How it works
A clear process, start to finish
Every engagement starts with a conversation and a look at your books, so the plan you get is built on what your business needs. Here is the whole path.
The consultation
It starts with a free call, on Zoom or face to face. Dave thinks this conversation is crucial, and he treats it as a 2-way interview. He wants to understand your business, your goals, and how you like to communicate. You get to decide whether he's someone you want in your corner.
He'll ask things like:
- Who has been doing your books, and what do you like or dislike about how that's gone?
- What are your goals for the business?
- What do you need to get out of your books? And if you're not sure, that's a conversation worth having on its own.
The book review
Before quoting anything, Dave reviews your current books. That's how the proposal stays honest: he sees what shape things are in, how many accounts and transactions are involved, and whether there's cleanup or catch-up work to do first.
If you're embarrassed to show him, don't be. Owners apologize for their books on almost every first call. He has cleaned up books that sat untouched for 18 months and books where business and personal spending were fully tangled. He has seen worse than yours.
The proposal
You get a plain-language proposal with clear expectations and clear timelines. Service takes the shape of your business, so there's no one-size package. Pricing varies with complexity and volume, which is why it lives in a conversation instead of on this website.
One policy worth understanding up front: cleanup and catch-up projects come paired with ongoing monthly service, planned as at least a year together. Books that get cleaned once and then abandoned drift right back to where they started. Dave would rather fix them and keep them fixed.
Onboarding
Setup usually takes about a week. If your books are badly behind, it can take longer, and you'll know that from the proposal. Onboarding continues the discovery conversation: what you need out of your books, what reports matter to you, and what cadence of communication fits.
On access: Dave needs to see the money coming in and going out, through read-only views of your accounts. He will never hold signing authority and can never move your money, under any circumstances. That separation protects you, and it's non-negotiable in both directions.
The monthly rhythm
From there, it's steady. Transactions get categorized, accounts get reconciled, and the month ends with clean books and reports. Then comes the part most bookkeepers skip: Dave makes sure you understand them. If a report raises a question, you schedule a call and get clarity, in language that makes sense to you.
Communication is as much as you need. Some clients want weekly check-ins. Most settle into monthly reports with a quarterly conversation. Some only want to talk near tax time. As the relationship grows, you'll both find the rhythm. When you send a question, expect an answer fast, usually within a day.
Your job in all of this is small: provide the information he asks for, and never be afraid to ask your own questions. Dave's best clients are the ones who are clear about what they want from their business. He'll help you get clear if you're not there yet.
What success looks like
After the first month: clean, current books. After 3 months: you understand how money flows through your business, which is a different feeling than just having tidy records. Clients report the same set of changes:
- Time back every week, and less stress when money comes up
- Reports they can read, and decisions made from them
- Books ready for their CPA before the tax deadline, with no scramble
- A working sense of what the business can and can't afford
- An end to avoiding the books
The word clients use most is relief.
Start with the conversation.
The consultation is free, and it's the step every good engagement is built on. Tell Dave about your business and find out what your books need.