The questions people ask before they call

Monthly bookkeeping starts at $300 a month: a flat fee, agreed in writing before we start. Getting started is a one-time setup fee, priced in the same written quote, and your first month’s fee is included in it. After that, it’s business as usual: the monthly fee we agreed on. Above that, the amount depends on how much activity your books carry, how many bank, card and loan accounts there are to reconcile, how many transactions go through them in a month, how many contractors you pay, and whether I work alongside a payroll service, not on how many hours I spend. There is no meter running, and for service this personal the fee is more than competitive.

Catch-up work is a one-time project at a fixed price after a look at your books, in writing before I begin. After a short conversation about your business, you get a number in writing.

It is the most common starting point there is, and it is fixable. Catch-up bookkeeping is a normal, bounded project: I look at where things stand, give you a fixed price, enter and reconcile every missing month in order, and hand you a clean starting point. Nobody is judged for a box of receipts.

No. The work and our conversations happen at a distance: email, a phone call when we need to talk, a shared Dropbox folder for documents, and read-only bank feeds into QuickBooks Online for the numbers. That is what lets me work with businesses anywhere in the country. If you are in the Shreveport–Bossier area and would like to meet in person, that can be arranged.

No. I keep the books; your tax preparer files the returns. What I make sure of is that they receive a complete, reconciled set of books, early. If they have questions, I can assist your preparer with them.

No. I do bookkeeping, and only bookkeeping: the books themselves, kept current and reconciled. Sales tax returns, license renewals, annual reports and the tax return are filed by you or by your tax preparer. What you get from me is the part that makes each of those easy: the figures, current and reconciled, ready to be picked up whenever a date comes around.

No. Payroll is its own service with its own filings and deadlines, and it is not one I offer. If you use a payroll provider, its reports flow into the books like any other transaction, and I reconcile them along with everything else.

QuickBooks Online for the books and Dropbox for documents. If you already use QuickBooks Online, we work in your file; if you do not, one is set up in your name, so it is yours from the first day. Documents live in a Dropbox folder we both can see, which keeps receipts and statements out of email.

No. QuickBooks Online connects to your bank through a read-only feed, which lets me see transactions but never move money or change anything. You never share a password with me. You keep ownership of your own books and your own logins throughout.

Yes. Your records are seen by one person, me. Documents move through the shared Dropbox folder, never as open email attachments, and nothing is shared with anyone else. If your business has particular confidentiality requirements, raise them in the first conversation and we will work to them.

Quiet, mostly. Each month I record and categorize everything that came through your accounts, reconcile every account to its statement, and send you a short report in plain English. If I have a question about a transaction, you get a brief email; a one-line reply is enough. Anything unusual, you hear about early rather than at year end.

Every month, with the report, and whenever something in the books needs your attention. Between those, as often as you like: any question gets a reply within one business day. What you will not get is silence.

Less than you might think: read-only access to the bank and card feeds, receipts or a quick note for anything I would not be able to work out, and a reply when I have a question. Plan on a few minutes a week. The one thing that makes the difference is answering questions while they are fresh.

Into the shared Dropbox folder, so you are never guessing where something should go. A photo of a receipt taken on your phone is usually enough; the bank feed already carries the rest.

Then you stop, with thirty days’ written notice, which works the same in both directions. There is no long contract. Your books live in your own QuickBooks Online account, in your name, so nothing is held hostage and nothing has to be exported or rebuilt. You would leave with a clean, current set of books.

You hear about it in advance, and the monthly routine is scheduled around it, so a week away never means a month’s books slip. Your books also live in your own QuickBooks Online account, in your name, so nothing is ever locked inside my systems: if you needed someone else to step in tomorrow, they could open your books and carry on.

Spurling Bookkeeping is a bookkeeping practice, not a CPA firm. Bookkeeping is the ongoing work of keeping your records complete, categorized and reconciled. A CPA’s work, such as tax returns, audits and formal reviews, starts where that ends, with clean and current books. The two fit together, and I am glad to work alongside yours.

A bookkeeper keeps the record: every transaction entered, categorized and reconciled, month by month. An accountant works from that record to prepare returns, give tax advice, or produce formal statements. Good bookkeeping is what makes an accountant’s work quick and accurate; poor bookkeeping is what makes it expensive.

Reconciling means checking the books against the bank statement, line by line, until they agree exactly. It is how missing transactions, duplicates, bank errors and stray personal expenses get caught. Books that are not reconciled are a guess; books that are reconciled every month are a record you can rely on.

Yes, and a photo is enough. The bank feed shows that money was spent; a receipt shows what it was for, which is what matters if a question is ever asked. Drop them in the shared folder as you go, and send the ones I ask about.

I am based in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the work happens online, so a business anywhere in the country works with me exactly the same way. That includes the Ark-La-Tex, the corner where Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas meet, where I can also meet in person around Shreveport–Bossier. Which state you are in changes your filing calendar, not the service.

Within one business day, by email, whether it is a first inquiry or a question in month twenty. Bookkeepers who go quiet are the most common complaint I hear about, and it is an easy one not to earn.