If you’ve ever helped a client roll out Profit First, you already know: the hardest part isn’t explaining the concept, it’s making it stick.
Clients love the idea of bank-balance visibility. They want to know what’s safe to spend, what’s set aside for taxes, and how much profit they’re truly taking home. But once you try to build that system on top of a traditional bank, things start to break. The bank limits the number of accounts. Transfers happen manually. Access is clunky. Suddenly, you’re the one juggling spreadsheets, explaining delays, and managing exceptions.
Profit First works brilliantly in theory, but practice it needs infrastructure. That’s where Relay comes in.
As the official banking platform for Profit First, Relay is built for the way modern firms work: collaborative, tech-driven, and client-obsessed. It automates the operational side of Profit First so you can spend your time where it actually counts—helping business owners make smarter financial decisions and positioning your firm as their long-term strategic partner.
Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through deposit insurance coverage to apply.
Where Firms Get Stuck with Profit First
If you’ve implemented Profit First before, you’ve definitely seen it: clients love the system…until it becomes inconvenient.
They forget to make transfers. They “borrow” from their tax account to cover expenses. They get frustrated juggling multiple logins or confused by mismatched balances between their bank and accounting software.
Multiply that across ten, twenty, or fifty clients, and suddenly your firm is managing chaos instead of creating clarity. You’re sending reminders, reconciling inconsistencies, and playing financial traffic controller instead of trusted advisor.
These breakdowns don’t happen because the Profit First framework is flawed, they happen because most banks weren’t built for it.
What firms need isn’t another spreadsheet or a more disciplined client. They need a banking platform that makes the system work by design.
How Relay Makes Profit First Easy
Relay doesn’t just support Profit First, it was purpose-built for it. Every feature reflects the realities of how modern firms work: high client volume, tight capacity, and the constant balance between precision and efficiency.
Here’s how Relay turns Profit First from a good idea into a repeatable, scalable system that works in practice:
1. Structure at scale.
Each client can open up to 20 business checking accounts, giving you the flexibility to mirror their Profit First plan exactly—Profit, Owner’s Pay, Taxes, OPEX, and any additional “clarity” accounts unique to their business model.
2. True automation.
Set allocation rules once—say, 5% to Profit, 15% to Taxes, 50% to OPEX—and Relay handles the transfers automatically. No manual calculations, no missed transfer days, no last-minute scrambles.
3. Real-time visibility.
Your firm dashboard lets you see every client’s balances, allocations, and transactions in one place. No more chasing screenshots or waiting for reconciliations. You can step into any client conversation with instant context.
4. Seamless accounting integrations.
Relay syncs directly with QuickBooks Online and Xero, ensuring that what you see in the bank matches what you see in the books. Clean data makes advisory easier, faster, and far more impactful.
5. A better client experience.
Clients finally understand where their money is going and why. They see progress visually, which builds confidence and buy-in. That consistency doesn’t just make them feel more in control, it makes you the firm they trust to guide them long term.
Profit First gives business owners the structure to manage their cash with intention. Relay gives firms the infrastructure to make that structure effortless. Together, they turn advisory from a manual process into a scalable practice model.
Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through deposit insurance coverage to apply.
A Practical Framework for Implementing Profit First on Relay
Implementing Profit First with clients doesn’t have to be a heavy lift. Here’s a streamlined five-step process that experienced firms use to get results fast:
Step 1: Identify your best candidates.
Start with established clients who generate consistent revenue but struggle with cash-flow clarity. They’ll feel the impact fastest, and become your best case studies.
Step 2: Build the account architecture in Relay.
Create the core Profit First accounts (Income, Profit, Owner’s Pay, Taxes, OPEX). If a client has unique needs—like a CapEx or Seasonal Reserve fund—add them later with ease.
Step 3: Set automated transfers.
Use Relay’s percentage-based allocations to move money on a fixed schedule (biweekly or twice per month). Clients love the transparency; you’ll love the consistency.
Step 4: Monitor and refine.
Relay’s real-time data makes quarterly adjustments simple. As clients grow, you can fine-tune allocation percentages and visually show progress, no separate tracking spreadsheet required.
Step 5: Scale across your book.
Once you’ve proven the workflow with one or two clients, replicate it quickly using the same structure. Relay’s firm view makes multi-client management straightforward and error-proof.
Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through deposit insurance coverage to apply.
The Strategic Advantage for Your Firm
Advisory is where the future of accounting lives—but advisory only scales if your operational systems do. Relay bridges that gap.
By standardizing Profit First implementation on Relay, firms gain:
Efficiency that compounds. Less manual work per client means higher margins per engagement.
Data you can trust. Real-time, structured bank data replaces lagging, error-prone inputs.
Client relationships that last. When business owners feel in control of cash flow, they credit you—not the spreadsheet—for their peace of mind.
Stronger differentiation. Advisory powered by Profit First and Relay signals a modern, proactive firm that delivers tangible results—not just reports.
The firms leading this shift aren’t just adding a new revenue stream. They’re redefining what “full-service” means in a landscape where automation is eating compliance. Relay gives you the infrastructure to make that transformation stick.
Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through deposit insurance coverage to apply.
Work with Relay
You already know that Profit First transforms the way clients see their money. Relay transforms the way firms deliver that transformation.
Whether you’re a Certified Profit First Professional or simply use the framework with clients, Relay helps you implement it faster, cleaner, and at scale.
Work with Relay to give every client the clarity, automation, and confidence they need to grow profitably—and give your firm the efficiency and recurring revenue it deserves.
Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through deposit insurance coverage to apply.
