Sole proprietors, partnerships, LLCs, and S-Corporations. We have made a decision to leave the C-Corporations for the CPAs since they require audited financial statements for the public. We are ideal for small business owners (those companies who are under $1 million in gross revenue).
While trucking is our niche specialty for bookkeeping, we service others in the following industries:
- Trades – Class A, Pool Maintenance, Handyman, Lawn Care
- Real estate professionals
- Legal – Personal injury and Real Estate Law
- Medical – we have a few Direct Primary Care Physicians
- Marketing – Videographers
- Therapists – mainly in our tax business
- Restaurant/pub
YES! Home Time Business Services is approved to e-file with the IRS. More importantly, we also offer tax planning (see Services) which is educating you on legal ways to use the IRS code to your advantage. (See, “What’s the difference between tax prep and tax planning.”) We do not prepare trust or non-profit tax returns.
The decision to hire a professional bookkeeper is typically triggered by a business owner’s experience of working late into the night or on weekends, only to find that they are still not keeping up with their bookkeeping duties. By this point, their books are typically out of order and whether they know it or not, they are often costing themselves money by paying more in taxes with inaccurate books. Hiring a bookkeeper takes this off your plate, but you are still in the know of where your business stands because you can simply review your completed financial statements during our meeting.
This is considered catch up work. We’ll start at the beginning of the year, use figures from your most recently completed tax return and bank statements and credit card statements and have a complete year in the books for you. Why, because taxes are based on the year. If we meet in July and you haven’t done any tracking, what happens when you meet to do your taxes? That information still needs to be handled.
With today’s cloud technology, it is more important to have a knowledgeable bookkeeper who meets your needs and expectations. There is nothing a local person can do that I can’t, except physical touch like a hug, high five or pat on the back.
While maintaining your books this way may be somewhat different from what you’re used to, it’s not nearly as scary as you may think. You undoubtedly already exchange financial information with others online. This is just more of the same. Communication is the important aspect and I am available by e-mail, phone, and Skype. We can also use other methods such as a meeting webinar.
Internet and cloud technology make it easy for bookkeepers and tax preparers to securely access their client’s books and transmit sensitive data, anywhere. Business owners can now select a professional who truly understands their industry and operations, instead of hiring a local generalist. Home Time Business Services has the right software and other features in place to ensure our clients get the highest quality service.
We perform the bookkeeping on a cloud hosted platform called Xero. Depending on the schedule that you choose for the books to be updated, we can perform the bookkeeping services weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Your service level will determine the deadline to turn in documents that relate to the bookkeeping; bills, checks written, etc. During this update, we will also perform any other tasks that may be due to process; online banking activity, payroll, paying bills, and reconciliations. We have many clients that don’t provide any documents; however, we can access the banking and credit card accounts online. This allows the bookkeeper to grab statements, look up check images, deposit details and be able to fill in a lot of the missing details without having to ask the client for all the information. If you don’t feel comfortable with that, we will rely on you to provide all the information. You should also check with your bank as many allow for view only access where we are assigned our own login.
It depends on your needs and requirements, but our packages are designed to be a flat monthly fee. A typical single truck without authority starts at $225/month for monthly bookkeeping, software, monthly financial statements, and a monthly meeting with your advisor.
No, we have an Engagement Letter that outlines our responsibilities and your responsibilities to sign. Our terms are month to month for bookkeeping services. For tax clients, we sign an Engagement Letter annually for the preparation of that year’s return. For tax planning clients, we sign an Engagement for a term of one year because quite frankly that’s the type of service that is…one and done doesn’t do either of us anything.
I’m so proud of you for taking the first step and acknowledging you need help! Don’t worry, you aren’t the first, and frankly, won’t be the last to be in this situation.
Start with a quick call. Let’s see if working together makes sense! We have handled multiple year engagements for several who were in your shoes. Our goal is to show you how to NEVER have to worry about dodging the IRS. Quite frankly, our bookkeepers love digging into that stack of papers and coming out the other side with an organized fully digitized solution in your books.
Home Time Business Services LOVES working with startups! We enjoy watching a new business owner grow and see their success. Let’s be honest, being in business is a hard journey and having a trusted partner in the form of your bookkeeper is PRICELESS. We’ve started our business, we’ve helped others start theirs, let us show you how to have that same success and enjoy your HOME TIME too!
Home Time Business Services has a team of bookkeeping professionals who are all based in the US. They have all passed rigorous training and carry software certifications as well. In fact, we hire based on the client need of an expert in that field. Many are pursuing their own bookkeeping businesses, but as they start their business, they have chosen to work under Home Time Business Services to receive business mentoring. Of course, they have non-competes in place and know your accounts will remain with Home Time Business Services.
Right now, if you are like most business owners, your accounting records are in an unlocked file cabinet or worse, sitting on someone’s desk. If your bookkeeper works in a home or business office, ask how they keep the office secure from other business clients and employees or if at home, from family members and guests.
Digitizing your documents and business financial records in the cloud will free up physical space for your business to operate, as well as make the information sortable and secure. Cloud based accounting systems use digitized records. These systems have the same level of encryption as major banks, using strong password and hashing algorithms so your offline accounting stays hidden. They are constantly updating their virus protection measures.
You should be assured that you, and only you, are privy to your most important data. Only with your express permission should anyone other than your bookkeeper and accountant have access to it.
We use only secure cloud networks to store data and digitized documents. Our dedicated home office space has all sensitive documentation stored on the secure cloud network, a virtual private network, and password protected computer. Our co-working space at the IncuHub is a locked private office and the building itself requires a key card to access. Any paper documents that may be provided are returned to the client or shredded.
