What we know about agency finances.
Practical thinking on profit, pricing, margins and what the numbers really mean for agency founders.
Non-Exec Directors for Agencies: The Financial Case for External Advice
An agency non-exec director provides independent, strategic oversight to help founders make better commercial decisions. They bring experience in scaling, pricing, and financial management that most agency owners lack. This external perspective can accelerate growth, improve profitability, and de-risk major strategic moves.
Agency Reporting Dashboards: What to Track on a Single Screen
Learn how to build an effective agency reporting dashboard that shows your financial health at a glance. This guide covers the essential KPIs for marketing and creative agencies, from gross margin and cash runway to project profitability and team utilisation. A well-designed dashboard turns complex data into clear actions for better commercial decisions.
Financial Governance for Growing Agencies: Controls That Scale With You
Agency financial governance is the system of rules, processes, and controls that protects your profit and cash as you grow. It moves you from reactive chaos to proactive management, ensuring you can scale without losing financial control. This guide shows you the essential controls to implement at each stage of your agency's growth.
The Agency Owner's First 90 Days: Financial Priorities for New Businesses
Master your agency's first 90 days by focusing on the financial foundations that drive long-term profit. This guide covers the essential new agency setup checklist: from choosing the right business structure and opening a business bank account, to setting profitable pricing, managing cash flow, and implementing simple financial tracking. Get these starting agency financial priorities right to build a scalable, resilient business from day one.
Accounting for Agency Retainer Credits and Rollover Hours
This guide explains how marketing and creative agencies should account for retainer credits and rollover hours. You'll learn the correct accounting treatment to avoid revenue recognition errors, manage client expectations, and maintain accurate financial health. Get clear on when to recognise income, how to track unused hours, and the commercial impact of different rollover policies.
How Agencies Can Use Xero to Track Project-Level Profitability
Learn how to set up Xero to track the real profit on every client project. This guide shows marketing agencies how to use Xero's job costing and project tracking features to see which work makes money and which drains it. You'll get a clear system for measuring client profitability and making smarter pricing decisions.
Agency Fee Negotiation: How to Hold Your Price in a Competitive Market
Learn how to win agency fee negotiation without cutting your price. This guide shows marketing agency owners how to hold your price in a competitive market by shifting the conversation from cost to value. You'll get practical scripts, commercial frameworks, and the confidence to stand firm on pricing to protect your margins.
The Agency Succession Plan: Financial Preparation for Stepping Back
Agency succession planning is the financial and operational process of preparing your business for a change in ownership or leadership. This guide shows marketing agency founders how to build value, identify successors, and structure a profitable exit. Learn the key financial steps to secure your future and ensure your agency thrives without you.
Agency Zero-Based Budgeting: Starting from Scratch Every Year
Zero-based budgeting for agencies means building your annual budget from zero, justifying every cost based on your upcoming goals, not last year's spending. This method forces strategic alignment, cuts wasteful spending, and improves profit margins by 10-20% for many marketing and creative firms. It transforms budgeting from an administrative task into a powerful commercial planning tool.
Charity and Pro Bono Work at Your Agency: The Financial and Tax Angle
This guide explains the real financial impact of agency pro bono work. You'll learn how donated services affect your profit, the specific tax rules for charity work, and how to structure your CSR initiatives to support both your community and your agency's commercial health. Get a clear framework for making pro bono work sustainable.
The Agency Financial Calendar: Every Deadline You Need to Know
This guide maps out the complete agency financial calendar for marketing and creative agencies. You'll get a clear timeline of all critical tax deadlines, accounting dates, and financial reporting cycles. Learn how to plan your year to avoid penalties, improve cash flow, and make proactive business decisions.
Agency Staff Equity: When and How to Offer Shares to Key Employees
This guide explains how to use agency staff equity as a strategic tool. You'll learn the right time to offer shares to key employees, the different types of share schemes available, and how to structure them to protect your agency's value. Get practical steps to implement a plan that motivates your team and supports long-term growth.
Tax-Free Benefits for Agency Staff: The Complete List
This guide details every HMRC-approved tax-free benefit you can offer agency staff, from trivial gifts to pension contributions. You'll learn how to structure a competitive benefits package that attracts talent and improves retention, all while managing your agency's tax position efficiently. Implement these perks to boost team morale and your agency's financial health.
Agency Profit per Project: How to Build a Simple Tracking System
Learn how to build a simple system to track agency profit per project. This guide shows you which projects are truly profitable, not just busy. You'll get a clear framework to measure real earnings, stop losing money on clients, and make smarter pricing decisions.
Scenario Planning for Agencies: Stress-Testing Your Finances
Agency scenario planning is a financial forecasting tool that models different future outcomes, from best-case to worst-case. It helps you see the impact of losing a key client, a market downturn, or a sudden growth spurt on your cash and profit. By stress-testing your finances, you can make confident decisions and build contingency plans before you need them.
Agency Revenue Per Head: The Metric That Separates Good from Great
Agency revenue per head measures how much income each person in your agency generates. It's the clearest indicator of productivity, pricing efficiency, and overall commercial health. Mastering this metric helps you move from being a busy, reactive agency to a profitable, scalable business.
The Financial Upside of Niching Down as an Agency
Niching down transforms an agency's financial performance by commanding premium fees, reducing operational waste, and accelerating growth. Specialised agencies achieve higher gross margins, often 55-65%, compared to generalists. This guide shows the direct link between agency specialisation profitability and stronger cash flow, predictable revenue, and a more valuable business.
Agency Monthly Close Process: Getting Your Numbers Right Every Month
A disciplined agency monthly close process is your financial health check. It transforms raw data into a clear picture of your profit, cash flow, and performance. This guide shows marketing agency owners how to close their books accurately each month to make confident, data-driven decisions.
HMRC mileage rate increase to 55p from 6 April 2026: what agency owners need to know
From 6 April 2026, the HMRC mileage rate for cars and vans rises to 55p for the first 10,000 business miles. This guide explains exactly what the change means for marketing and creative agency owners, directors, and employees. You'll learn how to claim correctly, how the 55p rate affects your tax position, and what records you need to keep.
Get the thinking direct.
New insights, frameworks and agency finance thinking, straight to your inbox. No noise.