software selection & setup

The right accounting software, set up so it actually gets used

Most small business software problems are not software problems. The tool is fine and nobody ever configured it. We pick the right platform for how you actually work, set it up properly, and train the people who have to live in it.

Quoted as one number before we start. If your current setup is fine, we will tell you that and save you the money.

Book a free 20-minute call805-225-4959

Every setup includes

However big or small the project is.

  • A written recommendation with the reasoning, before you buy anything
  • Every subscription bought in your name, on your card
  • Training for the people who use it, not just the owner

Three reasons people call us about this

If one of these sounds like you, the call is worth twenty minutes.

Starting out

You are picking for the first time

New business, or you have outgrown the spreadsheet. You do not want to pick wrong and migrate again in eighteen months.

Usually a two week project.

Outgrowing it

The setup no longer fits the business

You added inventory, a second location, online sales or employees, and the file was never rebuilt around any of it. Now the reports do not mean anything.

Usually two to four weeks.

Inherited a mess

Somebody set it up badly and left

Two hundred accounts nobody uses, rules firing at the wrong things, three apps half-connected. It works just well enough that nobody has fixed it.

Often paired with a cleanup engagement.

what's included

The build, in order

  • Selection: we look at how you actually work, compare the real candidates side by side, and give you a written recommendation with the costs and the trade-offs
  • Chart of accounts: rebuilt around the decisions you need to make and the way your CPA files, not a template with two hundred accounts you will never use
  • Connections: banks, credit cards, payment processors, point of sale, eCommerce and Gusto connected and tested with real transactions
  • Rules and automation: categorization rules, approval routing and recurring entries set up so the routine work stops needing a person
  • Migration: history brought across and tied out to your last filed return, so the opening balances are defensible
  • Reports and permissions: the reports you will actually read, and access limited to what each person needs
  • Training and handover: live sessions recorded for whoever joins later, plus a short written guide for your team

What we will not do

We will not recommend software because we get paid to. If a referral fee exists on something we recommend, we will tell you it exists and what it is worth.

We will not sell you a migration you do not need. Plenty of these calls end with us saying your current setup is fine and it needs two afternoons of tidying rather than a project.

Typical fit

Businesses doing $250K to $25M a year that have outgrown how they started, or are moving off spreadsheets, desktop software, or a setup somebody else abandoned.

What we work in

We know a small number of tools thoroughly rather than a long list adequately. If the right answer for you is something we do not run, we will say so and point you at who does.

Core accounting

  • QuickBooks Online
  • QuickBooks Desktop
  • Xero
  • Gusto for payroll

These are the four we set up, run and support day to day.

Connected around it

  • Bill pay and approvals
  • Expense and receipt capture
  • Shopify, Amazon and WooCommerce
  • Square and other point of sale
  • Inventory and job costing
  • Time tracking

We choose from a short list per category based on your volume and budget.

How it is priced

Every setup is quoted as a single project after a free scoping call. The number depends on how many systems are involved, how much history moves, and how many people need training. You get one figure in writing before anything starts, and it does not move unless you change what you asked for.

There is no hourly meter, and there is no charge for the call where we work out what you need.

What affects the number

  • How many systems have to talk to each other
  • Whether history is migrated or you start clean
  • Whether the old file needs cleanup first
  • How many people need training
  • Inventory, multi-location or multi-entity

Software subscriptions are separate and always billed to you directly.

How the project runs

1

Scoping call

Twenty minutes on what you run now, what breaks, and what you need the numbers to tell you.

2

Recommendation

A written comparison with costs and trade-offs, and one clear recommendation. Yours to keep either way.

3

Build and migrate

We configure, connect and test everything against real transactions before anyone else touches it.

4

Train and hand over

Live training, recorded, plus a written guide. Then thirty days of questions at no charge.

What this is not

Said up front, so nobody finds out halfway through.

  • This is not an IT project. We do not set up your network, your email, your computers or your phones.
  • We do not build custom software or write code against your accounting system's API.
  • We are not resellers. Every subscription is bought in your name, on your card, and stays yours.
  • Cleaning up a broken file is separate work, quoted as its own engagement. Setup assumes we are building forward, not repairing backward.
  • We do not implement enterprise systems such as NetSuite or Sage Intacct. If that is genuinely what you need, we will tell you and step aside.

Software setup FAQ

How long does it take?

A straightforward QuickBooks Online or Xero setup with a couple of connections is usually about two weeks. Add inventory, eCommerce, multiple locations or a history migration and it runs to four or six.

You get the timeline with the quote, and we tell you what we need from you and when, so the project does not stall waiting on a login nobody remembered.

Do I have to switch platforms?

Usually not. Most of the time the platform is fine and the setup underneath it is the problem, and rebuilding what you already own is cheaper and less disruptive than moving.

We only recommend moving when the current tool genuinely cannot do what you need, and we will show you the specific thing it cannot do rather than asking you to take our word for it.

Will I lose my history?

No. We migrate history and tie the opening balances out to your last filed tax return, so your prior years still reconcile and your CPA can follow what happened.

The old file stays available too. We do not close anything down until you have confirmed the new one is right.

Do you get paid by the software companies?

Where a referral or partner arrangement exists, we tell you it exists and what it is worth before you buy. Every subscription goes on your card, in your name.

We would rather lose a small commission than recommend the wrong tool and spend the next two years maintaining it.

Do I have to sign up for monthly bookkeeping?

No. Setup is a standalone project and plenty of clients take the new system and run it themselves.

If you do want us to keep the books afterwards, that is a separate monthly plan and a separate decision.

What if my team will not use it?

That is the most common way these projects fail, which is why training is part of every quote rather than an upsell at the end.

We train the people who actually do the work, record the sessions for whoever joins later, and stay available for thirty days afterwards while the habits form.

Find out if you actually need this

Twenty minutes on the phone. If your current setup is fine, we will say so.

Book a free 20-minute call 805-225-4959