Our Process
Audit. Build. Maintain.Thirty days to clean books.
Three phases. Same playbook on every engagement, from Foundation to DCAA. The difference is what gets caught in the audit and what gets automated in the build.
By Samantha White, CPA · Last updated June 16, 2026
Audit
Week 0 – Week 2
We come in and look at what you've got. Bank feeds, prior-year returns, QuickBooks file, payroll records, any contracts that matter. We don't take your word for what the books say — we reconcile back to verify.
What we look for
- Reconciliations that don't reconcile
- Misclassified expenses and revenue
- Sales tax filed against the wrong base
- Payroll tax deposits late or short
- 1099s never issued or issued wrong
- Inventory misvalued (for retail and hospitality)
- Indirect costs hidden in direct accounts (for contractors)
You get a first-week report showing exactly what we found and what it would take to clean it up. Fixed-price quote. No surprises after that.
Build
Week 2 – Week 4
We design the system that runs your books going forward. Chart of accounts. Bank feeds. Payroll integration. Project tracker. Anything that should connect, gets connected.
What we build
- Chart of accounts aligned to your industry and reporting needs
- Bank and credit card feeds to QuickBooks (or Xero, or Deltek)
- Payroll system tied to job costing where applicable
- Sales tax automation by jurisdiction
- Monthly close checklist tailored to your business
- Document workflow — receipts in, statements stored, audit-ready
This is where automation does the lifting. Most repetitive work disappears into the workflow. The work that remains is the work that needs human judgment — and that’s the work I do.
Maintain
Month 2 onward
Monthly close by the fifteenth of the following month. P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and a one-page commentary on what changed and why. Quarterly sales tax filings on time. Annual 1099s and W-2s out in January. Year-end packet to your CPA before they ask.
If a federal audit, lender due-diligence request, or DCAA review shows up mid-year, the books are already ready. That's the point of doing it by the book — there's no scramble.
What you get every month
- P&L, balance sheet, cash flow (by the 15th)
- One-page commentary on the numbers
- Sales tax filings (where applicable)
- Payroll runs (where applicable)
- A phone call or email response in under one business day
V — Why “by the book”
The standards came from somewhere.
Samantha trained in New York where small mistakes in big books meant audit findings, restated financials, or regulatory penalties. The discipline was non-negotiable: every entry documented, every account reconciled, every variance explained.
That standard isn't natural to small-business bookkeeping. Most firms operate the other way — looser as the business gets smaller, on the theory that nobody's looking. But the people who eventually look — the IRS, the SBA, your lender, DCAA, a buyer in a sale — they look the same way regardless of business size.
So we work the way we were trained: by the book, full stop. The books hold up because they have to, every day, not just on the day someone audits them.
VI — How the work moves
The stack we run on.
- QuickBooks Online
- QuickBooks Desktop
- Xero
- Gusto
- ADP
- Bill.com
- Stripe
- Square
- Deltek
- Unanet
- LCPtracker
- Elations
- DIR
- + your stack
VII — Frequently asked
How long does the audit phase take?
Two weeks for most businesses. Larger files with multi-state operations or federal contracts can take three to four. The goal is to have the cleanup quote in your hands by the end of week two.
What if my books are already clean?
Then Phase 01 confirms it in a week and we move straight to build. You'll still get a written audit findings report so you have a documented baseline.
Can I leave at any time?
Yes. Monthly engagement, no long-term contract. The handoff package — books, documentation, system access — stays yours.
Want to see the audit phase applied to your books?