CPA Firms Houston Alternative answers the plain questions

Can you just do the return

We can prepare the return when the months behind it are closed. If they are not, the return waits. A number typed into a form without a reconciled bank is a guess, and we will not sign our name to a guess.

If another preparer already has the year and the books are a mess, say so. Sometimes the right move is to close the new year and leave the old return where it is. Sometimes the old year has to be rebuilt before anyone should amend. Once the bank is in front of us, we name whether the new year can start clean or the old year has to be rebuilt first.

Do you run payroll

We set payroll up. You run payday. The provider, the people, and the map into the books are the setup. The button you press on pay date is yours. We tie the report to the cash afterward, inside the monthly close.

If you hoped someone else would press that button forever, say that on the first call. We will not pretend the setup includes a payday service we do not offer.

Is there an office to visit

There is no reception floor to visit and no lobby behind this domain. The phone, the form, and the calendar are how a conversation starts. We can look at the same screen without a drive.

Along Bellaire Boulevard there is a long run of restaurants and markets that any Texan can enjoy, and an older cluster of shops remains near the convention hall on the east side of downtown. We like that food the way you do. We still want the weekend receipts in the month they belong to.

Three questions we hear next

People ask whether we can start in the middle of a year. Yes, if we can see the months before the start date well enough to trust the beginning balance. Sometimes that is one reconciliation. Sometimes it is a season of catch up. We will not pretend a midyear start erases an unreconciled spring.

People ask whether the statements can go to a lender. Statements from closed months, without a signed opinion, can. A letter that demands an audit, a review, or a compilation cannot be answered by this practice. We will say that before you spend a month hoping otherwise, and we will still get the books into a shape a signing firm can use.

People ask how fast a return can be prepared. It can be prepared when the last month in the year is closed and the forms are in. A date on a calendar does not speed a missing bank file. If you have a real deadline, tell us the date and the month you trust, and we will say whether the path is a close or an extension.

Software, a second company, and the prior file

The software matters less than the export. We work from the files your system already produces, and we name the export we need. You do not have to learn a new screen on our account. If you are about to leave that software, say so. Moving tools in the middle of a catch up doubles the labor, and we would rather finish the open months in the old file.

Two companies need two closes. A shared bank account is a warning. Each company should keep its own books, its own tax payments, and its own payroll setup when it has people. If both have been running through one login, the first month is a sorting month. We will describe that sort before we quote the ongoing close.

A prior file is welcome. We read it before we talk about a rebuild. When the reconciliations hold, we continue from the last one that holds. When they do not, we name the month we trust and we start there. You should hear that judgment before you pay for a rebuild you may not need.

Some owners want the answer in writing. We will write it, and the note will name the month it relies on. If that month changes later, the answer changes with it. We will tell you, rather than leave the old note looking final.