One back office, not six vendors
Most small and mid-sized companies do not have an accounting problem in one place. They have a bookkeeper who is a month behind, an office manager approving invoices out of an inbox, a payroll service nobody reconciles to the general ledger, and a CPA who opens the file once a year in March. Each piece works on its own. Together they produce numbers the owner does not trust.
We run all of it as one function. The same team that codes the bank feed also processes the AP run, files the sales tax return and closes the month, working from one chart of accounts and one close calendar. A vendor bill entered on Tuesday is already coded to the right GL account, class and location, so nothing has to be untangled at close. Nothing gets handed between vendors and dropped.
You keep the relationships and the licenses. We work inside your QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite or Sage Intacct file, with your bank, your payroll provider and your CPA. You get a named lead accountant, a written procedure for every recurring task, and a trained backup who already knows the account. Most clients run their back office for 40 to 60 percent less than a comparable in-house team, because you pay for the volume you actually have instead of a fixed set of salaries.
Six core service lines
Each one stands on its own. Most companies start with two or three and add the rest as volume grows.
Bookkeeping and General Ledger
Daily transaction coding, bank and credit card reconciliations, and a general ledger kept on accrual or cash basis under US GAAP. We maintain the chart of accounts, class and location tracking, and the supporting schedules your CPA asks for at year-end.
Learn moreAccounts Payable and Receivable
On the payable side, invoice intake, three-way match against POs and receiving, GL coding, approval routing in Bill.com or your ERP, and payment runs by ACH, check or virtual card. On the receivable side, customer invoicing, payment application, deposit and merchant settlement matching, and a documented follow-up sequence at 15, 30, 45 and 60 days past due.
Learn morePayroll and Payroll Tax
Weekly, biweekly or semimonthly payroll processed in Gusto, ADP or Paychex. Timesheet intake, PTO accruals, garnishments, new hire reporting, and federal, state and local filings including Forms 941, 940, W-2 and state unemployment returns.
Learn moreFinancial Reporting and Month-End Close
A close calendar with owners and due dates, every balance sheet account reconciled, and a monthly package with P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, budget versus actual variance notes, and reporting split by location, class or service line.
Learn moreSales Tax and Tax Support
Multi-state nexus tracking, registration support, and monthly or quarterly sales tax returns filed on your behalf. For income tax we build the year-end workpaper package your CPA needs, including fixed asset rollforwards, accruals and reconciled balance sheet support.
Learn moreController and CFO Support
A reviewer above the bookkeeping. Close review and sign-off, 13-week cash flow forecasting, KPI and margin reporting by location or service line, and lender-ready and board-ready financial packages.
Learn moreThe back-office work around the ledger
These usually ride along with the core lines. They can also be bought on their own.
- Expense reports and card spendReceipt chasing and coding in Expensify or Ramp, policy exceptions flagged before reimbursement, and the card feed reconciled to the ledger every week.
- Document managementBills, receipts, bank statements and signed agreements captured and filed in a shared folder structure your team and ours both use, so year-end support is already assembled when your CPA asks.
- Vendor master data and 1099 trackingNew vendor setup with a W-9 on file before the first payment, duplicate cleanup, and payment terms and tax settings maintained, so 1099-NEC data is clean in January.
- Inventory and COGS supportItem costing, purchase and receipt matching, periodic count adjustments, and gross margin reported by item, location or sales channel.
- Recurring administrative workState and local registration renewals tracked on a calendar, portal access maintained, vendor and bank follow-up handled, and the routine paperwork that pulls your office manager away from customers and staff.
- CPA firm overflow capacityWrite-up work, cleanup engagements and ongoing bookkeeping for US CPA and tax practices, delivered under your firm's brand using your software licenses, your workpaper standards and your review process.
What a typical engagement includes
Scope varies by company, but the rhythm is the same. Below is the standard cadence for a single entity with one payroll, a handful of bank and card accounts, and sales tax in two or three states.
| Cadence | What we do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Code bank and credit card feeds, enter and route AP invoices, apply customer payments, flag exceptions and missing receipts | A current ledger and a short exceptions list you can clear in minutes |
| Weekly | Reconcile cash and cards to date, prepare the AP payment run for approval, run the AR aging and past-due follow-up, prep payroll files | Cash position, an approval queue, and an aging with named follow-ups |
| Monthly | Full close: accruals, prepaids, deferred revenue, depreciation, payroll and benefit tie-outs, intercompany activity, every balance sheet account reconciled, sales tax returns filed | Financial package on the agreed business day with P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, variance notes and reconciliation support |
| Quarterly | Form 941 and state unemployment filing review, nexus and sales tax registration review, fixed asset review, budget reforecast, scope check | Filing confirmations, an updated forecast, and a written list of open items |
| Annual | Forms W-2 and 1099-NEC prepared and distributed, Form 940 filed, vendor W-9 cleanup, year-end workpaper binder for your CPA, next year's budget build | Filed information returns and a year-end package your CPA can work from |
Scroll the table sideways on a small screen.
