How We Work

Build your financial house, one layer at a time.

Your finance function doesn’t have to arrive all at once. We build it in layers: a blueprint first, a stable foundation if cleanup is needed, then ongoing accounting and advisory that grows with the decisions in front of you. Tax planning wraps around the whole thing. Most businesses we work with run at the Strategic layer — accounting with controller oversight — with room to move up or down as the decisions change.

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Scaling Your Decisions: the Enlightened Order Service House. The Financial Clarity Assessment is the Blueprint, the paid diagnostic that scopes the work ahead: a structured review of books and systems ending in a written recommendation and fixed fee. The Foundation is the Slab, a fixed-fee project to clean up historical books and rebuild the chart of accounts so the accounting infrastructure is ready for ongoing work. The Fundamental Tier starts at $600 per month with quarterly meetings and a one-person team (accountant), covering cash-basis accounting and basic transaction and bank reconciliations. The Strategic Tier starts at $2,000 per month with monthly meetings and a two-person team (controller and accountant), covering full accrual accounting, multi-entity consolidation, specialty reporting, a 13-week cash forecast, and budget-to-actual reporting. The Transformative Tier starts at $5,000 per month with semimonthly meetings and a three-person team (CFO, controller, and accountant), delivering a strategic scorecard, decision and scenario modeling, and financial targets with 30/60/90-day action plans. Year-Round Tax Strategy wraps around all other tiers, providing proactive planning, entity structure strategy, and tax preparation so there are no surprises in March.
The Enlightened Order Service House

Financial support, built from the foundation up.

A strong finance function works like a house. It needs a blueprint, a stable foundation, reliable structure, and the right level of oversight as the business grows. The Service House shows how our work fits together.

The Blueprint — Financial Clarity Assessment

Our paid diagnostic engagement, scoping the work ahead with a clear written recommendation. The blueprint for everything that follows.

The Slab — Foundation

If the Assessment shows your books need cleanup, restructuring, or reporting setup first, we scope that as a fixed-fee Foundation project. The slab that everything else gets built on.

The Ground Floor — Fundamental Tier (Accounting)

Reliable monthly accounting, timely closes, financial statements you can trust, and the Financial Insights Report. The right fit when the business needs clean, consistent books more than ongoing analysis — often paired with tax or advisory add-ons.

The Middle Floor — Strategic Tier (Accounting + Controller)

Where most engagements begin. Everything in Fundamental, plus controller-level review, customized analysis, stronger oversight, and deeper attention to trends, risks, reporting needs, and financial processes. For businesses that need structure, visibility, and experienced review behind the numbers.

The Top Floor — Transformative Tier (Accounting + Controller + CFO)

Integrated accounting, Controller oversight, and Fractional CFO leadership for higher-stakes decisions. The engagement uses forecasts, reporting, scenario analysis, financial targets, and focused action plans to help management decide what to do next and evaluate whether it is working. Accepted on a limited basis—we work with a small number of Fractional CFO clients at a time.

The Roof — Year-Round Tax Strategy

Available alongside every tier as a separately scoped engagement. Proactive planning, entity and owner-compensation strategy, and tax preparation coordinated with the ongoing accounting work.

Separately scoped — Advisory Projects and Exit Planning

Financial Advisory Projects scope a single decision when the question is finite. Exit Planning ranges from focused business-value and readiness assessments to planning roadmaps and ongoing preparation for a future transition, sale, or succession. Both can layer in alongside any ongoing engagement.

Starting points and pricing vary with the size and complexity of your business. Final scope and fee are confirmed in writing before any work begins.

How an engagement starts

The Discovery Call is the door. The Assessment is the next step for most engagements.

Every engagement starts with a free Discovery Call. We talk through your situation, what you are trying to accomplish, and what kind of support may fit.

For ongoing accounting and advisory—and most work that depends on the condition of your books—the Financial Clarity Assessment comes next. Certain tax, project-based, and initial Exit Planning engagements can be scoped directly after the call.

See the Financial Clarity Assessment →

Onboarding

The work between the engagement letter and your first month of service.

For ongoing accounting and advisory engagements, the two to four weeks between engagement signing and your first official month of service are onboarding. We connect to your systems, confirm your accounting software setup, collect the documentation we need, set up reporting templates, confirm meeting cadence, and prepare your first close. You meet your engagement team at kickoff with credentials and bios.

The first official month of accounting and advisory service begins on the first of the month following onboarding completion. The onboarding fee is billed at engagement signing and is covered by your Assessment credit, so what you actually pay at engagement signing is zero — your first real invoice is for your first month of service.

Foundation projects and advisory projects don’t have a separate onboarding fee. The Assessment credit applies directly to those project invoices instead.

What makes this engagement model different

The things you will not find here.

No hourly billing

Every engagement is fixed fee. You know what you will pay before the work starts. If scope changes materially, we talk about it. We do not let the invoice do the talking.

No generic quotes

We do not price a relationship before we understand it. The recommendation reflects your situation, not a template.

No open-ended advisory

Advisory work is scoped to specific outcomes. You know what we are doing, what you will receive, and when the engagement ends. No retainers that drift into vagueness.

No surprise escalations

If we notice something that is going to matter — a tax exposure, a cash flow issue, an entity structure problem — you hear about it when it is small, not when it is expensive.

How we operate

Remote-first. Secure. Built around your systems.

We are a fully remote firm serving clients nationwide. Our delivery is built around clear communication, secure document handling, and integration with the systems your business already uses.

Your systems, supported

We work across the accounting, ERP, POS, practice-management, property-management, and other industry-specific systems your business relies on, connecting the data and reconciling it cleanly to the general ledger.

Secure portals and organized communication

Client portals, document exchange, and engagement management run through a secure practice management platform — not scattered emails, shared drives, or ad-hoc folders. Both sides have a clear place to see what’s needed, what’s been received, and what’s outstanding.

Professional infrastructure

A managed IT provider supports our systems and security posture. Every team member works on a company-managed device with appropriate access controls. The firm maintains insurance coverage appropriate to its operations, including cyber and professional liability coverage.

Start at the right layer. Adjust as you go.

Not sure which layer fits? That’s what the Discovery Call is for. Most clients land at Strategic, but the call is how we confirm the right starting point for where the business is today.

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