How We Work
Our 3-Step Process
Initial Discovery
We sit down with you and go through your recent returns, how the business runs today and where you want it to be.
Business Assessment
We come back with the tax moves that fit your business, what each one is likely to save, and what it takes to put in place.
Plan, Act & Monitor
Plan: we agree the steps and who does each one. Act: we carry them out with you. Monitor: we keep checking the plan against changes in your business and in the tax law, all year.
Business Services
Accounting That Moves Your Plan Forward Faster
You already have a plan: the margins you want, the hires you need, where the business should be in five years. Every service below gives that plan a solid foundation, with books you can trust, taxes planned ahead and payroll that simply runs, so you move forward with confidence instead of guesswork.
Bookkeeping
Reconciled every month and read by a person, so the books are ready before anyone asks for them.View detailsClose
Bookkeeping Done
Right, and Done on Time
If the bank balance is how you know whether you had a good month, your books are behind. Clean, current books tell you what you earned, what you spent and what you owe, and every tax plan and every accurate return is built from them. We reconcile your accounts every month, keep your profit and loss statement and balance sheet right, and point out what the numbers are telling you.
What’s Included
- Monthly BookkeepingTransactions categorized and accounts reconciled every month, not once a year.
- QuickBooks Setup & SupportNew files set up, messy ones cleaned up, and help when something will not balance.
- Financial StatementsA profit and loss and a balance sheet, with the patterns in them pointed out.
- Catch-Up BookkeepingMonths or years behind? We rebuild the records and get you current.
- A/P and A/R SupportWhat you owe and what you are owed, tracked so nothing slips.
- Tax-Ready RecordsThe office that keeps your books also files your return, so there is no handoff.
Common Questions
Do you work with QuickBooks?
Yes. We set up new files, clean up old ones, and either keep the books for you or work alongside someone on your staff who does. If you would rather not run accounting software at all, we can keep the books entirely on our side.
My books are behind. Can you catch them up?
Yes, and it is common work here. Bring what exists: bank statements, receipts, an old QuickBooks file. We rebuild the missing months and get you current before the return is due.
Tax Strategy
The return records what already happened. Planning is the work that changes the number before the year closes.View detailsClose
Tax Reduction &
Deferral Strategies
Most business owners hear about tax planning once a year, a few weeks before the deadline, and the advice rarely goes past the usual list: put more in the 401(k), buy equipment, pay your estimates. By then most of the year's decisions are already made. We put your planning on a calendar instead, with check-ins through the year while there is still time to act.
Good planning means we are watching your numbers before you have to ask. Our team keeps track of what is changing in your business and in the tax law, brings you the moves worth making, and talks them through with you while the year is still open.
What’s Included
- Business ReturnsS corporations, partnerships, C corporations and single-member LLCs, with the federal and Michigan returns prepared together.
- Michigan FilingsCorporate income tax, the flow-through entity tax election, sales and use tax, withholding and unemployment.
- Owner CompensationSalary weighed against distributions, so the split holds up and the payroll tax makes sense.
- Entity StructureA check that your structure still fits the profit the business actually makes.
- Purchase & Depreciation TimingWhich tax year an equipment or vehicle purchase should land in, decided before you buy.
- IRS RepresentationAs Enrolled Agents, we can represent your business before the IRS on any matter, at any IRS office.
Common Questions
What is the difference between tax preparation and tax planning?
Preparation reports a year that has ended, and the outcome was set by decisions made months earlier. Planning happens while those decisions are still open, and it is the only part of the work that can change what you owe. They are different engagements, and most firms only sell the first one.
What is the Michigan flow-through entity tax?
An election that lets a partnership or S corporation pay Michigan income tax at the entity level rather than passing all of it to the owners' personal returns, which can preserve a federal deduction that would otherwise be limited. Whether it helps depends on your situation, and the election has to be made on time to count. That is a planning decision, not a filing one.
Fractional CFO
The numbers a CFO would put in front of you, every month: budget against actual, cash thirteen weeks out, and a meeting to decide what to do.View detailsClose
Fractional CFO Services
at a Fractional Cost
A business can have strong sales and money in the bank and still get into trouble. Debt, rising monthly costs or margins nobody is watching can stall growth, and a business that grows faster than its cash can run short while it is busy. What prevents that is reliable numbers: a cash forecast, a budget you measure against, and a short list of figures you check every month.
Our fractional CFO service gives you that without a full-time salary. Start with a CFO assessment and leave with a written plan for what comes next.
What’s Included
- Budget vs. actual reporting every month
- A rolling 13-week cash forecast
- A monthly review meeting to go through the numbers
- The annual budget, built with you
- Built on books reconciled by the same office
Common Questions
What is a fractional CFO?
