Your books are only as good as the paper behind them
Most small business accounting problems are really document problems. The bookkeeping looks fine until someone asks why a March card charge at a hardware store was coded to job materials, and nobody can find the receipt. Then the close slows down, the CPA bills extra hours in the spring, and a state sales tax notice turns into a week of digging through three email accounts.
We build and run the document side of your accounting. Every transaction we post carries an attachment. Every attachment sits in a folder your staff can find without calling us. Every file follows a naming standard that is the same in January and in November, which is what lets a year-end package come together in days instead of weeks.
This works on its own or alongside our bookkeeping, accounts payable, and payroll work. If you already have an internal bookkeeper, we take over capture, indexing, and retention so that person spends the day on the numbers instead of chasing PDFs.
What we handle
A defined set of deliverables, run on a fixed cadence, documented in a written procedure you keep.
Source document capture
We collect bank and credit card statements, vendor bills, customer invoices, loan documents, and signed contracts every month. Paper is scanned to searchable PDF. Incoming email attachments route to a dedicated accounting inbox so nothing sits in a personal mailbox.
Receipt and expense capture
Your team photographs receipts in Expensify, Ramp, or the app tied to your card program. We match each receipt to the card transaction, code it, and attach it to the entry. Missing receipts appear on a weekly exception list with the cardholder named.
Learn moreCloud folder architecture
One tree built around your entity list, fiscal year, and process. Typically entity, then year, then month, then Bank, AP, AR, Payroll, Sales Tax, Fixed Assets, and Legal. New locations and new entities slot in without a redesign.
Indexing and file naming
Every file gets a predictable name: date, vendor or customer, document type, amount, and reference number. Scans are run through text recognition, so searching an invoice number or a check number returns the document itself.
Retention and disposition
A written schedule by record type, with hold rules for open examinations, litigation, and unfiled returns. We flag records that have aged past the schedule and confirm with you in writing before anything is destroyed.
Secure portal exchange
A permissioned portal for sending and receiving documents, so Forms W-9, voided checks, and payroll files never travel as plain email attachments. Your CPA, lender, and attorney each get access scoped to what they need.
Learn moreHow we take it over
The same five steps run whether you have one entity or a dozen locations. Nothing moves until you approve the structure in writing.
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Inventory what exists today
We list where documents actually live: the file server, a shared drive, the owner's laptop, the filing cabinet, the accounting file, and every inbox in between. For each recurring document we record who produces it, when it arrives, and who needs it later.
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Design the structure and get it approved
We draft the folder tree, the naming standard, the permission matrix, and the retention schedule, then walk you through all four before we move a single file. You approve it in writing and it becomes the written procedure your staff follows.
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Convert the backlog
We digitize and index history, normally the current year plus the two prior closed years, plus anything tied to an open audit or an unfiled return. Scans are deduplicated, renamed to the standard, and filed. You receive a list of what was converted and what could not be located.
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Go live on a running cadence
Daily capture and filing, a weekly missing document exception list, a monthly check that every reconciliation and manual entry has support attached, and a quarterly access and retention review.
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Review and adjust each year
Before year-end we test a sample of entries back to source, confirm the retention schedule still fits your entities and nexus states, and rebuild the request package your CPA will ask for.
A retention schedule your staff can actually follow
These are the common US retention periods we build schedules around. Statutes vary by state, by industry, and by contract, so we confirm the final schedule with your CPA or attorney before it goes into effect.
| Record type | Typical retention | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Bank and credit card statements, reconciliations | 7 years | Primary support for reported income and expense if a return is examined. |
| Vendor bills, proof of payment, check images | 7 years | Substantiates deductions and the amounts reported on Form 1099-NEC. |
| Customer invoices and contracts | 7 years after the contract ends | Supports revenue, collections, and any billing dispute. |
| Employment tax records, Forms 941, 940, W-2, W-4 | At least 4 years after the tax is due or paid | The IRS requires employment tax records to be kept for this period. |
| Payroll registers, time records, pay rate history | 3 years, with wage computation detail kept 2 years | Meets Fair Labor Standards Act record-keeping requirements. |
| Form I-9 | 3 years after hire or 1 year after separation, whichever is later | Stored apart from the personnel file and produced on inspection. |
| Form W-9 for every vendor | Life of the relationship plus 4 years | Supports backup withholding decisions and annual 1099 filing. |
| Sales tax returns and exemption certificates | 4 years, or longer where a state lookback runs longer | Exposure sits in every state where you have nexus. |
| Fixed asset invoices and depreciation schedules | Life of the asset plus 7 years | Establishes basis and the gain or loss on disposal. |
| Formation documents, minutes, ownership records, filed tax returns | Permanent | Proves entity history and the positions taken in prior years. |
Scroll the table sideways on a small screen.