Professional liability insurance is designed solely to make payments to people other than the insured professional in the event the insured’s negligent act, error or omission causes damage to a third party. Coverage is typically issued to a bookkeeping firm and it specifically covers the firm’s registered professionals. This type of coverage was created to give bookkeeping professionals adequate financial resources in the event that their errors, omissions, or negligent professional acts damaged a client.
Home Time Business Services carries Errors and Omissions Insurance.
Great question!
For bookkeeping services, Xero has a built-in function in the app to simply take a picture and enter a few details. Additionally, they recently purchased HubDoc which will “read” the information from the receipt! All you would do is send an image using the HubDoc application. We also have a secure portal through SmartVault (see Main Menu, “Portals”) where you have a “virtual filing cabinet”.
For tax services, we use a tax portal associated with our software.
Cloud Based Accounting is a new way to manage your accounts, online. Home Time Business Services will work with you to ensure your business accounts, payroll and other financial functions comply with all regulatory requirements. You input your financial data anytime, anywhere, via simple to use cloud software (on your computer, laptop or smart phone) and we then look after your books. We offer a range of services and work as a team, to achieve the quickest and most convenient solution to all your financial needs. In summary Cloud Based Accounting is the ideal online solution for quick and simple internet accounting.
The primary benefit of using Cloud Accounting is mobility. You can access your data wherever you are, on any device, so long as you have an internet connection. This means you can now generate invoices on the go or process payments immediately, saving you time and effort. Your data is always safely secured and backed up online, meaning you never need to worry about your computer crashing and losing your data… ever.
Your financial data (and the actual bookkeeping software) IS NOT located on my personal computer. Everything is safely secured on servers protected by bank-level security. That’s the same type of security Wells Fargo, Bank Of America, Comerica, and others use to protect their customers from hackers.
You will always have access to your files and YOU (and only you) determine who can see it. There are different levels of access. I’ll be more than happy to explain it to you.
I keep NOTHING on my personal computer that involves clients. No names. No financial data. NOTHING. If someone were to hack my system at home, they’d find some cute video clips of puppies and what-not, but NOTHING that would indicate that I do financial work at home. Not even on thumb drives.
Looking for more information, check out this article here.
Maybe, it depends. There are certain things that a CPA can only do, such as represent you in front of the IRS, perform audits, and prepare audited public financial statements. This is typically only needed if you are a C-Corp who needs to publish audited reports. Home Time Business Services can provide most of the needs for sole proprietors, LLCs, partnerships, and s-corps. Since we provide tax services too, you may not have a need for a CPA but we are happy to work with your CPA and turn over your well-kept books for services that they would still provide.
Simple answer, no. Depending on structures and if there is one parent company, we would either set up multiple accounts or use sub-accounts. Most of the time, the prudent course of action is to have multiple accounts for each business so that you truly understand if one is out performing another in terms of profitability and cash flow. This is also important during times of growth and expansion that may require lending.
Home Time Business Services prefers Xero Accounting software, but is also a proficient in QuickBooks Online. Sometimes Xero is not the best solution, and we recognize this need to be flexible for software. Learn more about Xero.
1. Schedule a 10 minute quick call where we can learn about one another’s business and make a quick assessment whether we should work together. Click to schedule.
2. Schedule a consultation call (one hour) which will allow us to discuss what you need and to prepare a proposal at this point I will request access to your current system to make the proposal if this is not an option, current financial statements and bank statements would be requested. From here, we determine the scope of my services needed (sometimes there are options for what you choose to have us perform). Schedule your 1-hour session here.
3. Sign a letter of engagement which outlines both our responsibilities (you would need to provide the documents I need to perform the work; I perform the work in a timely manner) and a payment for services.
4. Schedule your Onboarding Session with me here.
I then assign a checklist of items for you to gather through Asana. This will include: Legal name of business and EIN, Bank Statements (for months we are catching up), most recent tax returns, logo (if you are invoicing it would be on there), contact information for current CPA (if applicable), current chart of accounts, sales tax information (state ID number, tax rates).
Xero is a cloud-based accounting software that is similar in functionality to QuickBooks Online, but is preferred by Home Time Business Services for many reasons. First, it is more business owner friendly. Second, it is more cost effective for a solution. Third, it integrates well with most applications. And lastly, it looks pleasing when opening the app or program in a web browser.
Tax preparation is reactive and what’s already happened is what you are going to pay taxes on. Tax planning is proactively developing a plan to not pay the IRS or State additional taxes using available strategies within the rules of the IRS Tax Code.
Yes, we offer full-service payroll through a third-party provider. We will determine which one meets your needs best, but we tend to use Patriot Software most frequently. We find it does a great job for less complex payroll needs. If your payroll is more complex or has over 5 individuals, we tend to lean to Sure Payroll which the accountant’s version of PayChex.
When it warrants it, we will recommend a training package due to the business not being able to support the cost of full charge bookkeeping. Realize that we will only give you the basics of using the software in a 2-3-hour session and help get your software set up properly. We do not teach the full theory and course of bookkeeping and accounting. For this, please look at Bookkeeper Launch. This is a 90-day program to teach you more in depth about bookkeeping. Clearly our few hours will show you what you need to do at bare minimum to keep books in the software. We offer Ask the Bookkeeper as a service on retainer at our hourly rate. This will allow for those transactions that are irregular, but need to be handled properly.