Insurance agency accounting that ties to the carrier statement.
A carrier deposit lands and your bookkeeper calls it 'commission income'. Inside it: base commission earned three months ago, a contingent bonus, chargebacks on cancellations, and money that belongs to your producers. Saturn BPO is the outsourced controller and bookkeeping team for independent agencies: every carrier statement reconciled to the AMS, commission recognized on the effective date, producer splits from your grid, premium trust segregated, and a fast month-end close a controller signs off. So you know which producers and lines actually make you money.
AMS360 · EZLynx · Applied Epic · NowCerts · Premium trust · QuickBooks Online & Xero
Producer P&L
This month
Commission revenue
$0
7.3%Commission by source
- Renewals$0
- New business$0
- Contingents / bonus$0
- Broker fees$0
Client retention
0%
Book of business
$0.0M
Producers
0
Works with the tools you already run
One $84,000 carrier statement. Four different accounting treatments inside it.
Most agency books have one line: commission income, booked when the statement pays. That one line hides the contingent, the chargebacks, the producers' share, and which month the commission was actually earned. Here is one statement, booked two ways.
One carrier statement, one month · illustrative
- Carrier statement total$84,000
- Contingent / profit-share (separate line, when paid)−$12,500
- Base commission$71,500
- Chargebacks on cancellations−$3,300
- Net commission revenue$68,200
- Producer splits per your grid−$30,470
- Retained by the agency$37,730
Base commission is recognized on the policy effective date, not the statement date, so a March renewal paid in June lands in March. Premium trust never touches any of this.
How a generic bookkeeper books it
Commission income $84,000 · booked the month it paid
- • A one-time contingent reads as recurring revenue. Next year's comparison is wrong before it starts.
- • Chargebacks never flow back through, so revenue is overstated by every cancellation.
- • Producer commissions get paid from a hand-built sheet. Errors are common. Producers notice.
- • Nothing ties to the AMS, so nobody knows which carrier statement is missing or short.
How Saturn books it
- Base commission, on effective date$71,500
- Contingent, its own line, when paid$12,500
- Cancellations reversed−$3,300
- Producer splits, calculated from the grid−$30,470
- Premium trust→ segregated
- Retained revenue by producer and line, reconciled to the AMS. That is an agency P&L.
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 rules, and most bookkeepers learned on businesses without carriers, producers, or a trust account.
Commission recognized on receipt
Booked when the statement pays, not when the policy is effective. Every month's revenue number is off.
Carrier statements unmatched
They pile up against the AMS unreconciled. You don't know what's missing, short, or paid twice.
Producer splits done by hand
Tiered grids in a spreadsheet. Errors are common. Producers eventually notice, and trust drops fast.
Trust and operating cash comingle
Premium trust mixed with operating funds. Your state DOI does not like this, and neither does a buyer.
Cancellations skipped
Chargebacks not flowing back through the books. Revenue is overstated and nobody can say by how much.
No producer-level P&L
Carrier schedules never tie to the books. You can't say which producer or line is actually profitable.
Credentialed by the people who set the rules
QuickBooks ProAdvisors
Xero Advisors
NACPB Certified Bookkeepers
The difference shows up at the DOI exam and the sale.
| Feature | Saturn BPO | Generic bookkeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Commission recognition | On the policy effective date | When the statement pays |
| Carrier statements | Reconciled to the AMS every month | Piled up, unmatched |
| Producer splits | Calculated from your grid, pay report generated | By hand, in a spreadsheet |
| Premium trust | Segregated, reconciled monthly, exam-ready | Comingled with operating cash |
| Contingents / profit-share | Own line, tracked as receivable when accrued | Lumped into commission |
| Cancellations & chargebacks | Reversed against the original commission | Ignored |
| Producer-level P&L | Yes | No |
| Month-end close | Fast, controller-reviewed, every month | Whenever the bank feed catches up |
| Who reviews the work | A controller signs off every close | Nobody |
From which-carrier-paid-what to a P&L that ties out.
Before Saturn BPO
- Commissions booked on receipt, not on effective date
- Carrier statements piling up unmatched
- Producer payouts calculated by hand, errors common
- Premium trust mixed with operating cash
- No producer-level profitability view
After Saturn BPO
- Commission revenue recognized on the right date
- Monthly carrier-statement reconciliation to the AMS
- Producer splits calculated, paid, and reported every month
- Premium trust segregated, DOI exam- and diligence-ready
- Producer P&L + a controller's read on who's writing profitable business
Retained commission by producer. Most agencies see this table for the first time with us.
Net commission after chargebacks, minus what each producer is owed under your grid, leaving what the agency keeps. By producer, by line, every month, reconciled to the carrier statements.
| Producer | Net commission | Split paid | Agency keeps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Producer A (50% grid) | $24,100 | $12,050 | $12,05050% |
| Producer B (50% grid) | $18,600 | $9,300 | $9,30050% |
| Producer C (60% grid) | $15,200 | $9,120 | $6,08040% |
| House book | $10,300 | $0 | $10,300100% |
| Agency total | $68,200 | $30,470 | $37,73055% |
Illustrative, not client data. When your top producer on a 60% grid leaves you 40% and the house book leaves you 100%, you see it every month, not when you go to sell.
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 operating and trust bank accounts, your AMS, your carrier portals or statements, and your producer grid. We size any cleanup and tell you the real scope first.
A chart of accounts built for agencies
Commission revenue by carrier and line. Contingents on their own. Chargebacks as contra-revenue. Producer commission payable. Premium trust as its own set of accounts, never mixed with operating.
First fully reconciled month
Every carrier statement matched to the AMS, commission recognized on effective dates, producer splits calculated from the grid, trust reconciled. Backlog cleanup runs in parallel if you need it.
First close, first producer P&L
P&L, balance sheet, retained commission by producer and line, trust reconciliation, 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.
Insurance engagements are scoped to your operation.
Final price is sized to producer count, carrier count, trust volume, and the reporting support you want. Custom quote in 24 hours after a 30-minute discovery call.
What that buys you
- • Clean books + carrier-statement reconciliation to the AMS (the base layer)
- • Commission revenue recognized on the effective date
- • Producer split calculations, pay reports, and payment runs
- • Producer- and line-level P&L + a controller's read on the numbers
- • Premium trust segregated, reconciled monthly, DOI exam-ready
- • Fast month-end close + GAAP-aligned financial statements
- • Federal + state 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
- • Producer count + commission grid complexity
- • Carrier count (more carriers = more reconciliation)
- • Premium trust transaction volume (agency bill vs direct bill)
- • Contingent / profit-sharing structure complexity
- • State-specific DOI reporting requirements
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're an independent agency with 3+ producers and more than a handful of carriers
- You're somewhere between $1M and $15M in commission revenue
- Carrier statements pile up and nobody can say which are missing or short
- Producer splits are calculated by hand and someone has already caught an error
- A DOI exam, a lender, or a buyer is on the horizon and the trust account worries you
Probably not the fit when...
- You're a captive, single-carrier agent (your carrier's reporting probably covers you)
- You're a solo producer under about $300K in commission (a good bookkeeper is enough for now)
- You need someone to implement or migrate your AMS (we reconcile to it, we don't run it)
- You need audited financial statements (we run internal controls, not external assurance)
What people actually ask before they sign.
Bring one carrier statement. We'll show you what your books are missing.
Thirty minutes with our team. Bring your last carrier statement, your producer grid, and last month's P&L. We'll walk the gap between the statement and the books 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.