The full Essential service — QuickBooks setup, all accounts connected, your first month's books completed, and a financial statement delivered. You pay nothing until you've seen it in action with your actual data.

That's completely normal and exactly what the free audit is for. During the audit I'll look at what you have and tell you honestly what a clean-up would involve before we start.

No. I set it up, manage it, and deliver your reports each month. You log in to see your dashboard if you want to — but you don't have to do anything in the software yourself.

Yes — upgrading is seamless. Many clients start on Essential and move to Growth once they see the value. There's no re-onboarding required.

Your real-time profit and loss, cash balance, top expense categories, revenue trend, and accounts receivable — all pulled live from your QuickBooks. It updates automatically. You can check it from your phone any time.

The system monitors your cash daily. If your balance is projected to drop below a threshold you set, or a large payable is coming due soon with low reserves, you get a notification via text or email — with a plain-English explanation and a couple of suggested actions.

You text a number (or send a voice note): "Spent $340 at Home Depot on job supplies for the Miller project." The expense is transcribed, categorised, and logged as a transaction in QuickBooks — usually within 30 seconds. You get a confirmation text with the entry details.

It's 30 minutes to walk through your financials — what the numbers are saying, anything that looks unusual, and whatever business questions are on your mind. It's not a sales call. It's a real financial conversation with someone who's been in your books all month.

It's a one-page written summary delivered after every month-end close. It covers revenue and margin movement, major expense shifts, cash flow observations, and two or three specific action items — written in plain language, not accounting jargon.

You tell me the decision you're evaluating — hiring, opening a second location, buying equipment, changing your pricing. I build a financial model using your actual cost structure and project three scenarios: conservative, base, and optimistic — with the break-even point clearly shown.

Benchmarks are sourced from industry-specific financial data and matched to your NAICS code. For LI businesses in restaurants, construction, trades, and e-commerce, there's solid benchmark data available. The report shows you how your key ratios compare and flags the gaps worth addressing.

It's not identical — a full-time CFO attends leadership meetings and has a deeper operational role. But for businesses under $5M, you likely don't need that level of involvement. What you do need is someone who knows your numbers, can answer strategic questions quickly, and flags risks before they become problems. That's what this tier does.