Clean books, closed on a schedule you can plan around
Late books are usually a cadence problem, not a skill problem. Transactions get coded when someone finds a spare hour, the bank feed sits untouched for six weeks, and the January P&L lands in late March, long after anyone can act on it. We run the full cycle on a fixed calendar so the numbers arrive while they still mean something.
YFG Consultants keeps your ledger current in the system you already use. We work in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct, and in the tools around them: US bank and credit card feeds, Bill.com for accounts payable, Ramp and Expensify for cards and receipts, Gusto, ADP and Paychex for payroll journal entries, and Shopify, Amazon, Square, Toast or Clover for sales and settlement detail. Books can be kept on the cash basis for tax planning and on the accrual basis under US GAAP for management reporting. We maintain the bridge between the two rather than making you pick one and live with it.
The same team handles your file every month, follows a written close checklist, and leaves an audit trail your CPA can follow without calling you. Most clients run their back office for 40% to 60% less than a comparable in-house team, because you pay for the work your volume actually requires instead of a full-time salary, payroll taxes, benefits, software seats and coverage for the weeks that person is out.
What we handle inside your ledger
Six areas cover the majority of what a bookkeeping engagement touches. Anything unusual in your business gets written into the scope before we start, not discovered in month three.
Daily and monthly transaction coding
Every bank, credit card, loan and merchant transaction coded to the right account, class, location or job. High volume files are coded daily or weekly so nothing piles up, and the coding rules are documented so the treatment stays consistent when volume spikes or staff changes.
Bank and credit card reconciliation
Every cash, credit card, line of credit, loan and merchant clearing account reconciled to the statement each month, with the reconciliation report saved to the period. Uncleared items older than 60 days get investigated and resolved instead of carried forward forever.
Sales and deposit verification
For restaurant, retail and other multi-unit operators we tie daily sales by location from the POS to merchant settlement and then to the deposit that actually hit the bank. Discounts, comps, gift cards, third-party delivery fees and cash over or short are broken out so store-level margin is real.
Chart of accounts design and cleanup
We rebuild charts of accounts that grew by accident. Duplicate accounts get merged, expenses get grouped the way you actually manage the business, and classes, locations or departments get set up so the P&L can be sliced by unit. Prior periods are remapped so comparatives still work.
Fixed assets, prepaids and accruals
A fixed asset schedule with cost, in-service date, method, useful life and accumulated depreciation, plus the monthly depreciation entry. Prepaid insurance, rent and software amortized on schedule. Accrued payroll, interest and unbilled expenses booked, and deferred revenue tracked when you bill ahead of delivery.
Intercompany and multi-entity books
Several LLCs, a management company over operating entities, or a real estate holding structure. We keep separate books per entity, post due to and due from entries on both sides, reconcile intercompany balances to zero before the close is called, and prepare the combining schedule when you need a consolidated view.
What you receive every month
This is the standard package. It is the same list whether you are a three-location restaurant group or a professional services firm with one entity.
- Reconciled cash, card and merchant accountsEvery US bank account, credit card, line of credit, loan, PayPal, Stripe and merchant clearing account tied to the statement, with the reconciliation report attached to the period.
- Balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statementComparative to prior month, prior year and budget where you have one, on your basis of accounting, delivered as PDF and Excel.
- Adjusted trial balance and general ledger detailExported and archived each period so your CPA or lender can pull a full year without asking you to find anything.
- Accounts receivable and accounts payable agingCurrent, 30, 60, 90 and over 90 buckets, with a short note on anything stuck in the old columns.
- Supporting balance sheet schedulesFixed asset and depreciation rollforward, prepaid amortization, accrued liabilities, loan amortization tied to the lender schedule, sales tax liability by jurisdiction and deferred revenue where it applies.
- A completed month-end close checklistEvery reconciliation, accrual and review step marked with the date completed and who prepared it, so you can see the close was done rather than assume it.
- Variance notes in plain EnglishA short written explanation of any account that moved beyond the threshold we agree with you, written so a non-accountant can read it in two minutes.
- A document trail and live 1099 trackingReceipts and vendor bills attached to the transactions in Bill.com, Ramp or Expensify, and W-9 status tracked by vendor throughout the year so 1099-NEC season is a report, not a scramble.
How an engagement begins
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Free consultation and file review
A 30 minute call about your entities, transaction volume, systems and the reports you wish you had. Then a read-only look at your current file. You get an honest assessment of what condition the books are in, including the parts we think are wrong, whether or not you hire us.
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Written scope and a fixed monthly quote
Pricing is based on transaction volume, number of accounts and entities, close complexity and reporting needs. Catch-up and clean-up work is quoted separately as a one-time project with its own delivery date, so old problems never hide inside your ongoing monthly fee.
