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QuickBooks bookkeeping for consultants

Consulting work tends to run engagement by engagement, often for an agreed fee or paid by milestone, with outside help brought in for parts of the job. In your QuickBooks file, we keep each engagement's invoices, subcontractor bills and expenses grouped, so each engagement can be read as a whole.

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  • By Book Keeping Pros
  • Sources checked 15 Oct 2026

Engagement by engagement bookkeeping in QuickBooks

Projects, on plans that include them, group an engagement's transactions under the client. The rest of the work keeps invoices, remittances and costs traceable.

  • A project for each engagement where your QuickBooks plan offers projects, grouping its invoices, estimates and expenses under the client so project reports show income against costs
  • Invoices for agreed fees and milestones recorded with the client's purchase order number or reference, so each remittance leads back to the invoice it pays
  • Remittances that settle several invoices in a single payment split across each invoice they pay, with any short payment listed so you can chase the client
  • Bills from subcontractors and other consultants you bring in entered against the engagement they worked on, and matched to your payment when it goes out
  • Travel, accommodation and meal receipts sent to QuickBooks from the road, by email or photo upload, and paired with the card spending behind them
  • Every bank and card statement reconciled in QuickBooks with any difference explained, and transactions the bank feed alone doesn't explain sent to you as a short list of questions

Not included

Timesheets and time tracking. You decide what each invoice bills, and we record the invoices you raise and the client payments received.

Businesses in Management Advice and Related Consulting Services (ANZSIC class 6962)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
103,124 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
64,738 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
32,039 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026

Businesses by main state or territory

These counts are for the ANZSIC class Management Advice and Related Consulting Services. Consultants in other fields, such as engineering or computer systems, are counted in other ANZSIC classes.

  1. New South Wales38,324 businesses
  2. Victoria26,886 businesses
  3. Queensland19,267 businesses
  4. Western Australia9,433 businesses
  5. South Australia4,979 businesses
  6. Australian Capital Territory2,375 businesses
  7. Tasmania1,270 businesses
  8. Northern Territory525 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Businesses by number of employees

  1. Non-employing64,738 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees32,039 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees4,672 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees1,608 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees67 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Related pages

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Consultants' QuickBooks questions

Will QuickBooks tell me whether an engagement on an agreed fee made money?
It can, on a plan that includes projects. We group the engagement's invoices, subcontractor bills and expenses under its own project, and the project reports then show income against the costs recorded to it. A cost left off the project won't show there, so we assign costs as they come through.
A client pays several invoices in a single transfer. How is that handled?
We split the payment across the invoices it settles, using the client's remittance advice. If the transfer is short, or the remittance doesn't say which invoices it covers, we hold it aside and ask you which invoices to apply it to.
I bring in other consultants for parts of a job. Where do their bills go?
Each bill is entered under that consultant as a supplier and recorded against the engagement it relates to, then matched to your payment. On a plan with projects, the cost appears in that engagement's project reports.
I'm travelling for client work. What do I do with receipts?
Photograph each receipt and upload it to QuickBooks, or send it in by email. Receipts queue up for review in QuickBooks, and we pair each with the card charge it relates to, creating a new expense only after checking that no matching bill or expense is already recorded.
Can our accounting firm work in our QuickBooks file too?
Yes. A primary admin or company admin sends the firm an invitation under Manage users, on its Accounting Firms tab. When your accountant accepts, they work in the same books we keep.

Sources

  1. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. Actively trading businesses at 30 June 2025, released 16 December 2025. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  2. Correspondence, GCCSA 2021 to GCCSA 2026 (CG_GCCSA_2021_GCCSA_2026.csv)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  3. Create projects in QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  4. Upload your receipts to QuickBooks (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  5. Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  6. Inviting your accountant into QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).