Question 1

Do you do my taxes?

Accepted Answer

No. I keep the books and hand your preparer a package built for them. The filing is theirs.

Question 2

I took cash out and there is no receipt. What happens to it?

Accepted Answer

It sits in your column with a review tag, where you can see every line. Give me the name of who was paid and it moves to the business side. Without a name it stays with you, because a guess is worse than a question.

Question 3

I pay people through payment apps. Is that a problem?

Accepted Answer

Not a problem. Each payment is tracked by name, so at year end you have a clean list of who was paid and how much.

Question 4

What do you need from me each month?

Accepted Answer

Access to the accounts or the statements, the invoices you sent, and answers to a short list. Most months it is a handful of lines and ten minutes.

Question 5

Do I have to change software?

Accepted Answer

Not to start; your records come in as they are. If moving your books to a new system is the right call later, it is its own step and its own conversation.

Question 6

Do the reports show cash or invoices?

Accepted Answer

Both views. The books record income when it is earned and costs when they come due, and the reports also show what happened by the time cash actually moved, wherever the two differ. Which view your preparer uses is their call.

Tell me where the books stand.