Questions, answered.

Monthly bookkeeping covers the recurring work that keeps the books usable: reviewing and categorizing transactions, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, keeping the general ledger current, and delivering a profit & loss statement and balance sheet. You also get a plain-language summary of what changed during the month, so the reports aren’t just files sitting in an inbox.

Start with the Get a Callback form on the Contact page and tell us a little about the business. We’ll call, usually within about 30 minutes, to understand what’s current, what’s behind, and what you want handled. If we’re a fit, the next step is usually connecting QuickBooks Online or NetSuite and the relevant bank and card feeds.

Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping is part of the work we do. A backlog can be reviewed, categorized, reconciled, and brought current, and a messy chart of accounts can be cleaned up at the same time. The amount of work depends on how far back the cleanup goes and what condition the file is in when we start.

Yes. Some businesses need a cleanup project before anything else. We can straighten out an existing QuickBooks Online or NetSuite file, fix categorization and reconciliation issues, and leave the books in a condition that’s easier to maintain. If you also want ongoing monthly bookkeeping afterward, that’s a separate conversation.

No. Balanced On Time Books is a bookkeeping firm, not a tax-preparation practice. We keep the books clean, organized, and ready to hand off to the CPA, enrolled agent, or other qualified tax professional you choose — less reconstruction and fewer last-minute bookkeeping problems when tax time comes around.

We specialize in cash-basis bookkeeping. If your business requires accrual-basis accounting, we may not be the right fit for that engagement. If you’re not sure which method your business uses or what level of accounting support you need, we can talk through the bookkeeping side and help identify what should go to an accountant.

QuickBooks Online and NetSuite. That includes new-file setup, cleanup of an existing file, catch-up work, and ongoing bookkeeping inside the platform the business already uses. QuickBooks Online work is handled by a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.

Yes. Good bookkeeping should make your accountant’s job easier, not create another cleanup project for them. We keep the books current throughout the year and make sure the core financial reports and underlying records are organized for the tax professional or accountant your business already uses.

Bank and credit card accounts are reconciled against the books, transactions are reviewed and categorized, and the general ledger is brought current. Then the monthly financial statements and a plain-language summary get delivered. The numbers should be current enough and clean enough to actually use.

Our standard is to close the books by the 10th each month. Once the monthly close is complete, the profit & loss statement, balance sheet, and summary are delivered, so you get a consistent reporting rhythm instead of wondering when the numbers will be ready.

For ongoing monthly bookkeeping, the core reports are a profit & loss statement and balance sheet, along with a plain-language summary of the month. Depending on the engagement and the accounting system, other reporting may also be available when it’s useful to the business.

Phone, email, or text, depending on what works best for the business. The commitment either way is clear, jargon-free communication and a response time that doesn't leave you waiting.

Onboarding starts with the callback, then moves into getting the right QuickBooks Online or NetSuite access and connecting the accounts needed for the work. A clean, current file is simpler to onboard than a business with several accounts and a long backlog, so the exact timeline varies — we’ll talk through that before work begins.

Pricing is based on the actual workload: transaction volume, the number of bank and card accounts, which services are needed, and whether the books are already current. See “Straightforward bookkeeping pricing based on the work” on the Services & Pricing page for the main factors, or get a callback and leave with an actual number.

Usually accountant- or user-level access to QuickBooks Online or NetSuite, plus the bank and card information needed to reconcile the accounts. Access should be granted through the platform’s own invitation and connection tools rather than a shared master password. See “Your financial information stays under your control” above for how that works.

You do. Balanced On Time Books doesn’t independently authorize payroll runs, payments, bank transfers, refunds, credits, or write-offs. Those decisions remain under the business’s final approval.

There’s no honest one-size-fits-all answer. Cleaning up three months of relatively organized activity is different from reconstructing several years of unreconciled books. The cleanup gets scoped first, then you get an estimated timeline based on the actual file and transaction volume.

No. Ongoing bookkeeping is month-to-month, with no minimum term.

Small businesses across a range of industries, including service businesses, contractors, retail, restaurants, real estate, healthcare practices, professional services, and more. The Industries page has examples of the bookkeeping issues that tend to come up in different businesses.

No. Balanced On Time Books is based in Cincinnati and building a presence in New York City, but much of modern bookkeeping is handled remotely through QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, and connected bank feeds. If your business is somewhere else, get in touch and we can confirm whether the engagement is a fit.

Yes. The existing QuickBooks Online or NetSuite file gets reviewed, the last reconciled period gets confirmed, and the monthly work picks up from there rather than restarting the year, as long as the prior records are usable.

Yes. Each business is set up and closed out as its own file with its own reconciliation and reporting — separate entities aren’t combined into one set of books, even when they share an owner.

Just one is fine. Monthly bookkeeping is the foundation most engagements are built on, but a business that already has an in-house bookkeeper may only want reconciliation or reporting handled separately.

It gets corrected once it’s identified, usually during the next monthly reconciliation when the accounts are reviewed against the statements. Consistent monthly review is part of why errors tend to get caught while the details are still fresh instead of surfacing a year later.

You keep your own login to QuickBooks Online or NetSuite the whole time, since access is granted through the platform’s own accountant or user tools rather than a shared password. The monthly reports are a summary on top of a file you can open and review yourself at any point.

The monthly close still happens on the same schedule during slower months, so a quiet season is reflected accurately instead of skipped. Some seasonal businesses also use that slower stretch to catch up on cleanup work that’s harder to schedule during the busy season.

That’s a conversation worth having directly, since it affects how the books are handled during the gap. Ongoing bookkeeping runs month to month with no minimum term, so it’s worth telling us about a planned pause rather than letting the account go stale unexpectedly.

Current, reconciled books and standard monthly financial statements are usually what a lender asks for. Balanced On Time Books doesn’t prepare loan applications or represent the business to a lender, but the underlying bookkeeping is kept in a condition that supports that process.