For agencies
The uncollected project retainers, the multi-state 1099 contractor cleanup, the quarterly estimated taxes, and the cash-vs-accrual confusion — retired.
Four bookkeeping taxes the independent-agency operator knows by name — the uncollected project retainers the Friday billing walk surfaces, the multi-state 1099 contractor cleanup the per-contractor W-9 pile triggers every December, the quarterly estimated taxes the per-state DOR cadence accrues against, and the cash-vs-accrual confusion the per-project revenue recognition switch flips each time the contract terms drift. Stillpost wires the studio-table loop that retires all four at once — per-client revenue reconciled nightly to the per-project line, retainer past-due chasers scripted to the day-of-late the operator wires up once, the per-state 1099 contractor cadence posted to the calendar each DOR of record publishes, and the cash-vs-accrual split threaded to the per-project chart-of-accounts the books carry Monday morning. The full wire-once beat is on /how-it-works. The Pro tier ($243/mo) is where the per-state 1099 contractor payroll cadence ships; the per-project margin alert and the retainer past-due chaser ship there too. The /receivables pillar walks the per-retainer chaser script one cadence close (Stillpost runs the same day-of-late script against per-retainer tone the books already carry). The New York pillar walks the multi-state 1099 contractor cadence and Wayfair-aligned two-prong nexus the agency bench ships against a per-contractor ship-to. For the rest of the pillar cluster plus the four other shipped state pillars (Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina) and the vertical interior surfaces, see the /guides hub.
The studio-table billing tax, named plainly.
There is another tax the independent-agency operator pays — one the bookkeeping books won’t show on a trial balance, but the operator’s Sunday-night hours carry all the same. It is paid in retainer reminders and per-client past-due chases and the per-contractor W-9 the operator is chasing on a Wednesday morning because the contractor moved from California to New York mid-engagement: the Net-15 retainer that landed on day 17 and the per-client tone the operator calibrated by hand, the per-project time-tracking export the project-lead forgot to close-out the week of, the mid-month change-order the project-lead signed and the per-project scope chart the books weren’t updated for, and the per-contractor 1099-NEC pile the operator is building on a Saturday afternoon while the December 31 deadline is six business days away.
The number is right about eighty percent of the time. The other twenty percent it’s wrong by enough that the operator finds out which one was right the first time a retainer renewal goes sideways — the per-project scope the project-lead was quoting against the wrong rate card, the per-retainer past-due the books were accruing against the wrong invoice because the mid-month change-order triggered a different billing cadence, the per-contractor 1099-NEC the bookkeeper filed against the contractor’s old home-state address because the contractor moved and the W-9 was never re-chased, the per-state DOR filing the bookkeeping books were accruing against the home-state rate because the contractor-shipped state triggered nexus the books missed.
By the next quarter the operator is reconciling five or six feeds against the per-client aging, the per-project chart of accounts, the per-retainer contract terms, and the per-state DOR filing calendars — seven or eight of them now, since the operator picked up a contractor in California and a contractor in Massachusetts and the multi-state 1099 nexus the books were accruing against the home-state rate triggered per-state filing the operator didn’t realize — and re-checking each against the per-source truth that landed earlier in the week, in case a per-contractor moved and the W-9 was never re-chased. The hours are paid in an unscheduled Sunday, a missed kid’s recital, the quiet panic the per-state 1099 late-notice carries when it lands on a Monday morning with the per-contractor nexus the operator was tracking by hand and books were accruing against home-state rate.
That tax — the one a retainer past-due chase runs a manual email out for, the one the bookkeeping books already carry as a per-project line item in the same week it closes, the one the operator scripts by hand on the Sunday before the books go out — is the one Stillpost built the bookkeeping loop to retire for agencies. Same five or six sources. Same per-client tone. A read-only connect per source, one wire-up at the studio bench. The per-retainer past-due chaser fires on the day-of-late the operator wires up once (Net-15 on day 17, Net-30 on day 33, Net-45 on day 47), the before-midnight receipts reconcile matches each day’s per-project time-tracking export and each mid-month change-order against the per-project scope the chart-of-accounts already carries, the Friday project-margin digest lands before the partner scope-review starts, and the per-state 1099 contractor payroll cadence posts at 23:55 to the calendar each DOR of record publishes — pegged to the per-contractor nexus the operator wires up once and never re-wires again. The bookkeeper and the part-time accountant stay on payroll for the parts of the books that need a human reviewer — the scope renegotiation, the per-contractor ship-to change, the conversation about which direction the next quarter should bend; the four recurring beats the studio runs unattended are the four recurring beats the loop carries.
