Blog | Craig Cody

An open leather-bound ledger with blank ruled pages on a dark walnut desk at dusk, a fountain pen in the gutter and reading glasses folded on the page, warm lamp light from the right against cool window light from the left, with the headline One Set of Books, Two Answers set on the dark left third.

Should Your Agency Pay Tax on the Cash Basis? One Set of Books, Two Answers

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

Two hands from opposite sides of a dark walnut conference table passing a sealed blank envelope at dusk, one in a charcoal suit cuff and one in a navy shirt cuff, warm lamp light on the envelope and cool city dusk in the window behind, with the headline Their Money, Not Your Revenue set on the dark left third.

Does Client Media Count as Your Agency's Revenue? Your Contract Decides, and So Does Your Conduct

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

A business owner seen from behind at a plain wooden table in a small daylit meeting room, a printed five-line checklist and a pen in front of them, an empty chair and a closed folder across the table, with the headline IS YOUR CPA PLANNING? over OR JUST PREPARING. on the bare wall to the left.

Is Your CPA Planning, or Just Preparing? Five Questions That Tell You by Monday Night

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

A closed blank leather ledger, a brass desk lamp and a fountain pen on a dark walnut desk at dusk, a tall window behind showing bare November branches against a cold sky, with the headline NOVEMBER IS SMALL DOLLARS over JANUARY IS BIG DOLLARS on the dark left side of the frame.

What Can an Agency Owner Still Do in Q4? The Small Dollars Are Real. The Big Dollars Were Decided in June.

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

A closed manila file folder with a blank tab on a dark walnut desk at dusk, a company ID badge on a navy lanyard lying across it with its blank back turned up, a fountain pen beside it, warm lamp light from the right against cool window light from the left, with the headline Contractor on Paper, The File Decides set on the dark left third.

Are Your Agency's Contractors Actually Contractors? The Label Doesn't Decide. The File Does.

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

A person seen from behind in an ordinary agency office holds a printed wireframe proof up to a rain-streaked window in flat daylight, a red marker in the other hand, with the headline AI EFFICIENCY WITHOUT QA over IS A MARGIN TRAP. on the shadowed wall to the left.

AI Efficiency Without QA Is a Margin Trap. Here Are the Four Numbers That Show Where the Hours Went.

AI removed six hours and added three back at a senior rate. The four numbers that show where the hours went, and where human review actually belongs.

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Should Your Agency Buy Its Office Building? The Deduction Is Year One. The Decision Is Year Eight.

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

Overhead view of a dark walnut desk with four polished brass calibration weights in a row under hard amber light, a blank white pay envelope beside them, and the headline One Salary, Four Numbers set on the dark wood at left.

S Corp or LLC for Your Agency? Your Salary Is the Real Decision, and It Moves Four Numbers at Once

The S corp election is a form. The salary is the plan. What a reasonable salary is, and the four numbers it moves at once for an agency owner.

A fountain pen resting on a blank printed proposal on a dark conference table at dusk, an agency owner's hands and a client's hands across from each other under a warm pendant lamp, with the headline Faster, Not Cheaper on a navy panel.

AI Saved Your Agency 12 Hours. You Don't Owe the Client a Discount.

AI made the work faster. Does the client get a lower fee? A CPA on the fight his own profession is having, and the clause that answers it in advance.

Closing-day conference table at dusk with a paper calendar, a brass push pin on the first month and a red ring around the last, beside a deal binder under a banker's lamp

A Buyer Is Going to Audit Your Agency. Beat Them to It by a Year.

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach.

You Don't Have a Lead Problem. You Have an Account-Development Problem.

Havas PLAY didn't win MOCCONA. It expanded it. Why one more service to a current client beats a new logo, and the five numbers that show if it's...

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Deducting a Business Trip Abroad: The Two Tests, and Why You Only Need One

Most owners are told a foreign business trip must be 75% business. That welds two separate tests into one, and it costs you deductions you were...

A teenager at a second monitor in an agency office after hours, tagging photos, with a handwritten paper time sheet and pen in the foreground under a single desk lamp.

Hiring Your Kids in Your Agency: The 2026 Numbers, and the S Corp Catch Nobody Mentions

Every hire-your-kids explainer is written for a Schedule C owner. Most agency owners run S corps. The strategy still works; the numbers are...

An empty agency office at dusk with a desk lamp lit over tax paperwork and a steaming mug of coffee

The 20% QBI Deduction: Why Most Marketing and PR Agencies Still Get It

Marketing and PR agencies are not specified service businesses, so the QBI phase-out that hits law and accounting firms usually does not apply to you.

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Gross Margin by Account Manager: The Report Your Agency Isn't Running

Your blended gross margin averages books that don't match. How to build margin by account manager, and why it's a pricing tool and not a blame tool.

A process diagram drawn on a glass office wall at night with its middle steps wiped away

AI Didn't Raise Your Agency's Margin. You Didn't Redesign the Work.

Only 37% of companies can show any EBIT impact from AI, unchanged from a year ago. The winners redesigned the work. Here's the test for your agency.

A long row of white envelopes with one crushed flat in front, headline reading Everyone got paid. You got taxed.

Agency Owners: Your S Corp Health Insurance Deduction Might Already Be Zero

The premium lands in box 1 and never touches box 5, which is the number that actually funds the deduction. Here's why agency owners get caught by...

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AI and Agency Profitability: Ten Questions, in the Order That Matters

Most agency owners start at "is this paying off" without having totaled what AI costs. Ten questions, four stages, and why the sequence is the whole...

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Your Client Can Defend Their Ad Spend. Can You Defend Your Agency's?

By Craig S. Cody, CPA, Certified Tax Coach. Published August 1, 2026.

A signed client proposal and fountain pen on a dark wood desk under a brass lamp, with a dusk city skyline through the window.

AI Changed What Delivery Costs You. Your Rate Card Didn't Notice

The fastest way AI hurts an agency isn't replacing it. It's changing the cost of delivery while the agency keeps pricing the old way. Here's the fix,...

A single brass cube on dark navy slate casting a shadow many times its own length, headline reading The Offer Says 275K, The Cost Is 475K

Your Second in Command Costs More Than the Salary. Can Your P&L Carry One?

A true second in command runs north of $315,000 all in, and closer to $475,000 once you backfill the seat they leave. Here is the affordability math...

An agency owner leading a late-afternoon meeting in a conference room

Cash Balance Plans for Agency Owners: Why the Physician Playbook Costs You Money

Every cash balance explainer was written for physicians, and physicians get the worse version of the deal. Here is the rule that decides it, the 2026...

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The R&D Tax Credit for Agencies: Who Actually Qualifies, and Who's Being Sold Something

If a firm called saying you are sitting on an unclaimed R&D credit, read this before you sign a contingency agreement. Written by a CPA who is not...

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The Accountable Plan: How S Corp Owners Reimburse Themselves Without Losing the Deduction

Short answer up front. If you own an S corporation and you pay business expenses with your own money, you need a written accountable plan so the...

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Flat PPI Doesn't Mean Your Agency's Costs Are Flat

Producer prices were flat in July, but the BLS index for advertising agency services rose just 1.2% over twelve months against 4.7% overall. Here are...

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