Common questions about how we work, what we charge, and whether we're the right fit.

For business clients, yes — in almost every case. The Assessment is not just a first conversation. It's a structured process that includes an initial conversation, a review of your books and relevant documentation, and a follow-up recommendation and scope. We don't price or begin work until we understand your actual situation.

Very limited exceptions apply: existing clients adding a service, personal tax-only engagements, and certain referred clients with a specific and self-contained need. If you're unsure whether the Assessment applies to your situation, just reach out and ask.

The Assessment is a three-part process. First, we have an initial conversation about your business — what you do, how it's structured, what software you're using, and what's working or not working about how you handle accounting today. Then we review your books and any relevant financial documentation. Finally, we come back to you with a written recommendation and, where applicable, a fixed-price scope for the work ahead.

We're not pitching. We're diagnosing. At the end of the process, you'll know exactly what we think you need, what it costs, and whether we're the right fit for your situation.

If your books are in good shape and no Foundation work is needed, we can typically start an ongoing Fundamentals engagement within a few weeks of the Assessment, depending on our current capacity and your timing preferences.

If Foundation work is needed, the timeline depends on scope. A straightforward cleanup may take two to four weeks. A larger migration or catch-up project may take six to eight weeks. We'll give you a realistic timeline as part of the proposal.

Transitions are common and we handle them regularly. The Financial Clarity Assessment is a natural starting point — it gives us a clear picture of where your books are, what the transition involves, and whether Foundation work is needed before ongoing service begins. We coordinate the transition professionally and let you know exactly what's needed, how long it will take, and what it costs before you commit to anything.

We don't have standard pricing because we don't build standard engagements. Every business is different — different complexity, different needs, different situations. What we do have is a clear process: we don't quote until we understand your situation, and we don't start work until you've seen the full scope and cost.

The Financial Clarity Assessment is $500. If you move forward with a qualifying business engagement within 30 days, the full $500 is credited against your first invoice. After the Assessment, we'll provide a fixed-price proposal for any Foundation work needed and monthly pricing for an ongoing Fundamentals engagement.

The Assessment is $500. It's not refundable — it represents real work on our end, including reviewing your books and preparing a written recommendation. What it is, is credited: if you move forward with a qualifying business engagement within 30 days, the full $500 is applied toward your first invoice. If you decide not to move forward, you keep the written assessment, the recommendation, and the clarity about what your business needs, with no further obligation.

We don't publish a revenue minimum, but we do work best with businesses that have reached a level of complexity where accurate financials and professional accounting support genuinely matter. A straightforward service business generating $400K with clean books may be a great fit. A larger business with significant cleanup needs or operational complexity may need Foundation work before an ongoing relationship is realistic.

The Assessment is how we figure out whether the engagement makes sense for both sides.

If your books need Foundation work — cleanup, migration, or setup — that's a separately scoped project with its own clearly defined fee and timeline. We don't absorb onboarding costs into the monthly retainer and hope to make it up later. Foundation is priced honestly as a defined project, and ongoing Fundamentals pricing assumes you're starting from a clean baseline.

No. Our ongoing engagements are month-to-month. We think the relationship should be worth continuing every month because we're serving you well — not because you're locked in. If we're doing our job, you'll stay. If we're not, you shouldn't have to.

Foundation is a project-based engagement that gets your books into good shape before ongoing monthly accounting begins. It might include catch-up bookkeeping, cleanup and reconciliation, chart of accounts restructuring, software migration, or system setup — whatever your situation requires. Every Foundation engagement begins with the Financial Clarity Assessment, which produces the fixed-price scope for the project.

Financial Advisory Projects are scoped engagements for specific financial situations — cash flow problems, tax planning, pricing decisions, business valuation, recovery planning, or launching something new. They're not part of an ongoing Fundamentals engagement. They're targeted work for situations that need more than a monthly check-in. You can access them whether or not you have an active Fundamentals relationship, though we typically begin with a Financial Clarity Assessment.

The Monthly Financial Insights Report is part of your ongoing Fundamentals engagement — it's a plain-language summary of what happened in your business last month. It tells you where your margins are trending, which expense categories are running ahead, and whether your cash position is tracking with your revenue. It's observational and backward-looking — it tells you what is happening so you know which questions need a closer look.

A Financial Advisory Project is what you do when something needs a closer look. It's a scoped, forward-looking engagement built around a specific problem or decision — a cash flow gap you can't explain, a tax position that needs restructuring before year-end, a major hire or expansion you're evaluating. The report surfaces the signal. The project answers the question.

Think of it this way: the report tells you your margins have been declining for three months. The project figures out why, what's driving it, and what to do about it.

