Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Home | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Depending upon what services you’d like for us to perform, we’ll need some information from you. Here are the usual items we ask for when Onboarding or providing Accounting Clean up Services.
- Access to your Bank Statements. If you are signing up for Recurring Accounting services, we will ask you to work with your bank to get us “read only” access to your online portal, so we can pull down the statements we need each month, as well as have the ability to review check or deposit copies. This process differs from bank to bank, so it’s best if you check with them on how to proceed.
- Access to your Credit Card Statements. As with bank access, we prefer having read only access so we can pull the needed statements ourselves, but we can also work with provided PDF copies.
- If you haven’t already, we will ask that you connect all of your business financial accounts (bank, money market, savings, loans, credit cards) to your Accounting Software so that as transactions occur, they will automatically be visible for us to code appropriately.
- We also like to have a copy of the most recent business tax return that you’ve filed. This helps us determine a good “line in the sand” starting point for cleanup services, as well as allowing us to get a feel for how your tax pro likes to organize items for annual income tax filing. Bonus points if you can provide us with the supplemental depreciation schedule workpapers.
- If you process payroll using software other than QBO, we will need access to your payroll system so we can pull reports to appropriately code paychecks.
- We also like to have copies of any payroll tax forms you’ve filed with local, state, and federal agencies.
- Information on any large equipment, vehicles, land, buildings, or other large assets your business owns. At minimum, we will need: Date of Purchase, Purchase Price, Description of Asset. If you financed any of the purchase price, we will need copies of the purchase documents showing Amt Financed, APR, length of loan term, payment amount or payment schedule.
- If you use external invoicing, time tracking, vendor billpay, or point of sale systems, we need access to these “subledger” systems as well.
While BHC is a huge supporter of the QuickBooks Online software, there are times when the Desktop versions are a better choice due to unique functionality required or cost concerns. We’d love to walk you through all your options, but if you decide you prefer QuickBooks Desktop, YES, we can absolutely still handle your bookkeeping. We can show you how to set up a Remote Desktop connection that would allow us to work directly within your local QB file, or we can talk to you about some of Intuit’s hosting partners, listed here:
Berryhill Consulting LLC is a QuickBooks Advanced certified ProAdvisor. This means we’ve demonstrated in-depth knowledge of QuickBooks software solutions by passing Intuit’s certification exams for each product.
BHC is currently certified for the following solutions.
- QuickBooks Online (Advanced)
- QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier
- QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
- QuickBooks Time
- QuickBooks Payroll
- QuickBooks Point of Sale
(Advanced Desktop certification discontinued in 2019, but never fear! We’re still advanced-trained!)
The security of your data is of utmost importance to us.
If you use QuickBooks Online or Xero, your financial data is covered under Intuit’s Online security policy or Xero’s Online security policy, respectively.
For internal workpapers and file storage/transfer, ee use ClientHub.
ClientHub handles our document storage, deliverables, workflow, scheduling, and client communication. Each of our clients are given their own online “space” that allows them to reach out to their dedicated accountant for questions, file sharing, software training, and to-do items. We limit the access to your “space” to the BHC staff members working on your account, and a list of users you provide so that only the people who NEED access to your personal and business information have it.
ClientHub uses ISO and SOC compliant hosting and service companies, and all files are secured with 256-bit encryption, so we do our best to avoid email and do most of our file sharing via ClientHub. You can read about ClientHub’s security policies on their website, clienthub.app.
For short-term, non-recurring engagements, we retain your documents on ClientHub for a maximum of 60 days after your engagement ends.
We use LastPass for password management and sharing. This allows us to provide login credentials to our accountants, without sharing with them your actual login details. LastPass handles the login process while masking any passwords used.
We also practice a minimal-print, clean desk policy to reduce the possibility your personal information is compromised, and to protect your passwords.
Absolutely! We have several out-of-state clients for which we provide services. We do our work nearly 100% electronically, so we can serve as your outsourced accounting office no matter where you’re located. Most regulatory filings (payroll taxes, sales and use taxes) we file directly from your QuickBooks account. However, there are circumstances in which there might be certain city or county taxes that require manual filings. If this is the case, we’ll let you know during our initial consultation.
For this question, our motto is “Just because we CAN, doesn’t mean we SHOULD.” Our primary goal is to help you make your business successful. We will typically review your books for potential tax savings, and if we find areas in which we think there are opportunities for you to legally reduce your tax liability, we’ll include this information in our financial presentation. For larger businesses, complex situations, or tax-reduction opportunities that might be available only for businesses in your industry, we’ll try to refer you to an expert in that field, because they will be able to provide you with more valuable advice, and can typically find ways to save you lots of money! For tax services, we highly recommend Marty McCutchen, CPA P.C., or Milam and Associates PLLC.
If you are one of our accounting clients, we can definitely put you in touch with folks who can help you obtain financing for your company. However, we do not provide loans or financing in-house.
We use a software package called Practice Ignition for providing quotes and engagement agreements for our clients. Practice Ignition will allow you the ability to review proposals of work and scope, and if you are happy with the proposed engagement, it allows you to digitally sign the agreement inside the app, and provide payment details. No need to share bank or credit card details via email or by phone!
We accept business checks, most major credit cards, or bank transfer. For any one-time, project based services, we bill 50% upfront, and the remaining balance once the engagement is complete and you are happy with the result.