How We Work
Three Ways to Engage Us
Review, With You, or For You: the same three postures on every category, separated by who owns the work. Every one starts with a written scope, and on all three the final sign-off is your management's.
The Difference Is Who Owns the Work
Not how much you get. The same scope runs at all three postures; what changes is how much of it is yours and how much is ours.
Who owns the work
The Three Postures
ReviewReview · You have the processYour team does all of the work. We read what it produced — the books and the close, a package before it goes, a forecast, a readiness gap — and send a written response on what looks wrong and what looks thin.We post no entries and send nothing on your behalf.The cheapest way to find out whether you need the next posture.
You have the process
All of the work is yours. We read what your team prepared and write back; we prepare nothing.
With YouWith You · You are short-handedWe prepare the part of the scope that is ours — the books through the close, the reporting packages, the readiness work, the forecast — on a standing cadence with an agreed cut-off. The rest stays with your team, and the letter names which is which.We prepare; you approve. Nothing we prepare becomes final until one of your people has approved it.Your team stays inside the process — fetching, reviewing, signing off step by step — rather than receiving a finished month.
You are short-handed
The work is shared, inside your process: part of it is your team's and part of it is ours, and your team signs off as we go.
For YouFor You · You have no in-house functionWe own all of the work: an agreed scope run end to end — fetching, preparing, reconciling, delivering — as the whole finance function rather than a pair of hands inside yours.Where a category has an outside party — a lender, a buyer, an auditor — we are their point of contact.The final sign-off on every deliverable is your management's, never ours. An opinion on the books comes only from an attest engagement, and we do not perform those — we get you ready for them and support you through them. For You always runs under an engagement letter with a defined scope.
You have no in-house function
All of the work is ours. We run the whole function and bring it to your management, finished, to sign off.
What Each Posture Means, Category by Category
The postures are one idea, who owns the work, but what that comes to differs by what is being prepared. Read the block for the category you are considering: each posture’s sentence is one click away, and what goes into the category, piece by piece, folds beneath.
Stakeholder Reporting
- Review
- All yours — your team prepares the package…Review · Stakeholder ReportingAll yours — your team prepares the package; we read it before it goes and say what we would change.
- With You
- Shared — we prepare each package from your closed books…With You · Stakeholder ReportingShared — we prepare each package from your closed books; your team checks it, approves it and sends it, inside your own process.
- For You
- All ours — we prepare each package and, once your management has signed it off, send it as that party's point of contact.For You · Stakeholder ReportingAll ours — we prepare each package and, once your management has signed it off, send it as that party's point of contact.
What goes into Stakeholder Reporting, and who does it at each posture
| The work | Review | With You | For You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assemble the package from the closed books, with commentary a non-accountant can read | You | Us | Us |
| Compute and check the covenant and borrowing-base certificates before an officer signs | You | Us | Us |
| Read the package before it goes and say what we would change | Us | — | — |
| Check and approve the package | You | You | You |
| Send it on that party's calendar, and field their questions | You | You | Us |
| Re-issue when a late entry moves a number they already hold | You | Us | Us |
| Run the request list for a lender's annual review or an investor's round | You | Us | Us |
| Your officer signs the certificate; management signs off the package | You | You | You |
The final sign-off is your management’s on every posture; we never sign off on the books or on any engagement.
Selling Your Company
- Review
- All yours — the Gap Review…Review · Selling Your CompanyAll yours — the Gap Review: we look, we write down what a buyer will find, and we prepare nothing.
- With You
- Shared — we build the diligence package and run the request list…With You · Selling Your CompanyShared — we build the diligence package and run the request list; your team fetches what we ask for and approves what goes out.
- For You
- All ours — we build it, fetch it, and answer the buyer's analysts directly as their point of contact…For You · Selling Your CompanyAll ours — we build it, fetch it, and answer the buyer's analysts directly as their point of contact; what reaches the buyer is what your management has signed off.
What goes into Selling Your Company, and who does it at each posture
| The work | Review | With You | For You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write down what a buyer's diligence team will ask for, what is missing, and what it would take | Us | Us | Us |
| Build the diligence package and keep it current: statements, trial balance, ledger detail, agings, reconciliations, fixed assets, the journal listing | You | Us | Us |
| Prepare your own quality-of-earnings analysis: trailing-twelve-month earnings, the net-debt bridge, working capital, customer concentration, related parties | You | Us | Us |
| Fetch the evidence and the documents | You | You | Us |
| File each document in the data room under the question it answers | You | Us | Us |
| Answer the request list while the process runs, and the second list after the first | You | Us | Us |
| Speak to the buyer's analysts | You | You | Us, as their point of contact |
| Approve what goes out; what reaches the buyer is what your management has signed off | You | You | You |
The final sign-off is your management’s on every posture; we never sign off on the books or on any engagement.
Audit Readiness
- Review
- All yours — the Gap Review…Review · Audit ReadinessAll yours — the Gap Review: we look, we write down what the auditor will find, and we prepare nothing.
- With You
- Shared — we build the schedules and the evidence file and run the request list…With You · Audit ReadinessShared — we build the schedules and the evidence file and run the request list; your team fetches the evidence and approves what goes to the auditor.
- For You
- All ours — we build it, fetch it, and are the auditor's point of contact through fieldwork…For You · Audit ReadinessAll ours — we build it, fetch it, and are the auditor's point of contact through fieldwork; the representations are management's, and so is the sign-off.
