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Home  /  Industries  /  Financial Services

Accounting for firms that advise on money.

Books kept to the standard your own clients would expect of you, by someone who spent twenty years inside large financial institutions.

Financial services firms in Cedar Park, TX and the Austin area

Financial services is one of the sectors the firm works in most, and it is the one where the bar is highest. Your clients judge you on financial competence. A set of books that would embarrass you if a client saw them is a real business risk, not just an administrative one.

The recurring problems are specific to the sector. Revenue arrives as a mix of recurring fees, one-off commissions, trail income and referral splits, often paid net through a third party. Costs are dominated by people, licensing and compliance. And there is usually a strict line between firm money and client money that the bookkeeping has to respect visibly.

Tim worked inside large multinational banks for more than twenty years and at two of the Big Four consulting firms. He understands how a financial services business earns and how its records are expected to look, which shortens the explanation considerably.

Where financial services books usually go wrong

Three patterns show up repeatedly when we take over a file in this sector.

Revenue recorded net of splits

Commission paid through a broker-dealer or a platform often arrives after deductions. Recording the net amount hides both your gross production and what the arrangement actually costs you.

Recurring and one-off income blended

Recurring fee income and transactional income behave completely differently and have very different values attached. Blending them into one revenue line makes the business impossible to assess.

Firm and client money not visibly separated

Where any client funds pass through, the separation has to be evident in the records, not merely intended. This is one of the first things any reviewer looks for.

How we set a financial services file up

  • 1

    Map the revenue arrangements

    Every income stream, how it is paid, by whom, gross or net, and what is deducted before it reaches you.

  • 2

    Structure revenue by type

    Recurring, transactional and referral income separated in the chart of accounts so the mix is visible every month.

  • 3

    Separate the money that is not yours

    Where applicable, client-related balances tracked distinctly so the position is evident on the face of the records.

  • 4

    Report on the measures that matter

    Recurring revenue, revenue per adviser or per client, and the true cost of compliance and licensing as a share of income.

A growing financial sector around Austin

The Austin, TX metro has drawn a steady flow of advisory, planning and investment firms, and towns like Cedar Park, TX, Round Rock, TX and Georgetown, TX have their share of independent practices serving relocating professionals. We work with firms across the metro and remotely with financial services businesses in San Diego County. Registration, licensing and regulatory filings sit with your compliance adviser. We keep the books and produce the reporting.

Questions from financial services firms

  • Can you handle income paid through a broker-dealer?

    Yes. The important step is recording gross production and the deductions separately rather than posting the net deposit as revenue, so you can see what the arrangement actually costs.

  • Do you understand recurring revenue reporting?

    Yes, and we set the chart of accounts up so recurring and transactional income never merge. For a firm that may eventually be valued or sold, that separation is one of the most consequential things in the file.

  • Are you able to work within our confidentiality obligations?

    We work from financial records rather than client files, and the engagement is structured to keep it that way. Secure document sharing is standard on every engagement we run.

  • Do you handle the firm's year-end filings?

    No. Those go to an outside tax partner, who receives a clean and closed set of books from us.

Services financial services firms use most

Monthly bookkeeping

A fixed monthly close, which for a firm in this sector is close to non-negotiable.

Read about it →

Monthly financial reporting package

Revenue mix, recurring income and cost ratios reported every month.

Read about it →

Fractional CFO services

Senior support on growth, adviser economics, and eventual succession or sale.

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See every sector we structure books for on the industries page, or browse the full service list.

Want books that match the advice you give?

Book a consultation and tell us how your firm earns. We will explain how the file should be structured.

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