Refer a client
Give them my number, or send me theirs and I’ll call. They sign my engagement letter and pay me directly. When the books are done, the tax-ready file can come straight to you.
Call or text (417) 323-2629 or email me a referral.
Every tax season turns up the same files. Accounts nobody has reconciled, a year of transactions sitting in uncategorized, owner draws booked as expenses. Those are the projects I want, and multi-year cleanups most of all. I’ve kept books for more than thirty years, over twenty of them as the accounting manager for one company, and I work with clients anywhere in the United States.
Three ways to work together
Send me the cleanups early
You already know which clients will walk in with a shoebox in March. Send them to me in the fall instead. The earlier I see a file, the more room we both have.
Send me the work directly
If your firm would rather keep the client relationship and hand me the bookkeeping, we’ll put the arrangement in writing, with a confidentiality agreement.
What your firm gets back
- Every bank and credit card account reconciled to its statements, with the reconciliation reports.
- A Profit and Loss, a Balance Sheet, and a Statement of Cash Flows, plus a Profit and Loss by job or by property when the business needs one.
- Owner draws, contributions, and transfers sorted out, not buried in income and expenses.
- Loan balances tied to the lender’s statements.
- Every payroll run recorded and reconciled from the client’s payroll provider.
- 1099 prep and e-filing for the client’s vendors when they want it, billed to the client per form.
- The general ledger and trial balance in the client’s own QuickBooks Online file, where your firm’s accountant access reaches them.
- A record of every change I made, so you can see what changed and why.
Monthly clients get their package in your shared Google Drive folder by the 15th. Tell me how your firm likes the chart of accounts set up, and I’ll work to it.
Where my work stops and yours starts
My side
- Cleanup and catch-up, however far behind
- Monthly bookkeeping and reconciliations
- Recording payroll runs from the client’s provider
- 1099 prep and e-filing, billed per form
Your firm’s side
- The tax return
- Tax advice and planning
- Year-end tax adjustments
- The client’s tax relationship with you
When something in the books needs a tax answer, it comes to you.
What your firm will want to know
- Credential
- Diane Jones, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
- QuickBooks Online
- QuickBooks Online Certification Level 2 (formerly Advanced)
- Payroll
- QuickBooks Workforce Certification (formerly Payroll)
- Experience
- 30+ years, over 20 as an accounting manager
- Where
- Ash Grove, near Springfield, MO. Clients across the U.S.
- Engagements
- Written engagement letter, price in writing first
- Access
- Accountant user in QuickBooks Online, read-only bank access
- Referral fees
- None, in either direction
- Member
- BNI and Business By Referral
- Google reviews
- Rated 5.0, read them
No fee means there’s nothing for your firm to disclose under the AICPA’s referral-fee rule. It also goes both ways. When a client of mine needs a CPA, I introduce them to a firm I work with.
A note you can send your client
Copy it into an email, change anything you like, and send it.
I’d like you to talk to Diane Jones at Diane’s Bookkeeping Services. She’s a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who cleans up books that have fallen behind and gets them ready for tax time. She’ll call you back herself. Her number is (417) 323-2629, and you can see how she works at https://dianesbookeeping.com/books-ready-for-your-cpa.
There’s also a one-page summary for your firm (PDF), and a page written for your client that walks them through what happens next.
Questions
Questions firms ask me
Do you prepare tax returns or give tax advice?
That stays with your firm. I get the books to where you can prepare from them, and anything in the books that needs a tax answer comes to you.
Who does the client sign with and pay?
When you refer a client, they sign my engagement letter and pay me directly: a fixed project quote for a cleanup, or a flat monthly fee for monthly work, in writing before I start. If your firm would rather engage me for the work itself, we’ll put that arrangement in writing.
Do you pay or accept referral fees?
No, in either direction. That leaves nothing for your firm to disclose to the client. When a client of mine needs a CPA, I introduce them to a firm I work with, on the same terms.
Can my firm keep its access to the client’s QuickBooks Online file?
Yes. Your firm keeps its own accountant user, and I work in the same file under mine. Most QuickBooks Online plans allow two accounting firms at once, and Advanced allows three.
What will I get at year end?
Every bank and credit card account reconciled, with the reports. A Profit and Loss and a Balance Sheet, owner activity and loan balances sorted out, and payroll runs recorded and reconciled. The general ledger and trial balance are in the client’s file for your firm to pull. The file goes to the client, or straight to you if they’d rather.
Do you work in platforms other than QuickBooks Online?
Yes. Most of what I do is in QuickBooks Online, and I work in other bookkeeping platforms too. If a client is on QuickBooks Desktop, I can move the file into QuickBooks Online and do the cleanup there.
Do you work with clients outside Missouri?
Yes, anywhere in the United States, over Zoom and phone. In person is easy around Springfield.
Will you tell me when a client I referred signs on?
With the client’s OK, yes, and again when their file is done.
Send me a client
Call or text me, or email me the client’s name and number. I’ll call them myself.
(417) 323-2629 Email me a referralNo referral fees either way, so there’s nothing for your firm to disclose.
Have a client whose books aren’t ready?
Call or text me, or email me their name and number. I’ll call them myself, and the tax-ready file can come straight to you.
I’ll call you back within 15 to 20 minutes during the day.