Marketing and creative agencies
Agency accounting software: retainers, pass-through costs and project margins
Media, printing and freelancers you pay for on a client's behalf go on that client's next invoice. Monthly retainers bill themselves. Each campaign or project is a job, so you can see what it earned after outside costs.
For marketing, design, branding and video agencies with a few to a few dozen people, for $399.99 once. Two computers included, more $149.99 each.
No card, no account. Windows 10 and 11. United States and Canada.
What it means
In practice
Pass-through costs billed back
Enter the media or print bill with the line marked billable and the client's job attached. It waits as an unbilled cost until it goes on their invoice, so the agency doesn't absorb it.
Retainers on a schedule
Each client's monthly retainer is a recurring invoice that AcboBooks enters automatically. Payments clear it, and statements show who is behind.
Margin by project
Each campaign or project is a job under the client. Job Profitability shows the fees billed against freelancers, production and media charged to it.
Retainer, extra work and billable costs on one invoice.
Stop paying for your clients' ad spend
The usual leak: a print run paid on the agency card and never billed. Marked billable, the cost sits on the client's job and shows up when you create their next invoice.
Freelancers are vendors tracked for 1099-NEC or T4A, so year-end slips come straight from the bills you entered during the year.
What is in the licence
The whole job, in one price
Clients and projects
Billing
Costs
People
Profit by service line, by month.
What it does not do
· Billable costs pass through at cost; there is no automatic markup. Add a markup or agency fee as its own line.
· No project management, proofing or resource scheduling.
· Windows 10 and 11 for now (a Mac version is coming soon); no phone app.
· It imports your bank's statement file rather than connecting live to the bank.
Questions people ask
Before you download
Can I mark up media and production costs?
Billable costs come onto the invoice at what you paid. Add your markup or agency commission as a separate line, which also keeps it visible as your own income.
How do I see whether a retainer client is profitable?
Put their freelancer and production bills on their job and run Job Profitability. The time report by customer shows the hours your team spent on them.
Can freelancers be paid as contractors?
Yes. They are vendors flagged for 1099 (US) or T4A (Canada) tracking, and the slips are prepared from what you paid them.
Do retainers have to be the same each month?
No. The recurring invoice is entered automatically and you can edit it before sending when a month is different.
Coming from something else?
How it compares to what you use now
Get started
Bill every cost back to the client it belongs to.
Enter a billable bill in the trial and see it appear on the next invoice.
No card. No account. Nothing to cancel.