The controls we put around your records
Document control is mostly access control. These are the rules we set up at the start and review with you on a schedule.
- Role-based permissionsAccess is granted by role, not by person. Payroll and HR documents sit in a separate tree that accounts payable staff cannot open.
- A complete audit trailWho uploaded a file, who edited it, who downloaded it, and when. Version history is retained, so a document that was overwritten can be recovered.
- Journal entry traceabilityEvery manual entry carries an attachment and a plain English memo explaining it. Nothing posts to the ledger without support behind it.
- Separation of duties on payablesThe person who enters a bill is not the person who approves it or releases payment. The approval trail is stored with the invoice.
- Encrypted transfer and storageDocuments move through the portal instead of email, and they are stored encrypted at rest in your cloud tenant.
- Isolation of sensitive recordsForms I-9, garnishment orders, and benefit elections are kept apart from the general personnel file with a shorter access list.
- Backup and tested recoveryVersioned cloud storage plus an independent copy, with a sample folder restore tested at least once a year.
- Same-day offboardingAccess is removed the day an employee leaves or a vendor relationship ends, and you receive a quarterly access review list to sign off.
- Legal holdWhen an audit or litigation is reasonably anticipated, we suspend disposition for the affected records and document the hold in writing.
Where the documents live and what we work in
We work in the systems you already own. Where a piece is missing, we set it up inside your own accounts.
- Accounting systemsQuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct. Where the system supports attachments, we hang the source document directly on the transaction so it travels with the entry inside the ledger.
- Payables and spend toolsBill.com for vendor bills and approval routing, Ramp and Expensify for card receipts and employee reimbursements. Approval history and coding notes stay attached to the bill itself.
- Payroll systemsGusto, ADP, and Paychex. We archive each payroll register, quarterly Form 941, annual Forms 940 and W-2, and state unemployment filings as dated PDFs in your own folders, so the records survive a change of provider.
- Cloud storage and portalsSharePoint, Google Drive, Box, or Dropbox Business, configured with your folder tree and permission matrix. If you have no system yet, we stand one up inside your own tenant so the account stays in your name.
- Bank and card feedsMonthly statements and check images retrieved from your US bank and credit card portals, filed by account and month next to the reconciliation they support.
Common questions
Is a scanned receipt good enough, or do we have to keep the paper?
The IRS allows books and records to be kept in an electronic storage system under Revenue Procedure 97-22, provided the system is accurate, legible, indexed, and able to produce a readable copy on request. Our naming standard, text recognition, and audit trail are built to meet that standard. We still recommend keeping original signed instruments such as notes, deeds, and vehicle titles in physical form.
Who owns the files if we stop working with you?
You do, from the first day. Wherever possible we build inside your own cloud tenant under your admin account, so we are users in your system rather than the owner of it. If an engagement ends, you get a full export of the folder tree with the index intact and we remove our access.
Do you need access to our bank accounts?
Only read access. We use view-only logins or your bank's accountant access to pull statements and check images. Document management does not require payment authority, and if we also run your accounts payable, releasing payment stays with your approvers.
What do you do with years of backlog?
We scope it as a separate one-time project with its own fixed price, so the monthly service is not held up by it. Priority goes to open examination years, unfiled returns, fixed asset support, and anything a lender or a buyer would ask for. Records that are already past their retention period are listed for your approval rather than quietly destroyed.
How does this work for multiple locations or entities?
The folder tree is keyed to entity and location, and permissions follow that shape. A store manager sees their own location's invoices and nothing else, while the controller sees all of it. Intercompany documents are filed once and cross-referenced from both entities, so the same PDF is not stored twice under two names.
Can our CPA and our lender get what they need without calling us?
Yes. Each outside party gets scoped portal access to a specific folder for a specific period. Ahead of the tax return or an annual loan covenant check, we assemble the package they ask for: trial balance, bank reconciliations with statements, fixed asset roll-forward with invoices, AP and AR aging with backup, payroll returns, and loan statements.
What does it cost?
We quote a flat monthly fee based on document volume, entity count, the number of bank and card accounts, and whether there is a backlog to convert. Most clients run their back office for 40% to 60% less than a comparable in-house team. You get the number in writing after one short call, with no obligation.
Get a no-cost quote on document management
Tell us where your documents live today and what your month-end close looks like, and we will scope the work and send a flat monthly quote in writing. Call (209) 456-5966 or email info@yfgconsultants.com to book a free consultation.