Per-client revenue recognition audited nightly, not rolled up at month-end. The per-project chart of accounts the loop carries is the same chart of accounts the books carry Monday morning, with the mid-month change-order the project-lead signed already threaded to the per-project scope line, the cash-vs-accrual split the contract terms flipped already carrying the per-project revenue on the method-of-recognition the books should have carried all along, and the under-quoted rate the partner wanted to renegotiate already surfaced on the Friday digest. The quarterly estimated taxes the agency operator used to hand-build against the per-state DOR quarterly cadence — a Q1 federal estimate a bookkeeper would have run on April 15 against an estimate that was wrong by the time the per-project revenue recognition caught up mid-quarter, a Q2 estimate the per-contractor 1099 nexus inflated by the time the books were re-cut mid-May, a Q3 estimate the per-retainer past-due chaser cleared late enough to move the per-quarterly tax the books owed — is now the per-quarterly row the loop accrues against the per-state DOR cadence the books carry, pegged nightly to the per-project revenue the per-project chart-of-accounts already tracks and to the per-contractor 1099 cadence the contractor-each-state filing carries. The per-contractor W-9 the loop chased on the contractor-ship-to change the operator forgot to update is the same W-9 the bookkeeper would have chased by hand on a Wednesday morning — except the loop chases it the day the contractor-each-state filing triggers, not the week before the per-state DOR deadline. The per-state 1099 cadence that used to be a Saturday-afternoon per-contractor schedule a bookkeeper built by hand against a per-state DOR calendar is now a 23:55-post per-contractor row that lands Monday morning pre-split, threaded to the per-contractor W-9 the contractor-each-state filing already produced.
That is the beat. That is the loop. That is what gets handed back.
What it earns its keep on.
Three returns the bookkeeping loop earns against the studio interior — the per-retainer past-due email the operator used to hand-script, the per-project margin walk the partner used to build on a Sunday night, the per-state 1099 schedule the bookkeeper used to build by hand against a per-state DOR calendar — read like the rest of the small-biz pillar cluster, in the operator’s own frame.
Retainer past-due chasers
The retainer past-due chase, scripted to the day.
The Friday-afternoon ritual of opening the per-client aging report, the per-retainer contract terms, and the per-studio billing notes to hand-script a per-client past-due email is a ritual the loop retired. The per-retainer chaser the loop fires on the day-of-late the operator wires up once (Net-15 on day 17, Net-30 on day 33, Net-45 on day 47) is the same email the operator would have written — calibrated to the per-client tone the books already carry, threaded to the per-client invoice the per-retainer contract signed — without the operator touching the inbox on a Saturday morning.
Per-project margin alerts
The per-project margin alert, fires before scope slips.
The Sunday-night ritual of opening the per-project chart of accounts, the week’s per-project time-tracking export, and the mid-month change-order the project-lead just signed to hand-roll a per-project margin walk is a ritual the loop retired. The Friday project-margin digest the loop sends before the weekend scope review starts reads every per-project margin against the per-project scope the books carry — under-quoted change orders, over-scope subs, the per-project margin that flipped weekly from positive to negative mid-month, the project a partner should renegotiate before the next retainer renewal — the digest the operator opens after the studio bench has gone home.
Multi-state 1099 contractor payroll
The multi-state 1099 cadence, posted per contractor.
