Agency accounting that shows you which client is actually profitable.
You're billing real money and still can't say which logo pays for the others. Saturn BPO is the outsourced controller and bookkeeping team for agencies: retainers recognized when earned, pass-through media pulled out of your margin, delivery cost allocated per client, AR chased on a cadence, and a fast month-end close a controller signs off. Clean books are step one. A per-client P&L you can price against is the point.
Per-client P&L · Retainer rev rec · Pass-through media isolated · QuickBooks Online & Xero
Per-client P&L
This month
Blended net margin
0%
5.0 ptsProfit by client
- Northwind Co.$0
- Atlas Media$0
- Vertex Group$0
- Beacon Labs$0
Team utilization
0%
Retainer MRR
$0K
AR days
0
Works with the tools you already run
Your “best client” bills $48,000 a month. Here is what they actually leave you.
Most agency P&Ls blend media with services and bury delivery cost in one payroll line. So every client looks like a 55% margin client, and nobody can explain why the bank account disagrees. Here is one client, one month, booked two ways.
One client, one month · illustrative
- Invoiced to client$48,000
- Pass-through media (Google, Meta, TikTok)−$18,000
- Services revenue$30,000
- Delivery team time allocated to this client−$17,000
- Contractors on this account−$4,000
- Tools and software allocated−$600
- Contribution from this client$8,400 (28%)
Retainer prepaid for the quarter? It sits in deferred revenue and is recognized month by month, so this P&L shows what was earned, not what landed in the bank.
How a generic bookkeeper books it
Revenue $48,000 · Gross profit $26,000 (54%)
- • Media is booked as revenue, so the top line is inflated by $18,000 you never keep.
- • Team cost sits in one payroll line. No client, no service line, no allocation.
- • A 28% client reads as a 54% client. Pricing, staffing, and renewals get decided on the wrong number.
- • Quarterly prepayments hit revenue the month they arrive. Two great months, one terrible one, no trend.
How Saturn books it
- Services revenue (media excluded)$30,000
- Media pass-through, tracked separately$18,000
- Delivery cost allocated to the client−$21,000
- Tools allocated−$600
- Deferred revenue on prepaid retainers→ liability
- Contribution 28%. Now you know what to renew, reprice, or resource.
Illustrative numbers, not client data. Your mix will differ. The method won't.
Six things your current bookkeeper probably gets wrong.
Not because they're careless. Agency accounting has its own traps, and most bookkeepers learned on businesses that don't resell media or bill retainers.
Retainer revenue is fiction
Booked when received, not earned. A quarterly prepay makes January look great and March look broke.
Media inflates your top line
Pass-through Google, Meta, and TikTok spend sits in revenue. Your margin reads 55% when it's 28%.
Delivery cost is one blob
Strategists, designers, and contractors land in a single payroll line. No client ever gets a real cost.
AR ages into bad debt
Client invoices drift past 60 days. Nobody is chasing, nobody is watching cash, and eventually it stops being collectible.
Per-client P&L doesn't exist
You can't tell which logo is paying for three others. Renewals and repricing are guesses.
Service-line margin is blank
Paid, SEO, content, creative: no idea which one you should be selling more of, or less of.
Credentialed by the people who set the rules
QuickBooks ProAdvisors
Xero Advisors
NACPB Certified Bookkeepers
The difference shows up in your per-client margin.
| Feature | Saturn BPO | Generic bookkeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Retainer revenue | Recognized monthly as earned, deferred revenue tracked | Booked when the payment lands |
| Pass-through media | Out of services revenue, tracked separately | Blended into revenue and margin |
| Delivery cost | Allocated per client and service line | One payroll line |
| Per-client P&L | Yes | No |
| Contractor payments | Scheduled, approved, records clean all year | Ad hoc, year-end scramble |
| AR | Aging report + a collections cadence we run | Nobody chases |
| Month-end close | Fast, controller-reviewed, every month | Whenever the bank feed catches up |
| Financial statements | GAAP-aligned, lender- and diligence-ready | A QuickBooks P&L export |
| Who reviews the work | A controller signs off every close | Nobody |
From cash-basis guesswork to numbers you can price against.
