Ask Accounting Advisor
Ask Us Anything About Accounting
Accounting Advisor is the firm, and it is also this: an assistant that answers accounting questions — a definition for somebody new to the books, or the standard and the journal entries for a controller — free, in plain language, for anybody. It answers from general professional knowledge and a set of reference notes, and it speaks about the firm only in the words this site uses.
Ask a Question
Type a question, or start with one of the questions below. A person answers at /contact (opens in a new tab) — the assistant is for the questions you would otherwise have searched for.
Start with Reporting to Stakeholders, or ask your own
What it answers
Topics It Knows
Ask it anything about accounting. These are the areas it is built around, each with a question to start from.
Fundamentals
Debits and credits, cash versus accrual, and how the three statements tie together.
What is the difference between cash and accrual accounting? (opens in a new tab)
The Month-End Close
Reconciliations, accruals, prepaids, cut-off and locking the period.
What does a proper month-end close include, in order? (opens in a new tab)
Revenue Recognition
ASC 606, performance obligations, deferred revenue, principal versus agent.
How does ASC 606 treat a contract with multiple performance obligations? (opens in a new tab)
Leases and Fixed Assets
ASC 842, right-of-use assets, capitalization policy, depreciation and impairment.
When does a lease go on the balance sheet under ASC 842? (opens in a new tab)
Cash and Forecasting
Budgets, reforecasts, the 13-week cash forecast, runway and working capital.
How do I build a 13-week cash forecast? (opens in a new tab)
Lenders and Covenants
Covenant certificates, borrowing bases, EBITDA definitions and headroom.
What does a lender look at in a covenant compliance certificate? (opens in a new tab)
Selling Your Company
Quality of earnings, net debt, the working capital peg and the data room.
What will a buyer's quality of earnings review look for? (opens in a new tab)
Audit Readiness
What auditors ask for, balance sheet substantiation, materiality and the request list.
What will an auditor ask for in a first-year audit? (opens in a new tab)
Controls and Fraud
Segregation of duties, approvals, vendor changes and the red flags of fraud.
Multi-Entity and Consolidation
Separate books per entity, intercompany accounts, eliminations and management fees.
How should two companies under the same owner keep their books? (opens in a new tab)
Reporting to Stakeholders
Management packages, board packages, investor updates and KPIs that reconcile.
What belongs in a monthly management package? (opens in a new tab)
Entity and Tax Basics
Entity types, pass-through taxation, sales tax and setting cash aside — as general information.
Can an LLC be taxed as an S corporation? (opens in a new tab)
Equity and Startup Financing
Owner equity, distributions and contributions, equity awards, SAFEs and convertible notes.
How does a SAFE show up on the balance sheet? (opens in a new tab)
Other Standards and Estimates
Inventory, goodwill, contingencies, income taxes, credit losses, fair value and guarantees.
When does a company have to record a loss from a lawsuit? (opens in a new tab)
Industries and Special Situations
Nonprofits, government grants, foreign currency, research and development, and project businesses.
How does a nonprofit report a gift with a donor restriction? (opens in a new tab)
Read this once
What It Is, and What It Is Not
General information, not advice. An answer here is about accounting in general. It is not advice about your situation, it is not an engagement, and nobody at the firm has read it before you do. When a number matters — a filing, a covenant, a sale — put it to a person.
It can be wrong. It is a language model with a set of reference notes, and it cannot see your books. It is confident the way software is confident; check anything you would act on.
It does not audit, and neither do we. Neither the assistant nor the firm performs an audit, a review or a compilation — those are attest engagements and come from your independent accountants — and getting a company ready for one and supporting it through it is one of the main things the firm does. Ask it how.
What happens to a question. The text you type is sent to Anthropic to generate the answer, and we keep the question and the answer, with what looks like a card or account number removed, to improve the assistant and to learn what the people who use it ask about. Do not paste account numbers, tax identification numbers or anything confidential. The privacy notice says what is kept → (opens in a new tab)
About the firm, it says what this site says. Its facts about us, our prices included, come from the same records as the pages you can read, and the engagement letter is the only quote. The published price list → (opens in a new tab)
A question the assistant cannot answer is a good reason to talk to a person. The first conversation is a look at your books and an honest answer about whether we are the right firm.