The multi-client accounting nightmare
Managing finances across 5+ clients with mixed payment terms gets messy fast:
Payment tracking chaos
Client A pays a monthly retainer. Client B pays per milestone. Client C is 30 days late. Which invoice just hit your account? Was that the $10k from the strategy project or the $8k retainer?
Expense categorization hell
Flight to Client A’s headquarters: reimbursable. Dinner with Client B: billable expense. Your laptop upgrade: business overhead. LinkedIn Premium: split across all clients?
Quarterly tax scramble
Estimated taxes are due. How much did you actually make after expenses? Which business expenses are deductible? Your accountant needs clean numbers, and you need them now.
Track all your consulting income and expenses
Every client payment and business expense syncs when you choose.
Client revenue
- Retainer payments: monthly recurring revenue from ongoing clients
- Project milestones: fixed-price deliverable payments
- Hourly billing: time-based consulting fees
- Success fees: performance-based bonuses and revenue share
Client reimbursable expenses
- Travel expenses: flights, hotels and rental cars for client visits
- Client meals: dinners, lunches, coffee meetings
- Project-specific software: tools bought for specific engagements
- Materials and supplies: research reports, data purchases
Business overhead
- Software subscriptions: Slack, Zoom, project management tools
- Professional development: courses, certifications, conferences
- Marketing and sales: website hosting, LinkedIn Premium, CRM
- Office expenses: coworking space, home office equipment
Professional services
- Accounting and bookkeeping: CPA fees, tax prep services
- Legal services: contract review, incorporation, compliance
- Insurance: professional liability, business insurance
- Subcontractors: specialized expertise for client projects
How it works
Set up once, then sync whenever you sit down to review your finances.
Connect your business accounts
Press Sync now
Tag by client and expense type
Build client and tax reports
Professional consultant bookkeeping workflow
For accountants and bookkeepers: streamline financial management for your independent consultant clients.
The 5-step process
The consultant connects accounts through Plaid
Transactions sync into a shared Google Sheet
Run SheetLink Recipes
Review and adjust client allocations
Export reports for invoicing and tax filing
Your Google Sheet becomes the system of record for consultant finances. You own the data. Your client owns the data. No exports, no lock-in, just clean multi-client bookkeeping in a spreadsheet.
Questions
How do I track income from multiple consulting clients?
SheetLink syncs your bank deposits into Google Sheets when you press Sync now. Add a “Client” column to tag which payments came from which client, then use a pivot table or SUMIF formulas to build client-specific income reports (deposits come in as negative amounts, so flip the sign for income totals). It works for retainers, milestone payments and one-off projects.
Can SheetLink help me separate client reimbursable expenses from overhead?
Yes. Add your own columns to categorize transactions as “Client Reimbursable” (travel, meals with clients, project-specific software) or “Business Overhead” (general software, office expenses, insurance). Use filters to build client invoices and track true profitability.
Does this work for consultants who need quarterly tax estimates?
Yes. Install the Financial Statements Suite recipe from the extension’s Recipes tab for a Profit & Loss with monthly trending, or build quarterly income and deductible expense summaries with SUMIFS. Your Google Sheet becomes your financial system of record for estimated tax payments and year-end Schedule C filing.