Before you get in touch
What happens in a first conversation
Knowing what you are walking into makes it easier to walk in. This is the whole of it: 15 to 20 minutes, by video call, from wherever you are.
What I will ask
Five things, in roughly this order. None of them has a wrong answer.
What the business does, and where
In a sentence. What you sell, who buys it, whether you have employees, and which state it is registered in.
Where the money moves
How many bank and card accounts the business uses, and whether any personal spending runs through them. It usually does.
Where the books stand
Current, a few months behind, a few years behind, or never started. Each has a plan; none is a problem.
Who does your taxes
Whether you have a preparer, and whether they have asked for anything from you that you have not been able to give them.
What would make this worth it
Fewer evenings, a report you understand, a tax season without dread. That is what the fee is measured against.
Useful to have handy, none of it required
- A rough idea of how many transactions go through the business in a month
- Whether you already use QuickBooks Online, or something else, or nothing yet
- The last time the books were reconciled, if you know it
- Anything your tax preparer has asked for recently
If you have none of this, come anyway. Most first conversations start with "I honestly don’t know", and that is fine.
What you get afterwards
A written quote, within one business day after we talk, with the monthly fee and, if the books need catching up first, a fixed price for that project. It will say what is included and what is not. There is nothing to sign at that point; you decide in your own time.