Industries
Professional services
Finbryn keeps monthly books for Hong Kong professional service and consulting firms billing by project or retainer, tracking unbilled work in progress and partner drawings separately from ordinary expense in Xero or QuickBooks Online. Records are kept audit-ready, since every Hong Kong company needs a statutory CPA audit each year.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
HKD
| Line | Aug | Jul | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 142,380 | 131,904 | +10,476 |
| Cost of sales | (51,260) | (48,115) | (3,145) |
| Gross profit | 91,120 | 83,789 | +7,331 |
| Payroll | (46,300) | (45,900) | (400) |
| SoftwareNoted | (6,480) | (5,490) | (990) |
| Rent | (8,000) | (8,000) | 0 |
| Other operating | (9,215) | (9,870) | +655 |
| Net income | 21,125 | 14,529 | +6,596 |
Reviewer's note
Software is up on last month after two seats were added mid-month. Revenue includes one milestone invoice that will not repeat next month.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Exceptions report
Where the books usually hurt
Project-based billing means revenue recognition needs to follow the work performed, not just the invoice date
Unbilled work in progress at month end never gets estimated, so profitability numbers run behind reality
Partner or owner draws get mixed into payroll or general expense instead of tracked as equity distributions
Multiple client engagements running at once make it hard to see which ones are actually profitable
Project billing needs work in progress tracked, not guessed
A Hong Kong consultancy billing by milestone or retainer often has real revenue sitting unbilled at month end: work performed but not yet invoiced. Left untracked, that gap makes monthly profitability numbers unreliable and complicates the year-end accounts your auditor has to reconcile against contracts and timesheets. Under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622), every Hong Kong company, including a two-person consultancy, must have its financial statements audited annually by a practising Hong Kong CPA, and there is no small-company exemption. Clean monthly work-in-progress tracking is what keeps that audit from becoming a full-year reconstruction.
What the monthly close covers
We post transactions in Xero, QuickBooks Online or Zoho Books, reconcile bank and card accounts, and estimate unbilled work in progress each month where timesheet or milestone data supports it, so the profit and loss reflects work actually performed rather than only what has been invoiced. Partner or director drawings are tracked as equity distributions rather than folded into payroll or general expense, a distinction the auditor will look for specifically. Where the firm employs staff, mandatory MPF contributions are coordinated alongside payroll so retirement scheme obligations are met on time.
Multi-engagement profitability
Many Hong Kong professional firms run several client engagements at once, each with a different mix of staff time, contractor cost and expense. We tag income and direct cost by engagement so margin is visible by client, not just at the firm level, which is useful both for management decisions and for supporting the story behind the numbers when the auditor asks.
What stays yours
The accounting file stays in your name in your own software account. A named pod reviews every close before it reaches you, with a short memo on anything that changed. Terms are set out in your engagement letter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Professional services
Do small professional service firms in Hong Kong need an annual audit?
Yes. Every Hong Kong company must be audited annually by a practising Hong Kong CPA under the Companies Ordinance, with no exemption for firms below a size threshold, unless the company is dormant.
Can you estimate unbilled work in progress each month?
Yes, where timesheet or milestone data is available, unbilled work in progress is estimated and reflected in the monthly financials rather than left until invoicing catches up.
Do you separate partner drawings from payroll?
Yes. Partner and director drawings are tracked as equity distributions, kept separate from staff payroll and general expense in the chart of accounts.
Do you coordinate MPF contributions for our staff?
Yes, payroll coordination includes the mandatory MPF contributions employers must make for eligible staff, alongside the underlying payroll records.
How do you value unbilled work in progress each month?
At the rate or fee structure already agreed with the client, applied to hours or milestones logged but not yet invoiced, so the figure reflects work genuinely owed rather than a rough guess carried forward from last month.
Can you estimate work in progress at month end?
Yes, unbilled work in progress can be estimated and reflected in the monthly financials where time or milestone data is available.
Do you track profitability by client engagement?
Yes, income and direct costs can be tagged by engagement so margin is visible each month.
What are the common bookkeeping challenges for a professional services business?
Beyond the basics, partner or owner draws get mixed into payroll or general expense instead of tracked as equity distributions and multiple client engagements running at once make it hard to see which ones are actually profitable come up often in this industry. We build the chart of accounts and reconciliation process around those specific patterns rather than a generic template that ignores how the business actually operates.
What software do you support for professional services?
We work inside QuickBooks Online and Xero, along with the other tools listed on this page that are common in the professional services industry. If you have no file yet, we set one up in your name so you own it from day one.
Related services
- BookkeepingMonthly bookkeepingOngoing monthly bookkeeping: transactions sorted into categories, accounts reconciled and month-end reports delivered in the software you already use.
- BookkeepingCatch-up and cleanup bookkeepingMonths or years of books brought up to date and reconciled, with a written record of every adjustment, so monthly bookkeeping can start from a clean base.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.