Bookkeeping and Monthly Close

What falls apart without it

Almost every expensive tax problem we see started out as a record-keeping problem. Expenses that could not be deducted because they could not be documented. Personal and business spending mixed together in one account. A year of receipts reconstructed in March under time pressure — and the doubt resolved in the IRS's favor rather than yours.

Bookkeeping is not paperwork. It is the record that decides what you can legally deduct and what you can defend when you are asked.

What we do every month

We classify every transaction in your bank and credit card accounts
We reconcile each account against its statement; nothing is left missing or duplicated
If you issue invoices, we track receivables and payables
We record payroll, loan payments and owner draws properly, instead of dropping them into one catch-all account
We produce a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet you can read
If something unusual turns up, we tell you before it becomes a year-end surprise

Records kept current also make tax preparation cheaper. Cleanup work done in March costs more than the same work done month by month through the year.

Software

We work in QuickBooks and set it up correctly the first time: a chart of accounts suited to your industry, connected bank feeds, rules defined so that routine transactions classify themselves. If you already use it and your file has fallen apart, we repair it rather than start from scratch.

What changes once we are working together

Reconciled statements you can actually read reach you every month

No deductible expense is lost for want of documentation

Tax preparation costs less — the cleanup work disappears

An unusual movement is flagged before it becomes a year-end surprise

Common questions

Do I have to change software?

Usually not.

If you use QuickBooks, we work in your existing file. If you are on another system, we will tell you plainly whether the move is worth the trouble it creates — and if it is not, we say so.

How far behind can I be?

We have taken on files two years behind.

It costs more than staying current, but it can be fixed, and it beats filing a return on estimates. Catch-up work is priced as a separate job, not hidden inside the monthly fee.

I keep my own records. Is that not enough?

For a while it is. Then it is not.

While transaction volume is low, keeping your own records makes sense. Once employees, inventory or more than one revenue channel come into it, the cost of an error passes the cost of the service.