Before you hire me, let me look at what you already have.
Two reviews, both free. One reads last year's return. The other reads your books. Written findings either way.
Send last year's return. I will tell you what I would have done differently.
Business and personal, as PDFs. What I check:
- Whether your entity still fits what you make
- Owner comp, and whether your S corp split holds up
- Vehicles and equipment, and whether the timing helped
- Section 179 against bonus, on the year you had
- The state pass-through election, skipped constantly
- Retirement plans open to you and unused
- An accountable plan for the car, phone, and home office
- Whether the return came from real books or a bank feed
You get a written summary, with dollar estimates where I can put one on it. If the return looks right, I will say so.
Or send your books, and I will tell you what they can and cannot answer.
Read-only accountant access, or a backup file. What I check:
- Whether you can see margin by product, service, or location
- Revenue booked before it is earned
- Payroll costed at wage, with taxes and insurance left in overhead
- Bills landing in the wrong month
- What is parked in Ask My Accountant, and for how long
- Undeposited funds and balance sheet lines that never move
- Whether your chart of accounts matches how you actually run
- Sales tax and 1099 exposure in the detail
A written read on what your numbers can answer and what is in the way. If the books are fine, I will say so.
Three steps, and I do the work myself.
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Send it over
Return PDFs, or read-only access to the books. A call first is fine.
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I review it
Usually inside a week. No junior staff, so the person reading it is the person you would hire.
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You get written findings
In writing, so you can act without me. Hand them to your current accountant if you like.
There is no catch, but there is a reason.
Reading a return is how I scope an engagement anyway. Either I have already done the diligence, or you keep the findings.
A review is not a tax opinion or an audit. Amendments and clean-up are quoted separately. I do not perform audits, reviews, or other assurance engagements.
See what it would cost you.
Thirty minutes, a real price in writing, an honest answer on fit. Or send last year's return and I will review it free.