The systems we work in
We work in your licenses and your file. There is no proprietary ledger, no export you cannot read, and admin rights stay with you.
- Accounting platformsQuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct, including multi-entity files with consolidations and intercompany activity.
- Payroll and HRGusto, ADP and Paychex, plus your time tracking exports. We handle the payroll journal entry, the accruals and the reconciliation back to the general ledger, not just the run itself.
- AP, AR and spendBill.com for approval routing and payments, Ramp and Expensify for cards and expense reports, and your ERP's native AP and AR modules when you would rather stay in one system.
- Banking and paymentsUS bank and credit card direct feeds, lockbox files, ACH and positive pay files, and settlement reconciliation for Stripe, Square and PayPal deposits down to the fee level.
- POS, e-commerce and industry systemsDaily sales summaries from Toast, Square, Clover, Shopify, Amazon and WooCommerce mapped to revenue, discounts, tips, sales tax collected and merchant fees.
- Documents and close workflowReceipt and bill capture, a shared document folder your team and ours both use, and a written close checklist with owners and due dates so you can see exactly where the month stands.
How we size the scope
Fees track measurable volume, not guesswork. Here is how we get to a number.
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Discovery call and file review
A 30 to 45 minute call, then a look at your current file. We count monthly transactions, bank and card accounts, AP and AR invoice volume, entities, payroll headcount and pay frequency, and the states you file in.
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Volume-based pricing
Those counts drive the fee. Close complexity matters too. Inventory, job costing, revenue recognition, multi-location reporting and intercompany activity each add review time, and we say so up front rather than discovering it in month three.
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Written scope and a fixed monthly fee
You get a scope document listing every deliverable, its cadence, the business day your financials land on, your named lead accountant and the escalation path. The fee is fixed monthly. No hourly surprises and no bill for a phone call.
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Onboarding and the first close
Typically two to four weeks. System access, cleanup of prior periods where needed, a written procedure for every recurring task, then a first close we run alongside your current process before taking it over.
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Quarterly scope review
Volume moves. Every quarter we compare actual counts against the scope, adjust in either direction, and add or drop service lines in writing before anything changes on an invoice.
Common questions
Do you replace our bookkeeper or work alongside them?
Both arrangements are common. Some clients hand off the full function and keep an internal approver for payments and payroll. Others keep an in-house bookkeeper for daily entry and use us for the close, the reconciliations and controller review. We will tell you plainly which split fits your volume.
Our books are several months behind. Can you fix that first?
Yes. Catch-up work is scoped and quoted separately from the monthly fee, because it is a defined project with an end date. We reconcile every bank and card account from the last clean period forward, correct the coding, rebuild the balance sheet support, then start the ongoing cadence from a file you can rely on.
Who actually files our tax returns?
We file the returns that come out of the books we keep: sales and use tax, and payroll tax filings including Forms 941, 940, W-2 and state unemployment. Your income tax return stays with your CPA. We prepare the workpaper package, answer their questions during the engagement, and can help you find a preparer if you do not have one.
How does the cost compare to hiring in-house?
Compare the fully loaded cost of the roles you would otherwise hire: a bookkeeper, an AP clerk, a payroll administrator and part of a controller's time, plus benefits, payroll taxes, software seats, training and coverage during vacations. Most clients land 40 to 60 percent below that in-house number.
What access do you need to our systems?
Role-limited user accounts in your accounting platform, view access to bank and card feeds, and whatever approval role you choose to grant in your AP tool. We do not need signing authority. Payment approvals stay with the people you designate, and you can see and revoke every user we have at any time.
Get a free consultation and a written quote
Tell us your transaction volume, payroll headcount, entities and the systems you run. We will send back a written scope and a fixed monthly quote at no cost. Call (209) 456-5966 or email info@yfgconsultants.com.