The work a chief financial officer does, the budget, the cash forecast, the monthly look at how the business is doing, delivered for the hours a small business actually needs rather than as a full-time salary.
Does my business need one?
If you make decisions about hiring, pricing, equipment or debt and the only numbers you see are the bank balance and last year's return, probably yes. The businesses that get the most from it are past the startup stage and growing.
Business Consulting
Advice from your own numbers, given while the decision is still open rather than after the year has closed.View detailsClose
Business Consulting That
Starts With Your Books
Salary or distribution? Hire now or wait? Buy the equipment this year or next? Most of these take about an hour to answer, and you leave with a clear one.
Our advice comes from the books we already keep for you, not a summary put together for the meeting. After three generations of watching clients start, grow and hand down their businesses, we plan for where yours should be in ten years.
What’s Included
- Entity SelectionLLC, S corporation, partnership or sole proprietor, modeled on your real numbers.
- Business StartupState registration, an EIN, the books, payroll and an estimated tax plan from day one.
- Budgeting & ForecastingCash flow projections to plan hiring and purchases around.
- Lender DocumentationFinancial statements and support for loan and financing applications.
- Tax StrategyPlanning all year on timing, purchases and owner compensation.
- Succession PlanningPassing on or selling the business without a tax bill you could have avoided.
Common Questions
Should my business be an LLC or an S corporation?
An LLC is a legal structure and an S corporation is a tax election, so an LLC can also be taxed as an S corporation. The election usually pays off once profit is high enough that paying yourself a reasonable salary, and taking the rest as distributions, saves more self-employment tax than the extra payroll and filing work costs. We run the numbers both ways on your actual profit before recommending it.
Can you help me start a new business in Michigan?
Yes. That covers choosing the entity, registering with the state, getting an EIN, setting up the books and payroll, and an estimated tax schedule so the first year does not catch you out.
Payroll Services
Paid on time, deposited on time, filed on time, with someone to call when a check has to change today.View detailsClose
Running Payroll Just
Couldn't Be Simpler
Payroll should come off your plate, not sit on it. We run every pay run, deposit and file the taxes on time, and answer any agency notice ourselves, because one late deposit can cost more than the service.
It sits beside your books and your return, so wage figures go straight into both with nothing re-keyed. And when a check has to change today, you call our Portage office, where the team knows you by name.
What’s Included
- Full-Service ProcessingWeekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly payroll, paid by direct deposit.
- Payroll Tax FilingsFederal 941s and the 940, plus state withholding and unemployment filings.
- W-2s and 1099sYear-end forms prepared, filed and delivered to your employees and contractors.
- New Hire ReportingState new-hire reporting done as part of each onboarding.
- Employee PortalYour staff see their pay stubs and year-end forms online.
- Notice HandlingIf an agency sends a payroll notice, we answer it ourselves rather than send it back to you.
Common Questions
How many employees do I need to use your payroll service?
There is no minimum. We run payroll for a one-person S corporation paying its owner as well as for businesses with dozens of staff.
Do you handle the payroll tax filings?
Yes. Federal 941s and the 940, state withholding and unemployment, and the year-end W-2s and 1099s are all part of the service.
Industries
Industries We Know Best
Years of keeping books and filing returns have given us deep experience in these industries. They are the ones we know best, not the only ones we serve, so if yours is not listed, just ask.
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From a Client
Personal and Business Taxes, and Someone to Ask All Year
Been working with John for a few years now and he’s been great to work with. Have complete trust in him for our personal and business taxes, and appreciate being able to talk to him throughout the year with questions.
4.7 out of 5 across all 27 Google reviews. The review shown is chosen from those rated 5 stars.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does business accounting cost?
It depends on how many transactions and accounts the business has, how many people are on payroll, and the state of the existing records. We look at what you have first, and you hear the price before any work starts.
Do I have to move all of my accounting to you at once?
No. Most business clients start with one thing, usually bookkeeping or payroll, and add the rest when they are ready. Nothing requires you to move everything on the first day.
Do you work with businesses outside Michigan?
Yes. Most of our business clients are in the Portage and Kalamazoo area, but we keep books, run payroll and prepare returns for businesses in other states too, including multi-state payroll and apportionment.
Can you take over partway through a year?
Yes. Taking over mid-year is routine. We reconcile up to the handover so the year closes as one set of books rather than two halves that disagree.
What is the difference between bookkeeping and the rest of it?
Bookkeeping is the monthly work of recording and reconciling every transaction. Business tax planning and the fractional CFO work are built on those same books, so the plan and the forecast use the numbers that end up on your return.
Start With the One That Is Behind
Most owners come to us with one thing that is behind, usually the books. Tell us which it is. We will tell you what getting it right involves and what it costs, then take it off your plate. We work with clients nationwide from our office on Portage Road, close to Portage and Kalamazoo.