Bookkeeping is the engine. Decisions are the product.
The mechanics run on systems Stephen builds; the hours they free go to the work that pays you. Flat fees, quoted in writing.
Running a real business on numbers you don't believe.
Somewhere past $500K in revenue, do-it-yourself bookkeeping stops working. It usually shows up in three ways.
You can't trust the numbers.
The P&L says one thing, the bank says another, and "Miscellaneous" keeps growing. So you set the reports aside and run on instinct.
The books close late, or never.
March gets reconciled in July, if at all. By the time a number is final, the decision it should have informed is long gone.
You can't see next month's cash.
You know today's balance. You don't know what it looks like after payroll, rent, and the two big invoices that may or may not get paid on time.
Clean numbers
Backlog brought current, then every account reconciled monthly on a fixed date, run on an automated close system, reviewed personally.
- Historical backlog categorized, documented, reconciled
- Your books live in your QuickBooks, you own everything, always
- Close delivered by a fixed business day you can plan around
- Fixed quote before any work starts
Decision-ready reporting
A monthly packet in plain language, what moved, why it moved, and what deserves your attention.
- P&L, balance sheet, and cash summary in plain language
- Margin and trend view across twelve months
- 13-week cash-flow outlook
- Delivered by a fixed business day, every month
Advisory and benchmarking
A standing conversation about margin, pricing, and cash, grounded in how you compare against your industry.
- Monthly review call focused on the next decision
- Industry benchmarking via Summit's in-house tooling
- Margin and pricing analysis with real numbers
- Clean year-end handoff to your CPA or tax preparer
And when clean numbers produce consistent surplus, the next conversation is what that profit should do, a chapter of Summit Advisory currently in development.
Four steps to a monthly rhythm.
Fit call
Twenty minutes. You describe the business and where the books stand; we tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.
Diagnostic
We review your file and give you a written assessment: what's broken, what it will take to fix, and a fixed quote for both.
Cleanup
The backlog gets cleared once, properly, reconciled to statements and documented so it stays fixed.
Monthly close and review
Each month you receive a closed set of books, a plain-language reporting packet, and a review call to walk through it.
Flat monthly fees. No hourly meters.
Every engagement is quoted in writing before work starts. You'll never get an invoice you didn't see coming.
Cleanup and catch-up
Scoped after the diagnostic, you know the number before we start.
- Backlog categorized, reconciled, documented
- Clean opening position for monthly service
- Timeline in writing
Books and close
Based on volume and accounts. Most engagements land near $400 a month, quoted in writing.
- Every account reconciled to statements monthly
- Books closed by a fixed business day
- Plain-language monthly reporting packet
Strategic advisory
On retainer. Establishes the advisory relationship, independent of bookkeeping.
- Works with or without Summit bookkeeping
- Industry benchmarking and margin analysis
- Monthly review call focused on the next decision