Small Business
Bookkeeping

At Chief Bookkeeping Officer, bookkeeping is simple, structured, and hands-off for you. We take on the heavy lifting while keeping you fully in the loop. Most clients see their first accurate Profit and Loss statement within 14 days, even if they started with nothing more than rough records or a shoebox of receipts.

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Here is how the process works.

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1. Your Initial Consultation

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This is not a sales call. It is a conversation, and it happens over the phone or a virtual meeting. We start by listening. You tell us what you are seeing, what you are concerned about, and what you want to fix or improve.

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Many of our clients are not accountants. Often they are not fully sure whether their current bookkeeping is correct. They may ask:

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• Is my bookkeeper doing this right?

• Why do my numbers not align with reality?

• What exactly am I looking at here?

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Some clients share their books right away. Others need time to feel comfortable. We can meet you where you are. If you do have existing records, we will request access to QuickBooks Online or review your file together via screen share. And we do not just look at the last reconciliation. We look deeper. A “reconciled” account may just be a journal entry with no bank data. A balance may be accurate, but the underlying records are wrong. Part of this consultation is uncovering what exists, what is missing, and what needs to be rebuilt or clarified.

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We also talk about pricing during this meeting. After reviewing what you have and what you need, we can often provide a pricing estimate right away. For edge cases, we might request a few statements or sample transactions to confirm.

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Our goal at this stage is simple. Understand where you are, show you where you could be, and make sure that next step makes sense for both of us.

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2. Engaging and Onboarding

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After the consultation, we create a customized engagement letter that clearly outlines:

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• The scope of work

• The pricing we discussed

• The milestones and work involved

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There is no one-size-fits-all contract. It is tailored to your context.

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Once signed, we begin onboarding. This includes collecting the essential building blocks of your financial picture:

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• Accountant access to your QuickBooks Online account

• View-only access to checking and savings accounts

• Access or statements for business credit cards

• Payroll account access through providers like Gusto, ADP, or Rippling

• Loan or credit line statements

• IRS EIN documentation and Articles of Incorporation

• Most recent tax return (if available)

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This gives us what we need to rebuild, repair, or maintain your books. And it helps us correctly capture equity, loans, capital contributions, assets, and any other foundational pieces that may have been overlooked.

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The result is a clear, accurate structure to work from.

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3. Monthly Delivery

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Every month, we deliver what business owners need most. Clean, current financials. Always structured. Always clear. Our goal is to reconcile accounts by the middle of the following month, though timing depends on transaction volume and whether we are waiting on your feedback. Some clients get everything closed within a week. Others take a little longer, especially when large or unusual transactions require clarification.

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Here is the delivery process:

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Categorization

We code all transactions imported through bank feeds into QuickBooks. If something is unclear, we flag it. We do not assume, and we do not guess.

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Reconciliation

We reconcile accounts based on available data. Our goal is always to prepare accurate draft financials in a timely manner.

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Draft Financial Reports

Once reconciled, we publish preliminary Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet statements to your secure portal, along with a list of:

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• Open questions

• Missing information

• Any items requiring your input to finalize

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These reports help you see where things stand, even while final details may still be pending.

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Final Reporting

When we receive your answers or documents, we update and finalize the reports, usually within a couple of days. If you have questions, just reply directly to the email you receive. We respond quickly. You can also schedule meetings if you need to bring a CPA into the conversation for tax matters.

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We do not deliver numbers. We deliver clarity you can rely on.

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Ready for Clean Books and Clear Decisions?

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You deserve a bookkeeping team that takes responsibility for the process and keeps you informed every step of the way. That is what we do.

Schedule your consultation today or call us at 213-286-7502. Let us help you get back to running your business with confidence.