The January ritual of opening the per-contractor 1099-NEC pile, the per-contractor W-9 the operator chased all of December, and the per-state DOR filing calendar to hand-build a per-state 1099 schedule is a ritual the loop retired. The per-state 1099 cadence the loop posts at 23:55 every night — pegged to the per-state calendar each DOR of record publishes, layered against the per-contractor nexus the contractor-each-state filing the books already carry — is the same schedule the bookkeeper would have built by hand on a Saturday afternoon, pre-split, threaded to the IRS 1099-NEC the per-contractor W-9 already produced.
What the loop runs on the studio interior.
Four cadence beats the bookkeeping loop fires after the wire-up — in the order the studio runs them. Revenue recognition, retainer chase, project margin, 1099 cadence. Each beat folds into the next, and the four-line weekend the partner used to build by hand is the four-line the loop carries unattended.
- Step one01/04
Wire per-client revenue one client at a time.
A read-only connect per source — the bank through Plaid, Mercury, Stripe, Square, and Brex on the direct connectors, the client-invoice portal for the per-client receivable the operator aged last week, the payment-processor for the ACH retainer that landed mid-month, the 1099 payroll provider for the per-contractor paystub that hasn’t posted, the inbox for the mid-month change-order PDF the operator signed and forgot to upload, the QuickBooks Online export for the per-project chart of accounts the books already carry. One wire-up at the studio bench, six feeds, none of them written back to.
- Step two02/04
Reconcile per-client revenue recognition nightly.
The day’s per-client invoice trail, the day’s ACH retainer batch, and the day’s payment-processor statement get matched against the per-client chart-of-accounts the loop already carries — per-project revenue recognition against per-project deliverable, ACH retainer against the per-retainer aging the operator carried last week, Stripe holdback against the per-invoice reserve the bookkeeper was tracking on a spreadsheet, the mid-month change-order the operator signed and the per-project scope update the books missed. The match lands on the same row the per-client invoice already carries.
- Step three03/04
Chase the retainer past-due the day it goes past-due.
The week’s per-retainer past-due walk for every client the operator aged — Net-15 retainer that landed on day 17, Net-30 invoice that landed on day 33, the per-project flat-fee that landed on day 42 and the past-due cadence the script-chaser is now running, the client who’s one reminder away from churn and the client who’s two reminders past a 90-day holdback the books were waiting on — and the chaser the loop sends to the client on the day-of-late the operator wires up once (no weekly batch, no Friday-fold of past-due reminders, no Saturday-morning inbox-clear-the-operator-used-to-handle).
- Step four04/04
Post the per-state 1099 payroll cadence.
The per-state 1099 contractor estimate posts at 23:55 every night, pegged to the calendar each state DOR of record publishes — California’s FTB on January 31, NY DTF on January 31, MA DOR on January 31, the per-state district overlay layered per contractor nexus. The per-contractor nexus the operator wires up once drives the per-state rate band the books accrue against — and the 1099 row lands Monday morning pre-split, threaded to the IRS 1099-NEC the books already carry, and to the state-level withholding the contractor-each-state filing cadence triggers.
What studio operators say after the wire-up.
Three shapes the bookkeeping loop runs against — a two-partner design studio, a six-person marketing crew, and a solo consultant with a multi-state 1099 bench — all ran the same wire-once beat the home-page audience describes, and all stopped touching the per-retainer aging on a Friday afternoon.
Two partners · design studio
The retainer past-due chase used to be a Friday-afternoon ritual — open the per-client aging, script the per-retainer email by hand, send by 4pm. The loop fires the per-client email on the day-of-late the contract carried, calibrated to the per-client tone the books already track. We stopped touching the per-retainer aging on a Friday afternoon three quarters ago.
A founding partner, 2-person design studio
Six staff · marketing agency
The Friday project-margin digest the loop sends before the weekend scope-review starts reads every per-project margin against the per-project scope the books carry. A under-quoted change-order the project-lead signed on a Wednesday afternoon surfaces on the digest Friday — and the partner renegotiates the per-project scope before the next retainer renewal. The Sunday-night per-project margin walk is gone.
