Monthly bookkeeping for Los Angeles businesses

Short answer: Monthly bookkeeping services in Los Angeles categorize every bank and card transaction, reconcile each account to its statement, review problem items and close the month. You then get a profit and loss, a balance sheet and a short list of questions. The routine is the same every month, so problems are caught while they are small.

What a monthly close actually includes

Monthly bookkeeping is a routine, not a rescue. Once a month the team works through everything that hit your accounts and leaves the books in a state you could hand to a lender or a CPA that day.

The routine is the same every month, which is the point. Problems get caught while they are small, while you still remember what a charge was for.

1. Categorize Every bank and card transaction is coded to the right account, using rules for the repeat ones and questions for the odd ones.
2. Reconcile Each bank, card and loan account is matched to its statement, so the balance in the books equals the balance at the bank.
3. Review Uncategorized items, duplicate entries, owner transfers and loan payments are checked before the month is called done.
4. Close The month is locked so later edits do not quietly change numbers you already used.
5. Report You get a profit and loss and a balance sheet, plus a short list of anything that needs your answer.

The questions you will get, and how often

Most months you will get a handful of questions in one message: a Zelle payment with no memo, a large card charge, a deposit that does not match an invoice. Answer them in a few minutes and the close finishes.

If you never answer, the items sit in a holding account and show up on your reports as unknowns. The team flags them every month, so nothing is guessed and nothing is hidden.

What you need to provide

• Read-only bank feeds connected to your books in QuickBooks, Xero and more
• Access to your payment processors, such as Square, Stripe, Toast or Shopify
• Receipts for larger purchases, uploaded or forwarded as they happen
• A quick note when something unusual happens: a new loan, a new partner, a vehicle purchase

Why monthly beats a once-a-year scramble

Owners who only touch their books at tax time pay for it twice. First in the hours spent rebuilding a year from memory, and again in deductions nobody could document.

Monthly books also change how you run the business. You can see which months are tight before they arrive, whether a new hire is paid for by the work they bring in, and how much you can safely take out.

Los Angeles details that monthly books make easier

If you operate inside the City of Los Angeles, the city's business tax renewal asks for your gross receipts each year. When every month is closed, that number is a report, not a project.

Owners who sell taxable goods in California file sales tax returns with the CDTFA. Clean monthly sales figures make those returns faster and easier to defend.

Local tax filings are your responsibility or your CPA's. Monthly books give them the numbers.

Where we work

We keep books for businesses across the City of Los Angeles, the Westside, the Eastside, the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the Gateway Cities and the South Bay.

• Alhambra
• Arcadia
• City of Industry
• Commerce
• Diamond Bar
• Downey
• Downtown Los Angeles
• East Los Angeles
• El Monte
• Koreatown
• Lincoln Heights
• North Hollywood
• Pasadena
• Pomona
• San Fernando Valley
• Santa Fe Springs
• Santa Monica
• Sherman Oaks
• South Bay
• Van Nuys
• Vernon
• West Covina
• West Los Angeles
• Whittier
• Woodland Hills

Questions