Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get started?
Book a free 30-minute Discovery Call with Chris Hervochon. Watch this short video to understand what to expect, then book your Discovery Call.
How do I schedule a meeting?
How do I get in touch?
What size companies do you work with?
We support businesses ranging from sole proprietors to 100+ employees with revenue between $75K and $9M.
Where are your clients located?
Our clients are nationwide, from Rhode Island to California, and occasionally international.
How long does onboarding take?
Onboarding typically takes 60-90 days to optimize your QuickBooks system and customize your reporting package. You will see value from the start, even as we work towards a steady state.
What does the new client onboarding process look like?
Onboarding varies from customer to customer, depending on the complexity of their situation and the services they are engaging our firm for.
However, there are some constants:
- You will have a dedicated member of our team to guide you
- The goal is to learn as much about you and your unique situation as possible so we have the appropriate level of context to deliver the best experience possible.
- The onboarding process will be designed to gather the information and access needed to facilitate your financial transformation, such as operating agreements, prior year tax returns, or QuickBooks Online access, just to name a few potential pieces of information.
Do you offer bookkeeping services?
Do your services include cleaning up my QuickBooks?
Yes, this service is also available as a standalone service.
How do I know the books are correct?
Your financial statements go through two levels of “human review” monthly, alongside a 64-point review checklist. Additionally, we deploy proprietary automated bots to proactively check for anomalies.
What accounting software do you support?
Currently all of our business clients utilize QuickBooks Online and we encourage all of our team members to become Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors. However, we are also open to supporting businesses on Freshbooks as Chris is a member of the Freshbooks Partner Advisory Council.
Do you offer payroll services?
Yes, we do! This includes running payroll on the cadence that you choose for your business, whether for hourly or salary employees or both. We also make sure your payroll tax returns are filed as well as your year-end W2-s.
How do you handle payroll?
We use Gusto to help onboard, pay, insure, and support your team. More details are available at gusto.com.
What payroll software do you support?
Currently, we only support Gusto. However, we only recommend switching payroll software at year-end so we will support whatever you have through 12/31 of the year you engage us.
What can I expect from the reporting and analytics dashboard?
Our secure client portal provides real-time financial reporting, integrating both financial and non-financial data. With forecast capabilities and “what-if” analysis, you’ll have the information needed to make informed decisions.
What does industry benchmarking and reporting entail?
We compare your business’s financial results to similar businesses in the industry, state, and size, identifying areas for improvement to boost profitability.
Is pricing guaranteed?
Yes, unless an out-of-scope situation arises. In such cases, we will provide clarity before invoicing.
What guarantees do you offer?
We offer two types of guarantees:
1) For tax services, we guarantee turnaround times. Turnaround times are based off of when we have received all of the information necessary to complete your return. The higher the tier of service, the faster the turnaround time we guarantee.
2) For bookkeeping and fractional CFO services, we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If after 30-days you feel like we aren’t a fit for your business, we will refund your first month’s fee, no questions asked.
Note: bookkeeping cleanup fees are separate and non-refundable.
How do you price your services?
All of our services are subscription-based package services and are based on the value we provide. Bookkeeping, Accounting & CFO services are billed on a month-to-month basis. Tax services are billed in a lump sum for the calendar year.
Do you bill by the hour?
No, we don’t bill by the hour and we never will. We feel as though billing by the hour puts us at odds with our customers. Billing by the hour incentivizes the service provider to take more time, and it also makes the customer think twice about reaching out when they really need help. It also means the customer doesn’t have any foresight into how much they might spend on services. We don’t want to operate that way.
Can I customize a service package?
Generally, no.
However, there are limited instances where we will customize a package, for instance, if you already have a tax preparer you love and just need us for the accounting. Our packages have been constructed based on our years of experience in working with businesses of varying sizes. Packages are constructed to include services that are complementary to each other.
How do I know which package is right for me?
The first step is to book a Discovery Call so we can learn more about each other and your needs.
Then, we will request some preliminary information from you, such as access to your QuickBooks file and prior year tax returns, in order to deeply understand what’s going on with your financial picture.
Then, the next step is to book a Strategy Call where we will discuss:
1) Our findings based on our review of your financial information,
2) Our recommendations for next steps to achieve the goals you outlined in your Discovery Call, and
3) Recommendations for ongoing services to help you achieve those goals
Who will be managing my account?
How many staff members will I work with?
It depends on the services you subscribe to and the tier of service. For a tax only engagement, you will interface with one or two team members. For a bookkeeping engagement, you will interface with one or two team members as well, but for a transformation engagement you will interface with three or four team members. Each team member has different areas of expertise that we will match with the service we are providing.
How big is your team and where are they located?
We are a fully virtual team and we are distributed across the U.S. However, our headquarters is in Bluffton, SC. All of our team members and their credentials are listed on our website here.
How quickly do you respond to questions?
We pride ourselves on being responsive and we track our response times very carefully. In general, we strive to respond within 48 hours. However, our average response time is less than 30 hours. That metric is not reduced for weekend or holiday hours when the office is closed, so our average response times are faster when considered in terms of business hours.
How long have you been in business?
Chris Hervochon, CPA, CVA started the firm in 2011 as a side business after he received his CPA license. He then made the firm his full-time focus in July of 2018 and the firm has continued to grow to its present state.
What does it mean to subscribe to your firm?
A subscription is an access agreement. Much like you might subscribe to Netflix and have access to a ton of content, a subscription to our firm means you have access to a ton of expertise to utilize when you need it. Our model is more of a relationship model than a transactional model.
As my business grows, can you grow with me?
Absolutely! We currently have several clients that started with us when they were “pre-revenue” and have grown to several million in revenue. As such, we understand the unique pain points you will experience as your business continues to grow and we can help you plan for them.
What's the difference between bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO services?
Why do I have to use a client portal?
Our team generally works remotely and is distributed across the United States. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we have documentation in a digital format. In many cases, the documents we share across the team and with our customers contain sensitive information. We take data security very seriously and we do our best to safeguard your data. Therefore, we use a secure portal to share and store documents.
Email is not secure and the last thing any of us wants is for you to send a document via email that contains your Social Security number, thereby allowing it to be intercepted and broadcasted throughout the world.
Can I drop off my tax documents?
No, we use a secure online organizer for collecting tax information.
Do you work with foreign entities?
At this time we only support U.S.-based entities.
Do you support sales tax return filings?
Absolutely!