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Accounting for professional services

Whether you're a consultancy, design studio, law firm, marketing agency, or independent contractor, professional services businesses share a common reality: your time is the product. Getting your accounting set up to reflect that — clearly and accurately — is the difference between a business that knows what's profitable and one that's guessing.

We work with consultants, agencies, and professional firms across NZ — so we know how to set up your numbers around how the work actually flows.

Key accounting considerations

  • Time tracking and WIP (work in progress) — getting unbilled time onto the balance sheet so revenue isn't recognised too late
  • Project profitability — clean integration between your time-tracking tool (Harvest, Toggl, WorkflowMax) and Xero so reporting actually works
  • GST treatment for international clients — when zero-rating applies and what records you need to keep
  • Contractor vs employee structuring — getting it right from the start saves headaches with IRD later

Whether you're a consultancy, design studio, law firm, marketing agency, or independent contractor, professional services businesses share a common reality: your time is the product. Getting your accounting set up to reflect that — clearly and accurately — is the difference between a business that knows what's profitable and one that's guessing.​

Key accounting considerations

We work with consultants, agencies, and professional firms across NZ — so we know how to set up your numbers around how the work actually flows.

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GST faqs

Frequently asked questions

Bookkeepers and accountants perform very different tasks. Bookkeepers do the day-to-day work that keeps a business’s accounting software accurate and up to date.Accountants use the up-to-date data to provide tax, reporting and advisory services.If your business isn’t keeping up with the day-to-day tasks, then a bookkeeper is recommended. It makes your accountant's job a lot easier if they’re working with current and accurate data.
Sorry, our bookkeeping is an additional service for our accounting clients. We don’t provide bookkeeping as a standalone service.
Most of our clients use Xero but our bookkeeping team can also work with MYOB. For payroll, we can work with most cloud-based payroll platforms.Cloud-based software means you, your bookkeeper and your accountant can all access the same data in real time, from anywhere. They’re also IRD-compliant, well-integrated with other apps and built for modern businesses.
Our hourly bookkeeping rate is $75+GST. We estimate your monthly bookkeeping fee based on transaction volume, the number of bank accounts and credit cards, and which bookkeeping tasks you want us to do. We keep this under review and may need to adjust the hours (up or down) as your business changes.
Absolutely. A professional helps you avoid costly errors and frees up your time so you have extra hours to run your business (or have some downtime).

Our services

Annual accounts and tax returns

Annual accounts and tax returns

End-of-year financial statements, income tax returns and filing with the IRD. Everything that keeps your business compliant.

Management Reporting

Management Reporting

Numbers you can actually use. Get a clear picture of how your business is performing and insights to help you make decisions faster.

Budgets and Forecasts

Budgets and Forecasts

Plan ahead with confidence so you always know where your business is heading and without running out of cash mid-quarter.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping

Keep your books tidy and up-to-date. We take care of the number crunching so nothing slips through the cracks.

Payroll

Payroll

Pay your team correctly every time. We manage pay runs, tax obligations, and reporting to ensure staff are paid correctly.

Business Advisory

Business Advisory

Sometimes you just need someone in your corner, whether you're expanding, taking on a business partner or planning an exit.

Ready to see what your numbers could be telling you?

Book a free discovery call to discuss how we can help.