Bookkeeping from the records you keep to statements that balance

A finished product at the end

We take your records for the period, build the books, and hand back an income tax basis balance sheet and profit and loss that balance, with the detail behind them. That is the basis a return is built from, so the statements carry straight into the filing without being converted twice.

Books from QuickBooks, Xero or Wave all work, and so does a spreadsheet or a folder of bank and card statements. What matters is that the records are complete for the period, not tidy. Gaps cost more time than mess does.

A short checklist comes before we start, so the first round of documents is one round rather than four. Where something needs your answer rather than our guess, we ask before the statements are finished.

The deliverable

They balance

Reconciled and tied out before they reach you, with anything that does not tie raised as a question first.

Checklist up front

Before the engagement starts, not piece by piece.

How the books get built

Tell us honestly what state the records are in and what the statements are for: a lender, a bonding company, a partner or a return. That sets the period and the scope.

We organize, classify and reconcile the records into a set of books. Where something does not tie, we find out why before it reaches a statement, and anything only you can decide comes back as a short list of questions.

The same closed books feed the income tax return, a corporation’s annual report financials and the monthly gross receipts figures, so work done once is not done again.

How an engagement starts, from the intro call through to signing: our engagement process.

What we need from you

You get the full checklist before the engagement starts. Broadly, it is the records that show what came in and what went out.

• Bank statements for every business account, every month of the period, including the quiet months
• Statements for any card the business spends on, including a personal card used for business purchases
• Loan and finance statements, with enough detail to separate interest from principal
• Sales records: a report from your books, invoices, register summaries or processor statements
• Bills and receipts for larger items and for anything not obvious from a bank line
• Payroll reports and related filings for the period, if you have employees
• Equipment or property bought to last more than a year, with what was paid and when it went into use
• Last year’s filed return and prior statements, for the opening balances

Upload documents through your client portal, or drop them at the office. Please don’t email Social Security numbers or bank account numbers; if a filing needs one, you can enter it securely in the portal.