Professional Services

Bookkeeping for consultants, agencies, and professional service firms. We track project profitability, billable hours, and client retainers so you know what work actually makes money.

The Industry

Professional services bookkeeping is tricky because you sell time and expertise, not products. You need to track billable hours, project profitability, work in progress, and retainers. You have to know which clients and which types of work actually make money after you account for unbilled time and scope creep.

We work with consultants, marketing agencies, law firms, accounting firms, engineering firms, architects, IT services, and other businesses that bill for professional expertise. We know how to handle project accounting, retainer billing, work in progress, and the metrics that matter for time-based businesses.

Who We Serve

Consulting firms, marketing and creative agencies, law offices, accounting practices, engineering and architecture firms, IT consultants, fractional executives, and other professional service providers in the DFW area.

What Makes Us Different

We understand project accounting, work in progress tracking, retainer billing, realization rates, and how to measure profitability for time-based businesses. We know billable hours are not the same as collected revenue.

The Services

Professional service firms need bookkeeping that tracks profitability by project and client, handles retainers correctly, and measures the metrics that drive service businesses. Here’s what we handle.

Project Profitability Tracking

We track revenue and costs by project so you know which engagements make money. You can see which clients are profitable, which project types work well, and which engagements drain resources without adequate return.

Retainer and WIP Accounting

We properly account for retainers as liabilities until earned. Work in progress is tracked and billed appropriately. Your revenue recognition matches when you actually deliver services, not just when money comes in.

Realization Rate Analysis

We calculate what percentage of your time gets billed and collected. You can see where hours are written off, where scope creep happens, and which clients consistently pay less than the work is worth.

Client Profitability Reports

We show you which clients are worth keeping and which ones cost more to service than they pay. Some clients demand excessive revisions, pay slowly, or require low-margin work that subsidizes other accounts.

The Problem

Most professional service firms have no idea which projects make money. They track billable hours but not the hours that get written off or never billed. They do not account for scope creep, client management time, or all the unbillable work that eats into margins.

Without project accounting, you keep taking work that loses money. That client paying $5,000 per month might require $7,000 worth of time. You stay busy but profit margins shrink because you cannot see which work is unprofitable.

No Project Profitability

When costs are not tracked by project, you cannot tell which engagements make money. You might think all work is profitable when some clients are subsidizing others and dragging down overall margins.

Retainer Confusion

Recording retainers as revenue when collected instead of when earned overstates profit. When clients cancel or demand refunds, your books are a mess because the revenue was recognized in the wrong period.

Hidden Time Leaks

Without tracking realization rates, you do not see where time disappears. Scope creep, excessive revisions, internal meetings about clients, all unbilled time that makes projects less profitable than they appear.

Bad Client Mix

Some clients are high maintenance and low profit. Without profitability tracking, you keep servicing demanding clients who cost more to keep happy than they pay. Your best clients subsidize your worst ones.

The Outcome

You know exactly which projects and clients are profitable. Project accounting shows true margins after accounting for all time spent, billed and unbilled. You can price future work based on real historical costs, not guesses.

Realization rate tracking shows you where time gets lost. You can see which clients require excessive unbilled time, which project types consistently go over budget, and where to tighten scope or raise prices.

Better Project Selection

Knowing which types of work are profitable lets you focus on high-margin engagements. You can confidently decline projects that do not fit your profitable service mix or price them appropriately to make them worth doing.

Improved Client Mix

Client profitability data helps you identify which relationships to nurture and which to phase out. You stop subsidizing demanding clients with low margins and focus on clients who value and pay for your expertise.

DFW's Trusted Bookkeeping Firm