Financial business consulting · $85 an hour

An hour on your numbers

Some owners have clean books and still want someone to sit down and tell them what the reports are saying. Others have just opened a business and aren’t sure what they’re supposed to be doing with the accounting side at all. Both get the same thing from me: an hour on Zoom or the phone, your numbers on the screen, and straight answers. Financial business consulting is $85 an hour. It’s the one thing I bill by the hour.

Call (417) 323-2629 or have me call you.

Just starting out? Start here.

New owners call me with the same worry: they don’t know what they don’t know. An hour covers it.

Which accounts to open, and what to keep separate from your personal money.
What to save. Receipts, statements, contracts, mileage, and how long to keep them.
How to set the bookkeeping up so it doesn’t need a cleanup a year from now.
Sales tax, 1099s, and estimated payments, and who handles what. Your CPA files the return, and I’ll introduce you to one if you don’t have one yet.
Which three numbers to look at every month, and what they’re telling you.

What we do in the hour

You bring the numbers

Your reports if you have them, your bank statements if you don’t. I’ll tell you beforehand which ones to have open.
We read them together

Line by line, in plain English. Where the money came from, where it went, and which lines are worth your attention.
You leave with a short list

What to do next, in order, and what can wait. You’ll get a plan from me, never a lecture.

Real eyes on the numbers

There’s software now that sorts your transactions for you, and some of it calls itself a bookkeeper. It’s fast. What it can’t do is tell you whether a charge is reasonable, because it doesn’t know your business and it has never seen a vendor quietly overbill for eight months. You need real eyes on the numbers. AI can’t determine what a reasonable charge is. I can.

That’s most of what this hour is for. Not reading the report out loud to you, but telling you which parts of it don’t look right.

Keep your own books?

Keep your own books and just want someone to look them over now and then? Tell me on the call and we’ll set it up. I’ve been in the finance sector for 30+ years, and I can usually tell you in an hour what you’re looking at.

If it turns out the books need real work first, I’ll say so. That’s a cleanup project with its own fixed quote, and the pricing page explains how I put one together.

Reviews

What people say about working with me

Accurate, detailed and personable; three of many qualities that Diane brings to the table every single day. There is no one I would trust more than Diane with my bookkeeping.

Outstanding service. Diane provides clear communication, precise bookkeeping, and dependable support. I would highly recommend her services and expertise.

Read all 12 reviews

Questions

Questions I hear a lot

Do I have to be a monthly client?

No. Consulting stands on its own. Plenty of people book an hour, get their questions answered, and carry on doing their own books. If you’d rather hand them off later, monthly bookkeeping is a separate flat fee, quoted in writing.

I just started my business. Is it too early?

It’s the best time. An hour now, before the business account and the personal card get tangled together, saves a cleanup later. We’ll cover what to open, what to keep separate, what records to hang onto, and which numbers to look at each month.

What do I need to bring?

Whatever you’ve got. If you have reports, have your Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow open. If you don’t have books yet, bring your bank statements and your questions. Rough is fine.

How is it billed?

{{ site.pricing.consultingLine }} Most first sessions run about an hour. If we need longer, I’ll tell you before we keep going, so nothing lands on an invoice you didn’t expect.

Can you tell me if a charge is reasonable?

That’s a lot of what the hour is. Software can sort a transaction into a category. It can’t tell you whether the number is right for your business. I can. I’ve been in the finance sector for 30+ years, and I know what things should cost.