Articles & Resources

Embark on a financial adventure with Craig Cody & Company's educational blog articles! It's more than just tax talk; it's a journey of discovery for agency owners eager to transform their financial strategies.

From boosting tax confidence to revealing the superpowers of a proactive CPA, our articles guide you through the financial wilderness, turning complex numbers into steps toward your business success. Want the articles right in your inbox? Fill out the form to the right, and we'll add you to the notifications.

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Two agency founders read a printed report at a long wooden table in window light while five freelancers with headphones and storyboards work behind them under warm pendant lamps, with the headline $400K PER EMPLOYEE. over COUNT AGAIN.

AI Is Breaking Revenue Per Employee as a Standalone Metric

Revenue per employee flatters lean, AI-heavy agencies. Count freelancers and owner hours, then check contribution margin before you trust it.

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An agency owner in a daylit office lifts one stack of printed reports off a wooden meeting table toward an open cardboard box while the other stacks stay in place, with the headline CUT THE over RIGHT ONE on the shadowed wall.

Should You Cut That Service Line? A CPA's Test Before You Kill It

Agencies that narrow their services grow faster, but only when they cut the right line. A CPA's four-question test before you shut one down.

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In a daylit agency studio, a woman in a dark green sweater frowns at a printed project spreadsheet while her team claps and raises coffee behind her at a launch celebration, with the headline ON TIME. over $22,650 SHORT.

Your Delivery Leader Needs a Margin Number, Not Just a Deadline

Agencies that track profit project by project are the most profitable. Here's the one-page project P&L your delivery lead should own.

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A printed yearly calendar grid on a worn wooden desk with one regular column of blue ink circles marking the same date each month, a black fountain pen and a steaming coffee cup by a window, with the headline A SCHEDULE over NOT A GUESS on the shadowed navy wall to the left.

Why Recurring Revenue Makes Your Agency's Cash Flow Easier to Forecast

A forecast built on projects starts with a guess. One built on retainers starts with signed agreements. Why that makes agency money easier to manage.

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A person seen from behind at a desk by an overcast window, holding a printed page over a keyboard beside two stacks of highlighted spreadsheets, with the headline NOT YOUR over HUMAN API. on the shadowed wall to the left.

Your Controller Isn't Your Human API

If your controller spends half the week moving numbers between systems, the problem isn't the controller. How to audit your agency's handoffs.

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A wooden desk by an overcast window with a printed software subscription list, most rows ticked and two crossed out by hand, a pen, a mug and a closed laptop, with the headline THEIR NEWS. over YOUR RENEWAL. on the shadowed wall to the left.

Your CRM Vendor Just Cut 7% of Its Staff. Now Check Your Renewal.

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

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A bookkeeper seen from behind at a wooden desk, pen in hand over a printed report with one row crossed out, while through an open doorway the owner's office sits dark with an empty chair, and the headline WHO DECIDED over THAT INVOICE WAS GONE? on the dark wall to the left.

Who Decided That Invoice Was Never Getting Paid? Why Your Agency Needs a Written Policy for Credit Memos and Write-Offs

An overdue invoice doesn't disappear on its own. Somebody makes it disappear. Why your agency needs a written policy before anyone touches AR.

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A business owner seen from behind at a wooden desk by an overcast window, one hand on an invoice beside a clipped stack marked tax return, a calculator and coffee nearby, with the headline WHAT DOES PLANNING COST? over AND WHAT DOES IT RETURN? on the dark wall to the left.

What Does Tax Planning Cost for a Marketing or PR Agency Owner? Our Prices, and the Return We Hold Them To

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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A modest two-story brick office building on a quiet street at blue hour, upper windows and the glass entrance glowing warm against the deep blue dusk, wet pavement reflecting the light, with the headline ACCELERATED over DEPRECIATION! on the dark left side of the frame.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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A hotel room desk at blue hour with a printed meeting agenda under a single warm lamp, a city and observation wheel visible through the window.

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...

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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...

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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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Six stacks of paper at wildly different heights on a dark desk, crossed by a single level brass line

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.

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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.

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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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