Austin Business CPA AlternativeWhat the fee follows

Five things move the number, and a slogan moves none of them

The first is how many months are still open. A company with one open month is a different file from a company that has not closed a year. We count the open months before we talk about a fee, because the work is the tying, not the meeting.

The second is whether the bank already agrees. A feed that has been accepted without a human look is not a tie. We still match the statement. If the match fails, the month stays open and the fee conversation stays honest about that.

The third is payroll. Setting it up is a piece of work with a beginning and an end. Running payday is not our piece. If payroll was never registered, the setup is in the quote. If a provider already runs it, we do not charge as if we were that provider.

The fourth is the return. Preparing the return from closed months is one scope. Reconstructing a year and then preparing the return is a wider scope. We name which one you are buying before anyone starts.

The fifth is an entity question that is actually open. Some owners are ready to talk about wages and an S corporation. Some are not. We do not fold that conversation into a bookkeeping quote and hope it fits. If it is in the work, it is named.

A busy Saturday does not tell us what your year costs. The open months do. We count months that do not match the bank before we name a number. Volume of customers is not volume of cleanup, and a full waiting room is not a fee.

What we will say on the first call

We will say what we can see from the little you send, and what we would need before a number is fair. When a monthly close would only add weight you do not need, we tell you on that call. Leaving the conversation there, with no letter and no ongoing work, is a finished outcome.

A quote names the work it covers. Anything beyond that named work gets its own quote before we begin it. Either side can end a written engagement, and records go back to you. Those rules also live on the terms page, in fuller sentences.

This page has no printed menu of prices, because two files with different open months are not the same job. Yours is not. Tell us which part of the year is behind, and the quote will name that part.

A file with clean months and one open question is quoted as that question. A file with a year of unreconciled cards is quoted as the year. We write the difference down so you can see it. If you later add a second company, or a house that rents by the night, that is a new scope and a new quote, said before the extra work starts.