Bookkeeping › Monthly
Monthly bookkeeping on a fixed close date.
Published range $550–$1,800/mo
Every month runs the same way: statements collected, transactions coded, each account tied to its statement, the close checked, and the reports sent on a fixed date you can plan around.
Reviewed before delivery means a documented check runs before anything reaches you: every bank and card account tied to its statement, open items listed in writing. How the review works.
A flat fee each month, agreed in writing. Returns stay with your CPA; the books stay ready for them.
Quick answer
Monthly service fits once the books are already clean and current. If any month is unentered or any account disagrees with its statement, a one-time catch-up or cleanup comes first, and the monthly close takes over from that clean starting point. The flat fee depends on transaction volume, account count and extras, never hourly.
Transaction volume and the number of accounts to tie out move the monthly figure most. What the range covers.
The close checklist
Ten checks every month goes through before reports go out.
A monthly service is only as dependable as its routine. This is ours, run in the same order each period, so a question about any month can be answered from the record rather than from memory.
Account-level differences found along the way are traced the same way our reconciliation work traces them: cause first, no balancing plugs.
- Bank and card accounts tied to their month-end statements.
- Loan balances agreed to the lender, each payment split into principal and interest.
- Payroll entries agreed to the provider's register, liabilities cleared against deposits.
- Processor payouts grossed up into sales, fees and refunds.
- Undeposited Funds and clearing accounts emptied.
- Uncategorized items coded, or sent to you as questions.
- Receivables and payables aging checked for stale items.
- Profit and loss compared with last month, large swings explained.
- The whole close reviewed before delivery.
- Closing date moved forward so the finished month is protected.
The monthly exchange
What you receive each month, and the little we need back.
Monthly bookkeeping is a two-way routine. The reports depend on a handful of things only you can supply.
What you receive
A profit and loss you can read
Laid out for an owner, by month and category, with location or class splits where they help. How to read one.
A balance sheet that balances
The report lenders and CPAs open first, with every account behind it tied out.
A short note on what moved
Plain English on the swings worth knowing about, so you don't have to hunt for them.
What we need from you
Statements or connected feeds
Read-only access where the bank allows it, statements where it doesn't.
Payroll reports
Only if your payroll provider isn't connected to the file already.
Answers to the questions list
Short answers: what a transfer was for, whether a purchase is equipment or supplies.
A heads-up on changes
New accounts, loans, vehicles or hires, so they're set up correctly the first month.
Worked example · one month
A specimen package: what lands in your inbox after a close.
Four parts arrive together each month: the reconciliation summary, the profit and loss, the balance sheet, and the open-items list. Here are the first and the last, filled in for a made-up business.
Illustrative example — not client data. Assumptions stated.
Reconciliation summary
| Account | Statement closing balance | Items not yet cleared | Balance in the books | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating checking | $48,212.40 | Two checks, −$1,225.00 | $46,987.40 | $0.00 |
| Savings | $20,000.00 | None | $20,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Business credit card | $6,314.18 owed | None | $6,314.18 owed | $0.00 |
| Equipment loan | $31,480.00 owed | None | $31,480.00 owed | $0.00 |
| Payroll liabilities | Provider shows nothing due | None | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Open-items list
- Two checks totalling $1,225.00, written on the 29th, haven't cleared. They're rechecked at next month's close.
- A $2,400.00 deposit on the 14th matches no invoice. Question sent: a customer payment, or a transfer from the owner?
- A supplier bill for $860.00 is posted without its receipt. Receipt requested.
- A $3,900.00 equipment purchase went through the card. Is it financed? The answer decides whether a loan is set up.
The profit and loss arrives with last month beside it and a short note on anything that moved; the balance sheet ties to the summary above, line by line.
- A business with checking, savings, one credit card, an equipment loan and a payroll provider.
- The card's statement period is aligned to the month for simplicity.
- Every balance and open item is made up for the specimen.
Figure data as a table
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Statements come in | Read-only feeds where the bank allows them, statements where it doesn't, and payroll reports if the provider isn't connected. |
| 2. Transactions coded | Each line coded to the chart of accounts; anything unclear goes to you as a short question. |
| 3. Every account tied out | Bank, card and loan balances agreed to statements; payouts grossed up, clearing accounts emptied. |
| 4. The close reviewed | The P&L read against last month, swings explained, then the closing date moved forward. |
| 5. Reports by the 10th | P&L, balance sheet, reconciliation summary and open items, once your records are in. |
Starting point
Monthly work starts from books that are already right.
A monthly close keeps sound books sound. It can't repair a broken file or fill a backlog on the side, so those come first when they apply.
Months missing → catch-up
Periods with nothing entered are built from statements, deadline months first, until the file reaches the present.
Catch-up bookkeepingMonths wrong → cleanup
Recorded periods that don't hold up get the ledger rebuilt from its starting balances before monthly work begins.
Whole-ledger cleanupNot sure whether either applies? Our first look at your books checks, and puts any one-time work and the monthly fee in the same written scope.
Switching mid-year
Taking over from a current bookkeeper.
Changing providers doesn't have to wait for year-end. We review the file as it stands, agree the balances at the handover month, and run the next close ourselves, so the calendar keeps going.
If the earlier work turns out to need correcting, that is scoped separately and in writing, rather than folded quietly into the monthly fee. How the switch works.
Good monthly bookkeeping is meant to be forgettable: the same steps, the same date, and reports you can act on without second-guessing them.
FAQ · Updated October 2026
What owners ask before handing over the monthly books.
Want the numbers explained as well as delivered? Advisory builds on a clean monthly close.
Get a free books review
Put your books on a monthly calendar.
Tell us about your accounts and roughly how many transactions pass through them. We look at where the books stand now and whether they need one-time work first. The free books review closes with a written scope and one fixed fee; no price is guessed on the call.