Fractional CFO Services are an ongoing monthly advisory engagement for businesses that need more than bookkeeping — they need a strategic financial partner. We handle the complete accounting function and layer on CFO-level analysis, driver identification, monthly scorecards, and 1–3 prioritized action items per month. This service is delivered through our proprietary Financial Clarity System™ framework. It's designed for businesses preparing to raise capital, managing complex operations, or those that need active financial management and strategic guidance. Engagements typically start at $3,000/month.

Fundamentals: Monthly Accounting is the core ongoing accounting service — bookkeeping, reconciliations, month-end close, and financial reporting. It comes in three tiers (Collaborate, Core, Concierge) depending on how much involvement you want from us.

Fractional CFO Services builds on top of Fundamentals. It includes the complete Core or Concierge accounting function plus a strategic CFO layer: monthly scorecards, driver analysis, action planning, forecasting, and strategic advisory. It's for businesses that want their financial data to actively drive decisions, not just report on history.

Yes. Tax preparation and planning are available as part of an ongoing relationship or, in some circumstances, as standalone services. We use ProConnect as our tax platform, which integrates directly with QuickBooks and allows for better coordination between what your books show and what gets filed. If you're working with another tax preparer you trust, we're happy to coordinate with them too.

Yes. Payroll processing is available as an enhancement to Core and Concierge tiers. We prefer Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll for new setups, and we can support existing ADP or Paychex environments on a transitional basis.

Yes. We're based in Colorado but serve clients nationwide. Most of our work happens remotely, and we're set up to work effectively with clients regardless of location. State-specific tax and compliance work is handled as part of the engagement when relevant.

Collaborate is for businesses that handle their own bookkeeping and monthly close internally. You send us your completed books; we do a thorough quality-control review and deliver a findings report with issues, anomalies, and recommendations. Email support with 72-hour response time. No scheduled meetings, though ad hoc meetings are available.

Core is our full-service monthly accounting tier — we handle transaction categorization, reconciliations, month-end close, and financial reporting. Financials delivered within 20 days of month end. Email support with 2 business day response time and quarterly review meetings.

Concierge is everything in Core with a higher-touch approach: financials delivered within 7 days of month end, 1 business day response time, monthly review meetings, and customized reports.

It depends on your tier. Collaborate clients have 72-hour email response time with no scheduled meetings. Core clients have 2 business day response time and quarterly review meetings. Concierge clients have 1 business day response time and monthly review meetings. Regardless of tier, we don't disappear between deliverables — if something needs attention, we bring it to you.

That's what Financial Advisory Projects are for. If you need targeted help with a specific situation — cash flow, tax planning, a major business decision, valuation, or launching something new — we can scope a project around that. You don't need an ongoing Fundamentals engagement to access them, though we typically begin with a Financial Clarity Assessment. Browse the Financial Advisory Projects page to see the types of situations we address.

QuickBooks Online is our primary platform for most client relationships. We also work with Xero and NetSuite on a case-by-case basis. QuickBooks Desktop is supported only on a transitional basis — if you're currently on Desktop, we'll help you migrate to QBO as part of Foundation work. We use ProConnect for tax preparation and Gusto or QuickBooks Payroll as our preferred payroll platforms.

Not always. If you're already on QBO, Xero, or NetSuite, you may be able to stay on your current platform. If you're on a legacy system or a platform outside our stack, migration may make sense — and if so, we'll scope it honestly as a defined Foundation project with a clear fee and timeline. Migration is never quietly absorbed into the monthly retainer.

We're currently evaluating an AI-native bookkeeping platform for qualifying clients — and we use AI tools internally to work more efficiently. We're being deliberate about adoption and won't recommend a platform until we've validated it delivers consistently for the businesses we serve. If it's a potential fit for your situation, we'll discuss it as part of the Assessment.

For a full and honest look at what AI can and can't do for your accounting — including where it genuinely helps and where it falls short — see our AI & Accounting page.

Yes. We work with businesses at a range of stages, including startups and newer businesses that are a good fit. Even before significant revenue, the decisions you make around entity structure, accounting setup, and financial foundation have lasting consequences. Getting them right early is significantly cheaper than correcting them later.

We have a Business Launch consultation under Financial Advisory Projects specifically for this situation. We'll help you figure out whether a full Assessment or a more targeted starting point makes sense for where you are.

Tax preparation is available as a standalone service in some circumstances, particularly for existing clients or referred clients with a clear, self-contained tax need. This is one of the situations where the Assessment-first requirement may not apply. Reach out and we'll talk through what makes sense for your situation.

We're a good fit for business owners who want more than a firm that just keeps score. Clients who value accuracy, want to understand their numbers, and are ready to invest in a relationship that improves how they run the business tend to do well here. We're not the right fit if the primary goal is the lowest possible price, if your situation requires full ERP support, or if you're not willing to consider platform migration where needed.

The Financial Clarity Assessment is designed to answer this question definitively — for both sides.