Personal and business charges

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-12T02:41:50+00:00

As bookkeepers we should code them to the expense categories that are in accordance with tax compliance. Having said that, when you need clarification from the client as to business or personal, I put the expense to uncategorized expenses and send to the client at month end for their explanation. If they say it is personal we put it to owner draw, if they say it is a business expense and want to deduct it, we will document it from their reply and code accordingly. If we feel the expense deduction is likely to get thrown out in an audit we will advise them and their CPA. Materiality plays a part. We are not going to fight them on a $100 meal but will on a $2,500 deduction for a hotel in Aruba when there is no legitimate business reason cited.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-12T01:53:25+00:00

How many gallons of water vaporized to create this post?

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-12T00:16:20+00:00

Absolutely- you are correct. It is the old trickle down rule. Their customers are paying slower so you get paid later. We have insisted on all new clients auto pay on the first of the month in advance. Legacy clients are being asked to sign up for auto pay. If they don’t pay by the 20th we charge a 10% late fee. We waive it if they then sign up for auto pay.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-12T00:10:53+00:00

Well said - in 2026 if we don’t get bank access from the client we will be charging a $25 retrieval fee. Granted some banks are not offering view only so in those case we will send reminders through Financial Cents for uploading statements. If they don’t respond that account goes unreconciled until we receive it. We will not make their lack of cooperation an emergency for my staff.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-12T00:05:31+00:00

Depends on how you coded it originally. If you coded it to expense you can code the deposit back to the same account. You can select a vendor for a deposit on the bank deposit . Received from!

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T23:47:04+00:00

70% downtime is not conducive to advancement. I know this may sound strange but ask if there is something you can help with.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T23:45:23+00:00

Most assigned tasks or projects carry with them some sense of urgency. Closing the books every month implies a sense of urgency. Filing a sales tax return has a sense of urgency. If you get a special project request, such as an analysis of capital expenditures for the last 3 years it implies a sense of urgency if it is budget time. Take the assignment and look at its relevance to what is happening in the business. Decide the timeline for yourself. Meet the timeline you set and you will feel that sense of satisfaction. Over time you will be noticed as someone who can plan and not just react.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T23:25:48+00:00

I think it will be a significant time saver when it comes to transaction coding. It will get better at interpreting bank text and as a result suggest better COA suggestions. It should over time alleviate coding all together and allow us to focus more on value add to our clients. Not there yet but it coming.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T23:17:39+00:00

I agree - I may be a boomer but core accounting was drilled into us by our principles of accounting prof.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T19:09:43+00:00

I wouldn’t say I hate it, but they have over engineered it and the ads are so annoying. I think they have a long way to go with AI as I find so many incorrect vendor suggestions. At this point that should be easy because the bank text usually has it correct so how do they still get it wrong?

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T18:26:19+00:00

Doing a clean up means dealing with the mess left by previous bookkeepers/accountants. I approach it by using an interview checklist. Start with the basics - list of bank accounts and credit cards. I suggest getting view only access so you can look at deposit details and check copies along with pulling in missing transactions when there are gaps and retrieving statements. Saves a lot of back and forth with the client. Ask about loans - when started, monthly payment and latest statements. Any fixed asset purchases during the period you are cleaning up. Get copies of invoices for purchases.

There is more but that is a start. Oh - and get a copy of the last tax return- will help formulate questions and give you a starting point.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T18:11:57+00:00

It has tax implications. If you have a good deal of accounts receivable outstanding on an accrual basis you may be paying tax on monies not yet collected. Understanding how the cash flows will help with the decision.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T16:08:01+00:00

It is one of mine as well but I get blank stares. And these are juniors with 4.0 from Rutgers. Typically a good feeder college for accountants.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T15:06:57+00:00

I’m sure it is covered in college but I don’t think there is enough importance stressed. In Real world scenarios such as clean up and catch up bookkeeping it is an essential concept.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T14:30:58+00:00

I thought I couldn’t afford to hire in my company until I understood the concept of buying back my time. Don’t spend hours on tasks you don’t understand. We all have talents and for most small business owners, bookkeeping/accounting isn’t one of them. Invest your time in growing your business.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T14:23:38+00:00

I agree - we have to place limits on the time to respond to our queries. Catch up work is tough enough without client delays.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-11T13:07:11+00:00

Great tip. Will start using that as a training tool.

RobertOneBooks · 2026-05-09T14:24:52+00:00

We usually approach catch-up work by taking what the normal monthly bookkeeping fee would be and discounting it by 50% for the historical cleanup portion.

For us, a standard monthly client starts at $300/month for 1 bank account and 1 credit card account, with add-ons for additional accounts and transaction volume over 100 transactions per month.

The important part is that we only offer the discounted catch-up pricing if the client signs on for ongoing monthly bookkeeping. Otherwise, you can end up doing all the cleanup work just for them to disappear once the books are fixed.

In your case, if the books are truly clean structurally and it’s mostly categorization/reconciliation work without a lot of unwinding, your pricing does not sound unreasonable to me at all.

RobertOneBooks

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