How it runs for staffing and recruiting agencies
Burden accounts for employer taxes, workers' compensation and benefits need to sit in cost of sales, not overhead. The funding account needs its own liability with fee sub-accounts. Your dedicated accountant builds that structure, configures the Bullhorn and payroll integrations, and runs a parallel month before cut-over.
What is accounting software setup and migration?
Accounting software setup is the configuration of a new ledger: chart of accounts, tax codes, bank feeds, items, users and apps. Migration is moving existing books from another platform or spreadsheet into that ledger so history, open items and balances carry across. Both end with a file that agrees to the old records and is ready for live posting.
What we handle for staffing and recruiting agencies
- Chart of accounts with temp, perm and conversion income and burden in cost of sales
- Classes or locations for desks and work states, mapped from Bullhorn job orders
- Customer records with PO, VMS and remittance details for cash application
- Funding-line liability with advance, fee and reserve sub-accounts
- Bullhorn invoice and payroll-register integrations configured and tested in parallel
The KPI that matters here
The Bullhorn and payroll integrations post a full parallel month with zero mapping errors before cut-over.
Staffing compliance notes
Multi-state payroll tax
Each state where temps work needs withholding and unemployment registrations, and several states have local income taxes on top. We post payroll by work state, reconcile the liability accounts to the returns your payroll provider files, and flag new work states before the first assignment starts. Your provider files; we keep the books and the reconciliations that prove the filings.
Worker classification
Whether a placed worker is an employee or a contractor depends on control, integration and the applicable federal or state test, and the wrong answer is expensive. We keep W-2 and 1099 spend separate, hold the classification reason with the vendor record, and report 1099 volume monthly so you and your counsel can review it. We give no legal advice on the test itself.
Payroll funding and factoring
Agencies that use a funding partner receive advances on invoices, pay fees, and get reserves released when clients pay. Each of those movements is reconciled to the invoice it relates to and to the bank, so the balance sheet shows the true amount owed to the funder. The funding agreement's reporting requirements are prepared from the reconciled books.
Timesheet-to-invoice controls
The invoice to a client should be provable from approved timesheets, and the payroll should be provable from the same sheets. We keep the three-way match every week, hold client approvals with the invoice, and log corrections with a reason so disputes months later can be settled from the record.
Staffing software we work in
More for staffing and recruiting agencies
Other services for staffing
Software setup and migration in other industries
Frequently asked questions
Should payroll burden sit in cost of sales or overhead for a staffing agency?
In cost of sales, because the temps' wages, employer taxes, workers' compensation and benefits are the direct cost of the service you bill. Internal staff payroll sits in overhead. The setup creates that split from day one, so gross margin by client reflects the full cost of the people placed there rather than just their wages.
How does Bullhorn connect to QuickBooks Online?
Through Bullhorn's accounting export or its back-office integration, which sends invoices with client, PO and job-order details into QuickBooks Online. The setup maps each placement type to the right income item and each job order's location to a state class. A parallel month confirms that invoices, credits and customer records post correctly before cut-over.
How long does a staffing agency setup take?
A setup with Bullhorn and one payroll provider usually runs four to six weeks, including a parallel test month. Migrating from an older QuickBooks file or a spreadsheet adds time for history and opening balances, which are agreed to the last tax return. We fix the cut-over date at the discovery call and run both systems side by side until the test month ties.
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