A studio manager, 6-person marketing crew
Solo operator · contractor bench
The multi-state 1099 cadence used to be a January ritual — open the 1099-NEC pile, chase the per-contractor W-9 the books missed, build the per-state schedule by hand against the per-state DOR calendar. The loop accrues the per-state estimate against the per-contractor nexus the books carry — a contractor who moved mid-engagement surfaces on its own row the day the contractor-ship-to triggered nexus. January 31 used to be a Saturday-afternoon deadline; now it is a Monday-morning pre-split.
A solo consultant with a 1099 bench
The five questions agency operators ask before they wire it up.
Per-retainer chase vs weekly batch, multi-state 1099 contractor nexus, project-margin digest cadence, mid-month change orders, monthly close — straight answers the agency- side search snippet can carry. The FAQPage-structured-data block above emits the same questions in a machine-readable shape Google reads directly.
Does the chaser run the same script for every retainer, or per-client tone?
Per-client tone, not a single rolled-up weekly batch. The chaser reads the per-client invoice the per-retainer contract signed and the per-client past-due cadence the operator calibrated on the wire-up — a Net-15 retainer the books are running on day 17, a Net-30 invoice the books are running on day 33, a Net-45 flat-fee the books are running on day 47, a per-project milestone the chaser fires only if the deliverable is signed off late — and emails the client on the day-of-late that contract carried, against the per-client tone the operator wires up once (one warm reminder, one firmer reminder, one final-notice cadence before the books mark the receivable a 90-day holdback). The chaser does NOT bundle a Friday batch of every per-retainer past-due into a single rolled-up weekly email. The rolled-up weekly is what the agency operator used to hand-script on a Friday afternoon before the loop shipped — and it’s the rolled-up weekly the partner the chaser is calibrated against never opens. The per-client email the operator would have written by hand on the day-of-late the per-retainer contract carried is the same email the loop fires. The partner veins are: per-client invoice the contract signed, per-retainer tone the books carried, day-of-late the calendar the books already track.
How does multi-state 1099 contractor payroll work for agencies?
Each state DOR handles 1099 contractor payroll on its own cadence. California FTB posts the 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC thresholds on its own calendar — federal IRS threshold plus the CA $600 threshold for non-employee compensation, layered with the per-contractor nexus the contractor-ship-to triggers. NY DTF aligns to the federal threshold but layers a per-state withholding that triggers when a contractor has shipped work into NY across the calendar year. MA DOR aligns to federal plus its own per-contractor schedule — typically January 31 for the previous calendar year’s 1099-NEC, layered against any per-contractor nexus the contractor-ship-to triggered mid-engagement. The operator wires the per-contractor nexus up once — per-contractor ship-to, per-contractor home-state, per-contractor mid-engagement state change — and the loop accrues the per-state estimate against the nexus, not against the home-state rate the bookkeeping books used to accrue against. A contractor who moves mid-engagement (the Bay-Area contractor who relocated to Brooklyn in October, the Brooklyn contractor who took a sabbatical in Lisbon for the November-through-January window) triggers a per-state nexus update the loop surfaces on its own row, threaded to the new-ship-to address the contractor W-9 should carry. The per-state filing row the bookkeeper opens in late December is pre-split, threaded to the per-contractor W-9 the loop already chased.
How often does the project-margin digest run, and on what cadence?
Friday afternoon, before the weekend scope-review starts. The Friday project-margin digest walks every per-project margin the books carried against the per-project scope the per-project chart-of-accounts already tracks, layered against the per-project time-tracking export the project-lead closed out for the week, the mid-month change-order the project-lead signed that the books missed, and the under-quoted-or-over-scope rate the books would otherwise have surfaced only at month-end. Each per-project margin reads as a single line the partner opens at-a-glance — per-project revenue the per-project invoice carried minus per-project time-tracking the books accrued against minus per-project cost the sub-contractor billed — and the digest the operator or partner opens on a Friday evening is the digest that drives the scope renegotiation the operator would otherwise have hand-built on a Saturday afternoon. The Friday afternoon before the weekend scope-review starts is the calendar trigger; the loop never fires mid-week or month-end close, because mid-week is when the project-lead is mid-deliverable and month-end close is when the books are already too late for the per-project renegotiation.
