The engagement you turn away in February.
A new client walks in with two years of bank statements and no books. Somebody on your team has to type them before anybody can think about the return. The hours do not pay and the deadline does not move, so the honest answer is often no.
Return Ready takes that part. The client uploads the statements, or you do; the books are built; the questions only the owner can answer go to the owner; and what comes back to you is a set of books you can review rather than a shoebox you have to empty.
What lands on your desk
- A trial balance cut the way the year-end roll leaves it. Balance sheet accounts as of the period end, profit and loss accounts as the period's movement, prior years' profit on one line that says so. Debits equal credits or the file does not go out.
- A general ledger with running balances, every posting traceable to the statement line it came from.
- A QuickBooks import file (IIF) that lists every account it uses and balances every entry, plus the same books as one Excel workbook and a four-column CSV.
- A review page that says what was withheld, what was flagged and what is still open, before you open a single report. Nothing is tidied out of sight.
- The 1099 list and the W-9s, already collected. See 1099s and W-9s.
How a firm uses it
- Add the client. Each business is its own tenant; your staff see the clients they are assigned, and nobody sees across.
- Upload the statements, or have the client upload from their own sign-in.
- Questions go to the owner in plain words. You can answer them instead, or approve what the owner answered.
- Review. Adjust what you would adjust. Download the three files, or keep working in the dashboard.
- Connect the bank once the books are current. Next season the client is already up to date and the engagement is a review.
The firm plan
Volume pricing across your client base, every client kept separate, your branding on anything the client sees, and a named contact rather than a support queue. The per-client figures are on the pricing section; the firm plan is a conversation.
Questions firms ask
- Who is doing the bookkeeping?
- Software, built and checked by accountants who have done US books for eight years. Every posting rule is written down, reviewed and tested against real statements. Where a rule does not reach, the line is asked about, not guessed.
- Will it match my chart of accounts?
- The chart is a standard small-business chart. Account names in the import file are QuickBooks-safe, and you can reclass anything before export.
- Can I see the work before the client does?
- Yes. A reviewer role sees everything the owner sees plus the adjustments, the caveats and what was withheld.
- Does it file anything?
- No. It makes the return fileable. Filing stays with you.