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Bookkeeping for marketing agencies

Marketing agencies bill through monthly retainers and project fees, and they often pay for media, printing and production on a client's behalf before passing the cost on. We look after day-to-day bookkeeping for marketing agencies across Australia.

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Businesses in Advertising Services (ANZSIC class 6940)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
13,527 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
8,097 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
4,046 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 Advertising Services, which covers advertising agencies and media planning and buying, and also takes in direct mail, aerial advertising and sample distribution services. Agencies whose main work is graphic design, web design or market research are counted in other classes, so they are not in these counts.

  1. New South Wales5,261 businesses
  2. Victoria3,570 businesses
  3. Queensland2,780 businesses
  4. Western Australia982 businesses
  5. South Australia629 businesses
  6. Tasmania132 businesses
  7. Australian Capital Territory111 businesses
  8. Northern Territory39 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-employing8,097 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees4,046 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees995 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees365 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees24 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.

What we look after

What the books involve

  • Retainers: monthly fees for ongoing work invoiced on a set cycle, with each client's payments matched and any retainer that is running behind flagged for the account lead.
  • Media spend: advertising platform charges and media bookings paid by the agency matched to the client invoices that recover them, so pass-through costs and agency fees show on separate lines.
  • Production costs: printing, photography, video shoots and freelance copywriters or designers entered as bills against the client job, which shows what each campaign cost to make.
  • Ad account charges: platform billing on the agency's cards reconciled against each platform's own invoices, including charges made in foreign currencies.
  • Project fees: campaigns, launches and website builds invoiced by stage, with hours from the agency's time tracking compared against what each client has been billed so far.

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.

Talk to us about your books

Tell us how your business runs and what you need from your books, and we will suggest a bookkeeping plan that fits.

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