Corporate Essentials
The IRS Expects More From Your Books. So Do We.
When your business files its own tax return —as a partnership, S-Corp, or corporation — the IRS holds your financial records to a higher standard. Schedule L “The Balance Sheet per Books” isn’t optional. A fully-reconciled balance sheet isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a requirement.
Most business owners in this situation treat that requirement as a burden. We’d encourage you to think about it differently.
The scrutiny the IRS demands for your tax return is the same scrutiny that produces the most accurate, reliable financial data for you as a small business owner. The books we maintain for Corporate Essentials clients aren’t just tax-ready — they’re the kind of records that support better decisions, stronger loan applications, cleaner audits, and more credible conversations with investors or potential buyers.
The IRS requires you to keep better books. We’re here to make sure that you’re both compliant and benefitting from better data.
Is Corporate Essentials Right for You?
Corporate Essentials is designed for businesses that file a standalone business tax return — Form 1065 (partnerships), Form 1120-S (S-Corporations), Form 1120 (C-Corporations), or similar. If your business taxes are filed separately from your personal return, this is for you. (If your business income shows up on your personal Schedule C, take a look at Bookkeeping Fundamentals instead.)
Stop Overhauling Your Books Every January
Here’s a pattern we see constantly with new Corporate Essentials clients: their previous bookkeeper kept reasonable records throughout the year, but nobody touched the balance sheet. Payroll taxes were expensed while liability balances piled up. Depreciation was ignored until tax time. A/R and A/P sat unreviewed for months. Taxes owed were a rough guess until your CPA sorted it out in the spring.
Then tax season hits. Suddenly everyone is scrambling to reconstruct twelve months of activity in just a few weeks, or you’re stuck on extension and waiting months to find out what you really owe in taxes. It’s expensive, stressful, and the results are rarely as clean as they should be.
Corporate Essentials eliminates that scramble entirely. Every month, we close your books completely — balance sheet included. When tax season arrives, your records are already done. Your CPA gets clean, accurate, fully reconciled financials by February 15th. No reconstruction. No surprises. Just accurate numbers and a stress-free tax season.
What We Do Every Month
Corporate Essentials includes everything in Bookkeeping Fundamentals, plus a complete monthly balance sheet reconciliation. Here’s what that means in practice:
Carried Over From Bookkeeping Fundamentals:
• Transaction categorization with complete vendor and expense information
• Reconciliation of all operating accounts against bank and credit card statements
• Upload of account statements into QBO for your records
• No guesswork — we ask when we’re unsure, and we document every assumption for your review and approval
Additional Benefits of Corporate Essentials:
• Full monthly balance sheet reconciliation — not deferred to year end
• Payroll liability review and reconciliation
• Tax liability review and reconciliation
• Asset depreciation updates
• Inventory and COGS adjustments (if applicable)
• Monthly A/R and A/P review
Your Monthly Report Package:
Corporate Essentials clients receive a complete financial statement package by default — no need to request individual reports. Every month you’ll receive reports showing your revenue, expenses, profit, assets, liabilities, cash flow, and more.
Every report reflects a fully closed, fully reconciled month. Not an estimate. Not a work in progress. The actual numbers.
Click here to download a sample report package.
No Guesswork. Ever.
The same commitment to transparency that runs through everything we do applies here. When we categorize a transaction we’re certain about, it goes in the books. When we make a reasonable assumption, we log it and send it to you for approval. When we genuinely don’t know, we ask.
You’ll receive a documented list of every assumption we made that month as part of your report package. Your books reflect reality because you’ve signed off on them. At the level of scrutiny Corporate Essentials requires, that’s not just good practice — it’s essential to understanding your company’s performance.
The No Bull Guarantee
We guarantee your monthly financial statement package will be delivered accurately and on time, every month — or your next month is free.
• Delivery deadline: Your complete report package is delivered by the 15th of the following month. Need them sooner? We offer the 10th and the 5th as upgrade options.
• Your end of the deal: If we request information — a missing bank statement, a question about a transaction — we need it at least five days before the deadline to include it in that month’s reports.