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Onboarding and opening balances
Access to your accounting file, bank and card feeds and document tools is granted at the lowest level that does the job. We reconcile the opening balance sheet, document the coding rules, set the close calendar, and confirm who approves what.
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Steady state close
Coding runs on your cadence, the close runs on the calendar below, and financials, schedules and variance notes arrive on the agreed business day. A monthly review call is included if you want one, and you keep one point of contact rather than a ticket queue.
When the books are already behind
Being behind is common and it is fixable. These are the five situations we see most often, and how each one gets cleared.
- Months or years of unposted activityWe rebuild from source documents: bank and credit card statements, merchant settlement reports, payroll registers and vendor bills. Work runs oldest period first so each year is closed and locked before the next one is touched.
- A balance sheet nobody trustsEvery balance sheet account gets real support. Cash reconciled to the statement, receivables and payables agreed to the aging, loans tied to the lender amortization schedule, payroll liabilities agreed to Form 941 and Form 940, and equity walked forward from the last filed return.
- Undeposited funds and duplicated incomeUsually the result of a POS or e-commerce sync running next to manual deposit entries. We clear stale undeposited funds, remove duplicated revenue, and pull sales tax collected back out of income where it was booked as a sale.
- Books that disagree with the filed tax returnWe tie the ledger to the last filed Form 1120, 1120-S, 1065 or Schedule C, post the tax accountant adjusting entries that were never recorded in the file, and lock the period so it stays tied next year.
- Missing W-9s and no 1099 historyWe chase outstanding W-9s, rebuild vendor payment totals split by payment method so card and third-party network payments are excluded correctly, and hand you a defensible 1099-NEC list before January rather than during it.
The month-end close calendar
This is the default schedule counted in business days after period end. We move the delivery day earlier or later to fit your board, lender or investor reporting deadline.
| Business days | What happens | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 3 | Bank, credit card and merchant feeds pulled and coded. Missing receipts and unclear charges requested in one consolidated list. | YFG |
| Days 3 to 5 | Vendor bills entered and AP aging updated. Payroll journal entries from Gusto, ADP or Paychex posted and agreed to the payroll register. | YFG |
| Days 5 to 7 | All cash, credit card, loan and clearing accounts reconciled. Sales and deposits tied from POS or e-commerce settlement to the bank. | YFG |
| Days 7 to 9 | Depreciation, prepaid amortization, accruals, deferred revenue and intercompany entries posted. Balance sheet schedules updated and agreed. | YFG |
| Day 10 | Draft financial statements, supporting schedules and variance notes delivered for your review. | YFG |
| Days 10 to 12 | Your questions answered, any final adjustments posted, close checklist signed off and the period locked. | Shared |
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Common questions before you switch
Do we have to switch accounting software?
No. We work in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct, plus the apps around them such as Bill.com, Ramp, Expensify, Gusto, ADP and Paychex. If your current platform is genuinely the bottleneck we will tell you, and we price the conversion as its own project covering opening balances, historical data and a parallel period.
Cash basis or accrual basis?
Both, and frequently at the same time. Many clients manage the business on the accrual basis under US GAAP and file taxes on the cash basis. We keep the accrual ledger clean, produce the cash basis view for your tax preparer, and document the reconciling items so nobody is guessing in April.
How far behind can our books be before you turn the work down?
Two months or five years, the process is the same and only the size changes. Tell us the last month that was reconciled and the last tax return that was filed. We come back with a fixed-price catch-up project, a delivery date, and a plan that works oldest period first.
Will you have access to our money?
Only what you grant, and the default is the minimum. Bank and credit card access is read-only or feed based. For payables we prepare and route bills in Bill.com or your existing workflow, and approval plus release of funds stay with you. Segregation of duties is agreed during onboarding and written into the scope.
Do you handle W-9 collection and 1099-NEC?
Yes. We collect and store W-9s at vendor setup, flag reportable vendors as bills are entered, exclude payments made by credit card or third-party settlement network so amounts are not double reported, and prepare the 1099-NEC file for filing along with state copies where required.
What about sales tax and multi-state exposure?
We record and reconcile sales tax liability by jurisdiction, tie the filings to the liability account, and clear the balance as payments post. If your revenue footprint suggests economic nexus in states where you are not registered, we raise it during the year instead of at year end and agree the registration and filing scope with you.
Can you work alongside our CPA?
Yes, and most clients keep theirs. We deliver the year-end package the CPA asks for: adjusted trial balance, general ledger detail, reconciliations, fixed asset and depreciation schedules, loan statements and AR and AP agings. Their adjusting entries get posted to the file and the period gets locked.
Get a free consultation and a no-cost quote
Send a recent trial balance or give us read-only access to your accounting file, and we will tell you what condition the books are in and what monthly bookkeeping would cost. Call (209) 456-5966 or email info@yfgconsultants.com to set up the call.