Asking Is Included
Why We Don't Bill For This
We don't bill hourly, and this is most of the reason why.
The moment a question has a price on it, people stop asking. They sit on something for three months because it didn't feel worth a hundred dollars to bring up, and by the time it surfaces it's a real problem instead of a small one. We'd rather hear it in March.
The whole point of having a bookkeeper is that you can call them.
The Kinds Of Things People Ask
- Can I afford to hire someone right now
- Why did this category jump, and should I care
- What does this report actually mean
- Am I setting enough aside
- Something looks wrong here — is it wrong
That last one is the most valuable question anybody asks us, and it's the one people are most reluctant to ask because they're afraid of looking foolish. You will not look foolish.
Where The Line Is
We're bookkeepers, not your CPA and not your financial advisor. We don't prepare or file tax returns and we don't give tax advice — when a question is genuinely a tax question, we'll tell you it's one and make sure your preparer has what they need to answer it.
We'd rather say "that's a question for your CPA" than guess in front of you. Anybody willing to answer everything is answering some of it wrong.
Who You'll Be Talking To
Day-to-day questions go to our Director of Client Success. Anything about the numbers themselves — what they mean, what to do about them — comes to Chip. You don't have to work out which. Send it to either of us and we'll sort it on our end.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a limit on this?
There's no counter and no cap in your agreement. In practice it works because most questions are short and because we'd rather answer twenty small ones than untangle one big one that waited.
Is this the same as a CFO service?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. This is a bookkeeper who knows your file answering questions about your numbers. If what you need is somebody building forecasts and sitting in your leadership meetings, that's a different engagement with a different professional.
What if my question is really for my CPA?
Then we'll say so, and we'll make sure they have the numbers to answer it. That's the useful version of the answer.
Thirty minutes on Zoom. Straight answers about your books.