• When information is missing: If we’re still waiting on something at deadline, we deliver a clearly marked DRAFT package with everything we have. You still get your reports on time based on the best information available to us. Don’t worry—we’ll remind you if we’re missing something until the books are airtight.
Terms and conditions apply. My lawyer made me say this — but I promise the fine print is fair and reasonable.
How It Works
Step 1: The QBO Diagnostic ($495, one-time)
Before we quote you a monthly rate, we need to understand your books. The QuickBooks Online Diagnostic is a thorough, 244-point review of your existing accounting setup — we look for the good, the bad, and the bullshit in your books so we can understand what’s accurate, what needs to be corrected, and what processes could be improved.
It’s not a formality. It’s how we make sure we can deliver on our guarantee from Day 1, and how we build a bookkeeping process tailormade for your business.
For Corporate Essentials clients, the Diagnostic pays particular attention to your balance sheet — existing liability accounts, depreciation schedules, A/R and A/P aging, and any historical reconciliation gaps that need to be addressed before we can establish a clean monthly baseline.
Step 2: Onboarding
Once the Diagnostic is complete, we build a custom bookkeeping process for your business, establish your balance sheet baseline, and configure QuickBooks Online to support the full monthly close. We’ll ask for about two hours of your time in the first 30 days. After that, you’re largely hands-off.
Step 3: Monthly Bookkeeping
Every month, our team performs a complete close — transactions categorized, accounts reconciled, balance sheet updated, liabilities reviewed, and your full report package delivered by the 15th. Your ongoing time commitment is roughly 15 minutes a month to review and approve anything we flagged.
Pricing
Corporate Essentials starts at $500 per month.
Your monthly rate is determined during the Diagnostic and is based on the complexity of your books — primarily your transaction volume, number of accounts, complexity of your accounting needs, and the number of balance sheet items requiring monthly reconciliation. Clients with higher activity and more accounts typically see rates in the $700–800 range. Once your rate is set, it stays fixed unless the underlying complexity changes, in which case we’ll give you 30 days’ notice before any adjustment.
No hourly rates. No surprise invoices. One Flat Fee, every month.
Want a ballpark first? Use our free estimator to get a general sense of where your rate might land.
Better Books. Better Decisions.
A fully reconciled balance sheet every month isn’t just a compliance requirement — it’s the most complete picture of your business’s financial health available. Your liabilities are current. Your assets are accurate. Your cash position reflects reality.
That level of accuracy matters when you’re making decisions about hiring, equipment, pricing, or expansion. It matters when your bank asks for financials to support a loan application. It matters when an investor or potential buyer wants to understand your business. And it matters when your CPA is preparing your return or offering tax strategies mid-year.
Most small business owners at your stage never have access to this quality of financial data. Corporate Essentials changes that — not as a luxury, but as a standard part of your financial management operations.
Why No Bull
There’s no shortage of accounting services out there. Solo bookkeepers who are great — until they’re not. Large firms that take your money and hand your account to someone you’ve never met. Software that promises to automate everything until it hallucinates and miscategorizes half your transactions without you ever knowing.
We do things differently.
• A real team—no contractors. Our team is made of W2 employees here in the U.S. instead of cut-rate overseas contractors. Your books are handled by a dedicated team that you can rely on every month.
• QuickBooks Online ProAdvisors. Every bookkeeper on our team carries a minimum of two years of experience and is QBO certified.
• Flat fees, no surprises. You always know what you’re paying.
• We answer when you call. Responsive, accountable, and easy to reach.
What Clean Books Make Possible
Business owners who review accurate, complete financials every month make better decisions than those who don’t. That’s not an opinion — it’s the truth. You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. But your measurements won’t matter if they’re inaccurate.
Corporate Essentials gives you the most reliable financial foundation we offer. What you build on top of it is up to you.
Not Sure This Is Your Tier?
Corporate Essentials is the right service for businesses filing standalone tax returns. If your business income is reported on your personal Schedule C, Bookkeeping Fundamentals may be a better fit — and a more appropriate price point. Not sure which applies to you? The estimator will help sort it out, or schedule a consult and we’ll figure it out together.
Ready for Books You Can Actually Rely On?
Get a free estimate, or schedule a consultation and let’s talk about what fully reconciled books could do for your business.