What goes into Audit Readiness, and who does it at each posture
| The work | Review | With You | For You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write down what your auditor will ask for, what is missing, and what it would take | Us | Us | Us |
| Build the supporting schedules and tie them to the ledger: fixed assets, prepaids, accruals, debt, revenue | You | Us | Us |
| Write down the control environment: the documentation, the walkthroughs, the support for management's control attestations | You | Us | Us |
| Fetch the evidence and attach it to the transactions it supports | You | You | Us |
| Prepare, manage and fill the document request list | You | Us | Us |
| Be the audit team's single point of contact through fieldwork | You | You | Us |
| Fix management-letter points in the month they were raised | You | Us | Us |
| Make the representations, and sign off what goes to the auditor | You | You | You |
The final sign-off is your management’s on every posture; we never sign off on the books or on any engagement.
Advisory & Analytics
- Review
- All yours — your team builds the forecast, the budget and the board package…Review · Advisory & AnalyticsAll yours — your team builds the forecast, the budget and the board package; we read them and write back what we would challenge. We are not in the room.
- With You
- Shared — we build and maintain the forecast, the budget and the metrics…With You · Advisory & AnalyticsShared — we build and maintain the forecast, the budget and the metrics; your team supplies the inputs, takes them into the room and owns the decisions.
- For You
- All ours — we build the numbers and present them in the room, to your management and your board…For You · Advisory & AnalyticsAll ours — we build the numbers and present them in the room, to your management and your board; the decisions, and the sign-off on what is presented, stay yours.
What goes into Advisory & Analytics, and who does it at each posture
| The work | Review | With You | For You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build the forecast, the budget and the reforecasts | You | Us | Us |
| Define the KPIs and report them, each saying what it is and where it came from | You | Us | Us |
| Maintain the cash-flow forecast and the runway, and look at covenant headroom before the certificate is due | You | Us | Us |
| Pricing, margin and unit-economics work from your own ledger | You | Us | Us |
| Supply the operating inputs | You | You | Us, we fetch what we need |
| Read what was built and write back what we would challenge | Us | — | — |
| Take the numbers into the room and present them | You | You | Us |
| Make the decisions, and sign off what is presented | You | You | You |
The final sign-off is your management’s on every posture; we never sign off on the books or on any engagement.
The Books
- Review
- All yours — your team keeps the books and runs the close…Review · The BooksAll yours — your team keeps the books and runs the close; we read each month's result and write back what looks wrong and what looks thin. We post nothing.
- With You
- Shared — we keep the books and run the close as preparer, inside your process…With You · The BooksShared — we keep the books and run the close as preparer, inside your process; your team supplies what we ask for, reviews each step, and a named person approves.
- For You
- All ours — we keep the books and run the close end to end, for a scope named in the engagement letter, and bring your management the closed month to sign off…For You · The BooksAll ours — we keep the books and run the close end to end, for a scope named in the engagement letter, and bring your management the closed month to sign off; their signature, never ours.
What goes into The Books, and who does it at each posture
| The work | Review | With You | For You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code and match every bank and card transaction to the statement | You | Us | Us |
| Enter and schedule payables; raise, apply and chase receivables | You | Us | Us |
| Bring payroll journals into the ledger and tie them to the provider's reports | You | Us | Us |
| Tie every balance-sheet account to a schedule, a statement or a subledger | You | Us | Us |
| Run accruals, prepaids, depreciation, deferred revenue and debt on schedules | You | Us | Us |
| Explain the P&L movements in sentences and lock the period | You | Us | Us |
| Supply documents and answers when asked | You | You | Us, we fetch |
| Review each step as it happens | You | You, a named person approves | you receive the finished month |
| Read the month's result and write back what looks wrong and what looks thin | Us | — | — |
| Sign off the closed month | You | You | You |
The final sign-off is your management’s on every posture; we never sign off on the books or on any engagement.
Where One Category Ends and the Next Begins
Four lines, drawn once, so that a scope is never an argument at the end of a month.
- The Books end at transactions posted and the period locked. Every package — the monthly management package included — is Stakeholder Reporting, priced per package issued.
- Inside The Books, bookkeeping ends when the ledger is complete and agrees to the bank; the close ends when every balance is supported and the period is locked. Both are inside one price.
- Selling Your Company and Audit Readiness are one preparation under two names: the work is the same, the party asking for it differs, and a client facing both pays for it once.
- Advisory & Analytics is the judgement — what the numbers mean and what to do. Stakeholder Reporting is the delivery — the right numbers to the right party on time. A board package is Stakeholder Reporting; the conversation about it and us having a seat at the table is Advisory & Analytics.
Who Signs Off
This is the part worth reading twice. We never sign off on your books or on any other engagement. Signing off is what an attest engagement does — an audit, a review, a compilation — and we do not perform those; getting you ready for one and supporting you through it is what we do. On every posture, Review, With You and For You alike, the final sign-off is your management’s.
We take on as much of the work as you choose, and never the final word: every entry, and everything that leaves the building, has your approval and sign-off.
Every engagement has a written scope naming what we do, what stays with your team, and when each of us is due. Nothing here is retainer-shaped guesswork.
At For You we run the whole function, and that is a real transfer of work — priced, scoped and disclosed as one. It is not a transfer of responsibility for the numbers: those are yours, and the auditor or the lender who asks will hear the same from us.
What It Costs
Each category is priced on the unit that tracks the work — the books per entity, per month, by size; a package per package issued; readiness per entity; advisory by level — with a separate price for each of the three postures. A four-entity group is roughly four times the bookkeeping, and the price says so.
Our prices are published, in full — every category, every posture, and what a second and a fourth entity cost. You can work out roughly what an engagement costs before you speak to us.
The rate falls as you add entities, because the relationship costs us once and only the work repeats.
The figures are on the pricing page, in full.
What you hold first
Before You Sign Anything
Three things you have in hand before anything is signed: the first from this site, the other two from the engagement letter.
Your Own Estimate
Before you write to us
A Written Scope and Price
Before we start
An Exit Named in Advance
Before we start
The first conversation is a look at your books and an honest answer about whether we are the right firm.