A laptop open on a dark table, screen dark, binders behind it.

Last month, on your screen

Virtual Bookkeeping Today leaves the month closed.

Steven Palmieri, a Tax CFO and the Entrepreneur's CFO, closes the month on the screen you already open, sets payroll up with the provider you run, and prepares the return from those months.

Open the form A person writing on a sheet of paper beside an open laptop.

Say what last month looks like

The practice is in Dallas.

You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.

The Tax CFO way on your screen.

A closed month counts what happened. A Tax CFO decides what happens next, on this screen.

The figure the year can still use

A tidy screen can still hide a month that nobody has closed.

Click to see the figure ›Tap to see the figure ›

A bank feed with one unnamed card line highlighted, here because the month stays open until that line has a name.

When the feed is not the finish

Lines arrive before anyone has named them. Until a person names the odd charge, the month is still open.

Click to see the feed ›Tap to see the feed ›

A phone showing payday already ran, net 8,600, here because payday should be visible on the screen.

Payday, after someone runs it

Payday should show on the same day of the cycle, after you or your provider have run it. The screen is where you look.

Click to see payday ›Tap to see payday ›

A person at a laptop, with a phone and a handwritten note on the desk.

Whose name stays on the file

The subscription should stay in your name. An invite we can be removed from is enough for us to see the month.

Click to see the name ›Tap to see the name ›

Two panes, August closed and September still moving, here because a blended screen can hide an open month.

What a Tuesday screen shows

One pane for the month that is closed. Another for the lines still moving. If they are blended, an open month can pass for a finished one.

Click to see a Tuesday ›Tap to see a Tuesday ›

A calendar with 15 October marked for the estimate, here because those dates need a month that already matches.

Dates a closed month can meet

The estimate and the quarterly payroll return both need a month that already matches the bank. A calm dashboard does not move those dates.

Click to see the dates ›Tap to see the dates ›

Six troubles a screen can hide.

After a long night with the books, the month either matches the bank or it does not.

1The lines keep arriving and last month is still open.
We name the odd charge with you, then the month can tie to the bank.
A busy feed feels like progress. Finish is a person saying the month matches.
2Payday never shows on the screen.
We set the provider up. You, or that provider, still run payday.
Wages that never land on the screen leave the month unfinished, whoever clicked submit.
3A deposit landed and it may not be a sale.
We ask where the money came from before it is treated as income.
Money you put in, and money a customer paid, do not belong in the same pile.
4Last month is closed and a choice is still open.
That finished month is what we sit on with you before December.
The useful figure is the one you can still act on, not a number that arrives in the spring.
5The only login belongs to somebody else.
We would rather be a guest in a file you still own.
If you part ways later, the screen should still open for you the next morning.
6The estimate is close and the month under it is still open.
That open month gets closed here before anyone prepares the voucher.
A voucher built on an open month is how a year gets spent against a guess.

Name the trouble

Steven Palmieri

Steven Palmieri signs this work as a Tax CFO, the person owners mean by the Entrepreneur's CFO.

Tell us what the screen shows

One sentence is enough.

You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.

What the screen is actually for

A login is not a close

You can open the file every morning and still not know whether last month is finished. The feed drops lines in before anyone has matched them. A card charge still needs a person to say what it was. The subscription should stay in your name so the screen is still yours if we ever part.

Virtual Bookkeeping Today is the name of this door. Behind that name sits a monthly close, payroll arranged with the provider you already run, statements an owner can actually read, and a return built only after the bank already matches those months.

A deposit is not automatically a sale

Money that lands in the bank can be a customer, a loan, or cash you put in yourself. Treating every deposit as income makes the month look healthier than the shop was. We ask where it came from before it is labeled.

That question is ordinary. It is also the one a tidy dashboard skips, because the line already has an amount and the screen looks done.

The year, while you can still change it

A closed month is useful twice. It tells you what already happened, and it is the ground under a choice you can still make this year. Owner pay, a purchase you can time, and the estimate you send in are all still open while the year is open.

We read that with you. We do not wait for spring and then explain a year you can no longer touch.

If the month is still open, the screen should say so

Relief is seeing a closed month. Honesty is seeing that it is not closed yet. Both belong on the screen. If you cannot find a pane that says last month is finished, that is the thing to send us. We would rather start there than pretend the feed has already done the job.

The estimate vouchers and the quarterly payroll return both want that finished pane. Form 1040-ES and Form 941 do not get more honest because the dashboard looks calm. We read the closed month with you before either date, and we say so when the pane is still moving. A notice on the kitchen table is the same kind of moment. The number on it is only as good as the month underneath.

Keep reading

The figure October can still use Questions the screen should answer Who is on the other side