Solo Bentonville bookkeeping — answered personally, never a queue.
Bookkeeper — answered personally.
Every owner’s books are different depth, transaction volume, entity count, and cleanup scope. A flat rate would either overcharge a simple business or underbid a complex one — so the fee is always set after seeing the actual file.
Scope revisited only when the business changes
The per-scope-of-work model
Hourly billing means a meter running while I work and an invoice surprise at month-end. This engagement doesn’t work that way. The scope is named upfront, the fee is fixed for that scope, and nothing changes unless the underlying work actually changes.
I review the actual file before the call — transaction counts, entities, and any cleanup scope in the history. That reading is what makes the number accurate.
The scope document names exactly what is included. The monthly fee is the same every month that scope holds — no variable rates, no hours-tracked invoices.
If the business grows, adds an entity, or a catch-up project finishes, we revisit together. Otherwise the number doesn't move month to month.
What every monthly close includes
The scope sets the fee. But the four things below happen every single month, regardless of where the fee lands — they’re not add-ons or upgrades. They’re what a closed month means.
Bank reconciled
Every line matched to a real transaction.
Every line on every bank statement is matched to a real transaction in QuickBooks Online. Nothing is estimated, nothing is rolled up, nothing is left unmatched at month-end.
Credit cards reconciled
Every charge on every card.
Same drill for every credit card attached to the business. Every charge, every statement, every month — not just the ones that came in before the 5th.
Transactions categorized
A chart that fits how the business actually runs.
Each transaction gets a category that matches your business — not a default chart that lumps your office coffee in the same bucket as your rent. The chart of accounts is set up at onboarding and refined as the business changes.
Three plain-English reports
P&L, balance sheet, cash flow — with a read-out.
You get a profit and loss, a balance sheet, and a cash flow summary — each with a short plain-English note on what the numbers actually mean for the business. No spreadsheet dropped in an email without context.
What influences the fee
These are the variables that move the fee in either direction. The consultation call is the fastest way to pin them down and get an accurate number — not a range, an actual number.
After the consultation you receive a written scope and a monthly fee — not an estimate that drifts and not a range that later becomes an argument.
A price on the website would either be too low for a complex engagement (and need to be walked back) or too high for a simple one (and drive away businesses that would be easy to serve well).
The consultation takes thirty minutes. At the end of it you have a scope document and a monthly fee. That’s a better use of thirty minutes than reading a price list that might not apply to you.
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Why a free consultation before any number
Before the call I read the actual file — the number of months behind, the transaction counts by month, the entity structure, and whether there’s a catch-up project needed before a monthly close can begin. That reading is what lets me give you a number that holds.
A fee that was guessed without seeing the file is a fee that has to change later. Nobody benefits from that: not you, not me. The thirty-minute call is how we avoid it.
At the end of the call you get a written scope — what is included, what is not, and the monthly fee — within one business day. If it’s not a fit, you’ve spent thirty minutes and lost nothing.
Free. 30 minutes. No follow-up pressure.
If it’s not a fit, I’ll tell you. No hard sell, no invoice, no obligation.
I read the file before the call, not during it.
Transaction counts, entity structure, cleanup scope — reviewed before we connect so the call is about the scope, not about gathering the basics.
Written scope and fee within one business day.
You don’t leave the call guessing. The document lands in your inbox within one business day of the call.
Tell me where your books stand today — transaction volume, entities, any cleanup in the history. I’ll read every request personally and reply within one business day with a time for a free 30-minute call.
Prefer email? mauldingbookkeeping@outlook.com