Project work is recognized as milestones are delivered. That keeps a big January collection from making January look better than it was.
Freelancers and 1099s
Contractor invoices are coded to the client and project they served, W-9s are kept on file, and 1099-NEC filing in January is a report rather than a scramble.
Software stack and subscriptions
Agencies run on a long list of tools — SEMrush, HubSpot, Adobe, Slack, Figma, hosting — some billed to clients and some not. We track them so reimbursable costs get billed and the rest is visible as overhead.
How We Set Up Your Books
Agency books use a professional-services chart of accounts with revenue by service line (retainers, projects, media management fees) and by client, contractor and delivery-staff cost as cost of revenue, and overhead below for sales, admin, software, and owner pay. Pass-through media and reimbursables sit outside revenue entirely.
- Customer tracking by client — revenue and delivery cost coded so margin by client works
- Pass-through media separated — client ad spend and reimbursables recorded as pass-through, not revenue
- Deferred revenue for retainers — advance collections recognized in the month they cover
- Invoicing and AR — Stripe, QuickBooks Payments, or HubSpot invoices reconciled to the bank net of fees, aging tracked
- Payroll and contractors — Gusto or Justworks reconciled monthly, 1099 contractors tracked with W-9s on file
The Numbers We Track for Marketing Agencies
Every client gets a monthly P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. For marketing agencies we also report the operating numbers that drive decisions, and can build them into a dashboard that updates as the books close.
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Gross margin by client
Fees earned less the staff and contractor cost of serving each client. The report that tells you which accounts to grow and which to reprice.
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Retainer MRR and churn
Recurring monthly fees under contract, plus what was added and lost. The health of the agency in two numbers.
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Revenue per employee
Agency fees divided by full-time headcount, tracked by month. The fastest read on whether the team is sized right.
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AR days
How long clients take to pay, overall and by client, so slow payers are handled before they become a payroll problem.
Serving Marketing Agencies in Arkansas and Nationwide
InsightTrack is based in Conway, Arkansas, and works with marketing agencies in Little Rock, Conway, Maumelle, and across Central Arkansas, plus Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, and Springdale in Northwest Arkansas.
The work is done in QuickBooks Online with documents shared through a secure portal, so location doesn't limit who we can help. We also serve marketing agencies in Texas and nationwide. See all locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you handle client ad spend that runs through our accounts?
Media spend billed to clients and paid to platforms on their behalf is recorded as pass-through, not as agency revenue or expense. Your management fee on that media stays in revenue, so the top line reflects what the agency earns.
Can you show profit by client?
Yes. Revenue and the contractor and staff cost of delivery are coded by client, so you get gross margin by client on the monthly reports.
We collect retainers in advance. How is that recorded?
Advance retainers are recorded as deferred revenue and recognized in the month the work covers. That keeps monthly results comparable and shows on the balance sheet what you still owe clients in service.
What does bookkeeping for a marketing agency cost?
Flat-rate packages start at $300 per month. An agency with a dozen clients, pass-through media, contractors, and payroll would usually run $500 to $1,200 per month depending on transaction volume and whether invoicing and AR follow-up are included.
Do you serve agencies in Arkansas?
Yes. InsightTrack is based in Conway and works with agencies in Little Rock, Conway, Northwest Arkansas, and statewide, plus remotely nationwide through QuickBooks Online.
Get In Touch
Bring your current setup — QuickBooks file, spreadsheet, or shoebox — and we'll tell you what the monthly close would cost and what a cleanup would involve. Call (501) 697-1919 or email marcus@insighttrackbookkeeping.com.