Professional Services
Bookkeeping and tax planning for professional service firms. We track profitability by project, run payroll for your staff, and bring CPA-level tax planning to help you structure the practice and your personal taxes the right way.
The Industry
You built a practice around your professional expertise. You know how to design buildings, survey land, manage wealth, or engineer systems. But the financial side of running that practice is a different skill set. Revenue arrives in chunks tied to project milestones. Costs spread across multiple engagements. Receivables age while clients review invoices. And the tax picture gets more complicated as your income grows.
Professional service firm owners often earn well but pay more in taxes than they need to. Entity structure, retirement contributions, and the timing of income and expenses all create planning opportunities. Most owners know this in the abstract but never get around to addressing it because they are too busy serving clients. That is where working with a CPA and Enrolled Agent makes a real difference.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Architecture firms, engineering practices, surveying companies, and wealth management or financial advisory firms. Owner-operated professional practices where the work is project-based or fee-based and the owner’s personal income flows from the business. We do not work with law firms.
The Challenge
The Challenge
Project-based billing creates lumpy revenue. You complete a milestone in March but might not collect until May. Meanwhile costs accumulate, payroll runs every two weeks, and you need visibility into which projects and clients are actually profitable. High earners also face tax complexity that general bookkeeping alone does not address.
What We Handle
On the operational side, we keep the books clean and organized around how your practice actually works. Revenue and expenses are tracked by project or client engagement so you can see profitability at that level rather than just looking at a single monthly P&L. We handle payroll for your staff, whether that is junior architects, associate engineers, or administrative support. And we stay on top of receivables so you know what is outstanding and what is overdue.
On the tax side, Simona is both a CPA and an Enrolled Agent. That means she brings real depth to the tax planning that professional firm owners need. We look at entity structure, retirement strategies, and the timing of income and expenses throughout the year. We prepare your personal tax return and handle quarterly estimated payments. When it comes to your business entity return, we work alongside whoever files that for you and make sure the planning flows through.
Project-Based Bookkeeping
Project-Based Bookkeeping
We set up your books to track revenue and costs by project or client. You will see which engagements generated a healthy margin and which ones consumed more time and resources than they returned. This is the foundation for better pricing and smarter decisions about which work to pursue.
Tax Planning for Owners
Tax Planning for Owners
Entity structure, retirement contributions, and income timing all affect how much you pay in taxes. We help you think through these questions and make sure your personal return captures the right deductions. Simona’s background as a CPA and Enrolled Agent means this is not a hand-off to someone else.
Common Problems
The most common issue we see is profitability blindness. You finish a project, collect the fee, and move on without ever calculating whether it was actually worth the effort. Some clients take more back and forth than others. Some projects hit unforeseen complications. Without tracking costs by engagement, you bid the next project based on feel rather than data.
The second issue is tax inefficiency. Many professional firm owners are still operating as sole proprietors or single-member LLCs when a different structure could save them thousands in self-employment tax. Others have retirement accounts sitting empty because they never got around to setting up a SEP or Solo 401k. These are fixable problems, but they require someone with tax depth to spot them and help you act.
Receivables Drag
Receivables Drag
Professional clients often take their time paying invoices. Large projects may sit in accounts receivable for 60 or 90 days while someone reviews the billing. Without visibility into what is outstanding and aging, cash flow gaps sneak up on you and payroll gets tight.
Missed Retirement Contributions
Missed Retirement Contributions
High-earning professional firm owners can put substantial amounts into retirement accounts each year. Many do not because they have not set up the right vehicle or they are not confident in how much to contribute. Missed years do not come back.
What Changes
You start making decisions based on real numbers. You know which clients and projects are worth pursuing and which ones consume more than they return. When a prospective engagement comes across your desk, you can price it based on data from similar past work. Receivables get tracked and followed up on so cash flow becomes more predictable.
On the tax side, you stop leaving money on the table. Your entity structure gets reviewed and optimized. Retirement contributions get planned and funded. Quarterly estimates are calculated based on your actual income pattern rather than a guess. And all of this is handled by someone with the credentials to do it right, not passed off to a generalist at tax time.
Confident Pricing and Growth
Confident Pricing and Growth
With clear project profitability data, you price new work with confidence. You also know when you have the capacity and the margin to hire another associate or expand into a new service line. Growth becomes a calculated move rather than a leap of faith.
A Real Tax Strategy
A Real Tax Strategy
Entity planning, retirement contributions, and smart timing of income and expenses add up to meaningful savings over time. Working with a CPA and Enrolled Agent who handles your bookkeeping, tax planning, and personal return in one place means nothing falls through the cracks. If you need CFO-level guidance as the practice grows, that is here too.
New England's CPA-Led Bookkeeping Partner
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
We'll listen, ask a few questions, and show you exactly how we can help.