A Washington consulting firm or agency should expect three things from a bookkeeper: books that close every month, B&O tax filed on time, and retainer money recorded in the month the work happens. Outside bookkeeping with tax and payroll support typically runs $750 to $2,000 a month as of 2026. The spread comes mostly from how many transactions you run through the bank and how many people you pay.

Below is how to tell a bookkeeper who understands project and retainer revenue from one who will hand you a profit number that is wrong by the end of the quarter.

What does bookkeeping for a consultancy or agency actually cover?

The monthly work is bank and card transactions coded to the right accounts, invoices and what clients owe you, bills you owe, payroll if you have employees, and a set of financials you can read within a couple of weeks of month end. For a service firm there is usually not much inventory and no job costing to speak of, which keeps the work simpler than it is for a contractor (we wrote about that side in our contractors article).

What makes an agency different is timing. You bill in lumps, you pay people steadily, and the two almost never line up in the same month.

Why do retainers throw off the books?

A client pays you $24,000 in January for a year of work. If your bookkeeper records all of it as January income, January looks like the best month you ever had and the next 11 look thin, even though you are doing the same work each month. (This example is illustrative.) Spread it, and you show $2,000 a month, which is what actually happened.

The reverse happens too, when you finish a project in March and bill in April. Your payroll hit in March, your revenue showed up in April, and March looks like a loss.

Which method your tax return uses is a conversation to have with your tax preparer, and the right answer depends on your setup. For the monthly books, though, you want a bookkeeper who asks the question instead of just typing in whatever hits the bank.

What should you track besides profit?

Utilization, if you bill by the hour. Take billable hours and divide by the hours your team was available to work. Say you have 3 designers at 160 available hours a month each, so 480 hours, and they billed 312 of them: that is 65 percent (312 divided by 480). Those numbers are made up for the example, and what counts as healthy depends on how your firm sells its time.

It only works if people fill in timesheets. If they do not, the best bookkeeper in the state cannot reconstruct it for you.

The other number worth having is how much retainer revenue is already signed for next quarter, which a monthly report can show you if the contracts are entered properly.

How is a Washington consulting firm or agency taxed?

Washington businesses pay B&O tax, and the classification that applies to each revenue stream decides the rate. Since October 1, 2025, some services agencies sell are also subject to retail sales tax, including advertising, custom website development, IT services, and live presentations. Those streams are reported under Retailing B&O and require collecting sales tax from the client, while straight advisory fees generally stay under Service and Other Activities. Most of these are scheduled to be repealed in 2029, but advertising stays taxable. An agency often has more than one classification, so each stream gets checked. Please read the Department of Revenue's published rates directly rather than trust a figure in a blog post, including this one.

Where your office sits and what you sell can bring other taxes into the picture too, and we sort that out with you before the first filing.

For the common mistakes, our B&O article goes through them.

What about freelancers and subcontractors?

Agencies lean on freelancers more than almost any other kind of business, and the paperwork is where it goes sideways. Get a W-9 before you send the first payment. Track payments by person through the year. At year end, you file 1099-NEC forms for the people who need one, and the IRS page has the current rules.

Whether a person is a real contractor or should be on your payroll is a separate question, and the IRS looks at how the work is done, not at what the two of you agreed to call it. If you have someone working set hours at your office using your equipment, talk to us.

What does it cost, and what moves the price?

Our package starts at $750 a month and typical clients land between $750 and $2,000, depending on volume. It covers monthly bookkeeping, payroll, and tax work, with a monthly consultation. Onboarding is 2 times the monthly fee, add-ons start at $75 a month (accounts payable starts at $250), and hourly consulting is $300 an hour. Everything is on the pricing page.

More employees, more freelancers, and more bank accounts push you toward $2,000. Books that need cleaning up first are scoped and priced separately before we start. A firm with one bank account and a habit of sending receipts the same week stays near the bottom.

When is something cheaper the right call?

If you are a solo consultant or a small shop under about $500,000 in revenue with no employees, accounting software plus a tax preparer once a year will probably do it. We compared the options in our piece on DIY bookkeeping apps, and for a lot of one-person firms the honest answer is that you do not need us yet.

A part-time in-house bookkeeper is also a fair choice if you want someone in the room a few hours a week. We work from our Federal Way office and mostly over video, so we cannot do that.

Who is not a good fit for us?

You should look elsewhere if you want only an annual tax return, if you want advisory bolted onto books someone else keeps, or if you run several entities with a full back office. Our range is firms from $500,000 to $10 million in revenue with fewer than 50 people, where the owner wants real numbers each month and someone who picks up the phone.

How do you choose?

Ask on the first call: how do you handle a prepaid retainer, how do you file B&O for my revenue, what do I need from my freelancers, when do I see financials each month, and what does it cost if my books are behind.

If we sound like a fit, the pricing page lists what is included, and you can call us at (206) 497-0671. Our page for service businesses covers who we work with.

Questions owners ask about this

Who does bookkeeping for consultants and agencies in Washington State?

The realistic options are a part-time bookkeeper you hire directly, accounting software you run yourself, a bookkeeper who focuses on creative or professional services, and an outside accounting firm like ours. Our package starts at $750 a month and covers bookkeeping, payroll, and tax work. Which one fits depends on your revenue, how many people you pay, and how many freelancers you use.

How much does bookkeeping cost for a small agency in Washington?

As of 2026, outside bookkeeping with tax and payroll support typically runs $750 to $2,000 a month for an agency with a handful of employees and some freelancers. Onboarding at our firm is 2 times the monthly fee, and add-ons start at $75 a month. A one-person consultancy with low volume can often spend less with a part-time bookkeeper.

How should an agency record a retainer paid in advance?

On your monthly financial statements, money you receive for work you have not done yet is not income yet. Most firms spread it across the months of service, so a $24,000 annual retainer shows up as $2,000 a month. For taxes, the answer depends on whether your return is cash or accrual, so ask your tax preparer.

Do I have to file 1099s for my freelancers?

Often yes, once you pay an individual contractor enough in a year to trigger IRS reporting, so check the IRS page for the current rules before you rely on an old number. Get a W-9 from every freelancer before you pay them. It saves a scramble at year end.

Does a consulting firm pay Washington B&O tax?

Most Washington businesses pay B&O tax, and the Department of Revenue publishes the classifications and current rates. Which classification applies to each of your revenue streams, and what else applies where you are located, is something we confirm when we onboard you.