Frequently Asked Questions.
The questions most Portland business owners ask before they call. If yours is not here, call us - most owners get a clear answer in under 10 minutes.
We price by transaction volume, which means you pay for the work that is actually being done, not a flat fee built around someone else's average. After a brief discovery call, we will quote you exactly. Most small businesses know within 10 minutes whether the numbers make sense for them.
That is a cleanup engagement. We rebuild your books from your bank and credit card statements, get you to a clean current state, then transition you to monthly maintenance. Cleanups are quoted separately based on scope. The longer you wait, the more it costs, so the answer is usually "start now."
Yes, and here is why. A CPA prepares your taxes and provides strategic tax advice. A bookkeeper maintains the financial records the CPA uses to do that work. Asking your CPA to also do your bookkeeping is like asking your surgeon to also be your nurse: possible, but expensive and inefficient. Good bookkeeping makes your CPA cheaper and more useful.
QuickBooks Online, exclusively. It is the only platform that gives you, us, and your CPA real-time access to the same financial data. If you are currently on a different platform, we will handle the migration as part of onboarding.
Most clients are fully onboarded within 14 days of signing. That includes connecting bank feeds, setting up your chart of accounts, coordinating with your CPA, and reviewing your historical data so we know what we are inheriting.
If you are not satisfied with our work in your first 90 days, for any reason, we refund every dollar you have paid us. No paperwork, no negotiation. We can carry that guarantee because we do not lose clients in the first 90 days. If you become the first, you should get your money back.
Always. We coordinate with your CPA from day one of onboarding so your records are structured the way they want to see them. If you do not have a CPA, we can recommend ones we work with regularly.
It means your P&L, balance sheet, and plain-English commentary are in your inbox by the 10th of the following month, every month, without you having to ask. If we miss the 10th for any reason other than you not having connected your accounts, that is on us.
We work primarily with service businesses, construction and trades contractors, and professional services firms throughout the Portland metro and Southwest Washington. We do not work with restaurants, retail with heavy inventory, or cannabis.
Payroll is handled through a dedicated payroll provider - Gusto is our recommendation. We do not process payroll directly, but we handle all the bookkeeping entries that flow from your payroll runs and coordinate the year-end W-2 reconciliation with your CPA.
We connect to your accounts via read-only bank feed access through QuickBooks Online. We see transactions but cannot initiate transfers or move money. If a bank does not support direct feed connections, we work from statement downloads.
Month-to-month engagements require 30 days' written notice. We will prepare a final month-end close and deliver a complete handoff package to your next bookkeeper or CPA. We do not hold your data hostage - your QuickBooks file stays with you.