Accounting is more than balancing the books and preparing for taxes; it is planning your business’ future growth and success.
Download ‘Accounting Secrets for UK Media Agencies’.
The world needs people like you, which is why you need people like us.
Across the globe, designers, developers, and digital creators form one of the fastest-growing professional services segments. Alternately referred to as agencies or studios, they build brands, websites, marketing campaigns and design software. Many of these agencies are at the forefront of technology and creativity, but they have not harnessed the strategic power of their own balance sheets.
This is where the team at Square Mile bring value, vision and better financial practices to the world of Digital Agencies, who often don’t fit into a traditional accounting model.
What do the Digital Agencies need most from accountants?
Guidance to cut through the noise
They need their accountants to understand the challenges commonplace in agencies such as non-tangible assets, payrolls for freelance employees, double taxation due to transactions between two jurisdictions. The typical digital agency struggles with past due accounts, is penalised for basic tax filing errors, billing methods to report cash and accrual advertising. Clarification with classification and collection methods, prepaid expense/refund tracking, sales requirements, independent contractor classification, and employee classification.
Expert advice to be more profitable
- They need financial reports that help in deciding on a successful sales and ROI strategy.
- The need to monitor the ratio of advertising and marketing spend to total sales.
- They need budgets prepared for future marketing and advertising costs.
- They need their accountants to review historical financial results, spending on marketing campaigns, and new collaborations.
- They need bespoke accounting of financial reports to include total sales per campaign or customer hits in website ads.
Pay less tax & stay compliant
Because of their global presence, digital agencies are usually subject to international tax laws. Tax laws can be very complex and can cause a wide range of financial losses for agencies when they do not have experience and expertise related to taxation, as well as pose serious challenges to tax compliance and the avoidance of fines.
New Accounting Secrets for Creative Agencies in the UK
For creative agencies, accounting involves much more than balancing books and keeping track of taxes. It’s about securing success and growth for the future. In the UK, we’ve helped a couple of digital agencies maximise their financial potential by focusing on new operational areas.
Accountants for Digital Agencies- Services
Live Accounting
- Annual accounts and corporation tax return
- LLP accounts and partnership return
- Payroll
- Pension contribution filing
- CIS return
- P11ds
- Accounts payable & receivable function
- Self assessment tax return
Tax Services
- R&D tax credits
- Enterprise Management Options – business valuation
- EMI – annual return
- SEIS / EIS application
- Property incorporation advisory services
Virtual FD
- Square Mile FD live and meetings
- Pre year end tax planning review
- Management accounts
- Budgets and forecasts
- Business plan financials
- Cashburn monitoring and scenario planning
- Systematization and documentation
- Slack channels communication
- Monthly credits
Budgeting
Between subscriptions, retainers, contracts and campaign tenders, budgeting is vital to ensure a reliable income source, especially when there are gaps between projects. We plan and forecast your budget to keep things running smoothly and carry out financial health checks throughout the year.
Live Bookkeeping
- Bookkeeping cleanup
- Bank reconciliation
- Posting purchase invoices
- VAT returns
- EC sales list
- Xero – software, feeds, training, support
- Ledger conversion
Company Secretarial Services
- Company formation
- VAT registration / de-registration
- Payroll registration
- Confirmation statement
- Provision of registered office
- Company secretarial credits
- Pension scheme set up
Performance Evaluation Index
Detailed and comprehensive KPI report for Digital Agencies is an important persuasive tool in convincing large clients that your agency is stable, well-run, and liquid to do the contracted work.
- EBITDA(Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) KPIs
- MRR (Monthly recurring revenue) KPIs
- CLV (Client lifetime value) KPIs
Campaign ROI
An agency’s ability to calculate the campaign ROI is one of the most difficult as well as the most important tasks for proving its value to customers in the form of a campaign ROI.
Square Mile client on Digital Downloads
“Before Square Mile,we had no idea what the cost of our campaigns were compared with the number of digital product downloads.”
We’ve already helped
Optimise your Agency with our help.
We work with digital agencies to address their immediate needs and to plan for future growth. With traditional accounting models, we accomplish this by combining financial expertise with industry knowledge. While we provide our clients with professional bookkeeping and accounting support, we also serve as a strategic partner who helps them navigate complex financial challenges and opportunities. Book a call with us!