Before Saturn BPO
- Retainers and one-offs blended on the P&L
- Pass-through media hiding your real margins
- Delivery cost in one payroll line, no client ever costed
- Client AR aging because no one's tracking it
- No cash view, no idea which clients are profitable
After Saturn BPO
- Monthly retainer revenue recognized properly, deferred revenue tracked
- Pass-throughs isolated so services margin is clean
- Per-client and per-service-line P&L every month
- AR aging report + a collections cadence we run for you
- A weekly cash and AR pulse and a controller's read on what moved
Contribution by client. Most agencies see this table for the first time with us.
Services revenue with media stripped out, minus the delivery time, contractors, and tools that went into each account. Per client, every month, from reconciled books, not a spreadsheet the ops lead rebuilt from memory.
| Client | Services revenue | Team cost | Contractors | Tools | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client A (flagship retainer) | $30,000 | $17,000 | $4,000 | $600 | $8,40028% |
| Client B | $12,000 | $5,800 | $500 | $200 | $5,50046% |
| Client C | $22,000 | $16,400 | $3,200 | $400 | $2,0009% |
| Client D | $8,500 | $3,900 | $100 | $150 | $4,35051% |
Illustrative, not client data. When your flagship runs at 28% and a small retainer runs at 51%, you find out in the first week of the month, not at the renewal.
Your first 30 days.
No mystery onboarding and no 90-day blackout. A clean takeover takes two to three weeks. Twelve months of cleanup first takes four to six. We'll tell you which on the discovery call.
Access and an honest diagnosis
Read-only access to QBO or Xero, your bank and cards, Bill.com or your AP tool, your invoicing platform, and your PM tool for hours. We size any cleanup and tell you the real scope first.
A chart of accounts built for agencies
Services revenue by client and service line. Media pass-through on its own. Deferred revenue for prepaid retainers. Delivery cost pools that can be allocated. AR set up to be chased.
First fully reconciled month
Retainers recognized as earned, media reclassed out of revenue, contractor bills scheduled, every invoice aged. Backlog cleanup runs in parallel if you need it.
First close, first per-client P&L
P&L, balance sheet, contribution by client and service line, AR aging, and a call with your controller to walk through it. From here it repeats every month.
This is the finance team you'd hire if you had the time to hire one.
Fast month-end close
Controller-run month-end close, built to be fast and efficient once your records and access are in place.
Controls that hold
Internal controls, approvals, and audit-ready records. Nothing slips.
Visibility, not hindsight
Weekly cash and AR pulse, monthly statements, KPIs. See where you stand, not just what happened.
Books to board, one team
Bookkeeping, controller, and reporting under one roof. Income tax filed via our partner.
Agency engagements are scoped to your operation.
Final price is sized to retainer count, media volume, contractor volume, and the reporting support you want. Custom quote in 24 hours after a 30-minute discovery call.
What that buys you
- • Clean books, AP, AR, and reconciliations (the base layer)
- • Retainer revenue recognized monthly, deferred revenue tracked
- • Pass-through media isolated from your services margin
- • Per-client and per-service-line P&L every month
- • AR aging + a collections cadence we run for you
- • Fast month-end close + a controller's read on the numbers
- • Contractor payments + income tax filing via our tax partner
Typical engagement
Custom quotein 24 hours
Month-to-month. Stay on QBO or Xero. No forced migration.
Get a custom quotePrice scales with
- • Active retainer and project count
- • Pass-through media volume
- • Contractor count and payment volume
- • AR collections workload
- • Reporting cadence requested
Which one is right for you?
We'd rather you pick the right partner than the wrong one. Here's where each genuinely wins.
Saturn is the right fit when...
- You run 3+ retainers and can't say which one is actually profitable
- You're somewhere between $500K and $15M a year in services revenue
- You resell media or pay contractors and your margin number doesn't feel right
- Client AR is drifting past 60 days and nobody owns chasing it
- You want to stay on QuickBooks Online or Xero, not migrate to someone's proprietary tool
Probably not the fit when...
- You're a solo freelancer under about $300K a year (a good bookkeeper is enough for now)
- You're looking for someone to run your media buying or client billing platform
- You need audited financial statements (we run internal controls, not external assurance)
- You want a tax-only CPA rather than monthly accounting and a controller
What people actually ask before they sign.
Bring your retainer list. We'll show you which client is carrying the others.
Thirty minutes with our team. Bring your client list, last month's P&L, and your AR aging if you have one. We'll walk the media, retainer, and allocation gaps on the call, no logins needed, and tell you straight whether we're the right fit.
Book a free 30-min agency auditNo contract. No high-pressure follow-up. If we're not a fit we'll say so.