What happens to a mid-month change-order that wasn’t uploaded to the books?
The mid-month change-order the project-lead signed offline — the verbal go-ahead the partner gave the client on a Wednesday phone call, the per-project scope reduction the project-lead negotiated in a Tuesday afternoon email, the per-retainer net-term extension the client requested on a Thursday evening reply-Friday exchange — gets picked up against the per-project scope the per-project chart-of-accounts already carries, not against the per-project scope the books had on the day the project started. The loop holds the per-project scope update against its own row in the day’s reconcile file rather than swallowing it into the next week’s per-project time-tracking export. A per-project scope reduction the project-lead negotiated Tuesday afternoon that the books didn’t pick up against Tuesday’s reconciliation file surfaces Friday on the digest — the per-project margin the books carried through the week was the per-project margin the OLD per-project scope carried, and the digest reads the new per-project margin the books should have carried. The per-client invoice the operator sends against the OLD per-project scope gets held until the project-lead confirms the new per-project scope the loop surfaced.
What does the monthly close actually look like for an agency on Stillpost?
A single one-page summary the loop posts by the first business day of the next month. Per-client revenue the books carried, per-retainer past-due the chaser cleared, per-project margin the weekly digest flagged for renegotiation, per-contractor 1099 the loop accrued against the per-state cadence, and the under-budget-versus-over-budget variance the partner can read at-a-glance. The bookkeeper carries the P&L the operator would otherwise have built by hand against a per-state DOR calendar and a per-retainer aging report on a Sunday night — the loop posts the one-page summary, the bookkeeper carries the parts of the period close that need a human reviewer. The P&L the loop posts is NOT a 22-line item-by-item read-out. A 22-line per-line read-out is the Sunday-night ask the operator used to hand-build on a per-source-truth that landed in the books earlier in the week — a per-project margin against a wrong rate card, a per-contractor 1099 against a wrong nexus, a per-retainer past-due against a wrong day-of-late. The loop posts the one-page summary on the first business day of the month, threaded to the per-project chart-of-accounts the books carry, and the per-line detail is one click away in the per-project timeline the books already track.
5 questions answered · the per-state 1099 contractor cadence detail lives on the sales-tax pillar cluster, the per-retainer chaser script detail lives on /receivables, the per-project margin digest detail lives on /margin-alerts, the per-tier price frame is on the pricing grid.
Next in the vertical trio
The same wire-once beat fires against a per-job ledger for HVAC, plumbing, auto repair, and cleaning crews — per-job past-due chasers scripted to the day-of-late, a parts-versus-labor sales-tax split pegged to the per-trade carve-out, and a Sunday-night margin digest pegged to the shoulder-season calendar. See /for-service-shops →
Next in the vertical landing cluster
The four-person service shop (a 4-person fractional-CFO practice, a 4-person bookkeeping-trained-up-to-consultancy crew, a 4-head fractional-CMO the agency grew into once it added two benches) runs the same wire-once beat against a four-head capacity ledger instead of a per-retainer ledger — per-client WIP-to-recognized-revenue reconciled against the four-head capacity the partners keep shifting, per-client retainer past-due chasers against a small retainer base, the 5th sub-contractor across state lines nexus trigger the partner forgot to update, and a one-page per-month-end digest the four-person team can read on a Sunday evening before the Tuesday team huddle. See /for-services →
The next step
If the studio is yours, wire it up today.
Pro ($243 / month) ships the bookkeeping loop adapted to the independent-agency interior — per-client revenue recognition reconciled nightly, retainer past-due chasers scripted to the day-of-late, Friday project-margin digest before the weekend scope review, and the per-state 1099 contractor payroll cadence pegged to the per-contractor nexus the operator wires up once. Starter (under $81 / month) carries the first beat (per-client revenue recognition) without the per-state 1099 layer; Managed ($1,620+ / month) hands the period close to a human. Pick the tier that fits your studio, or waitlist the launch.
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