Accounting, tax & financial pros
Books and taxes for accounting firms.
Tax prep fees, audit and review engagements, advisory retainers, and partner draws that are not payroll. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
April made $52,000. The peer review invoice came in this month too, I kept it out of dues and subscriptions where it usually hides.
- Return prep invoicesTax return fees
- Advisory retainer draftAdvisory fees
- CCH AxcessTax research and software
- Staff accountant payrollStaff wages
- Peer review invoiceLicensing and compliance
Why your books are different
An accounting firm's own books hide in the same handful of places.
You tell clients not to mix service lines and not to book a draw as a paycheck. Your own firm's books break the same rules everyone else's do, because busy season leaves no time to fix them. Gus keeps the lines you would draw for a client.
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1
Audit fees and tax fees blur together
A firm doing both attest work and tax prep often bills them off the same invoice or the same client code, so nobody can tell which service line is actually carrying the practice.
What we doKeeps return preparation fees and attest engagement fees in separate lines, so each service shows its own numbers. -
2
Partner draws get booked like a paycheck
A partner pulling $8,000 a month against year-end profit is not payroll, but it often lands in the wages account anyway, which makes the firm's real profit impossible to read.
What we doKeeps partner draws separate from staff wages, so profit before distributions is always visible. -
3
The peer review fee gets lost in dues and subscriptions
A firm doing attest work pays for a peer review every three years, a real and sizable cost that shows up once and then gets buried in a catch-all account until it is forgotten by the time it comes around again.
What we doFlags the peer review invoice by name and keeps it in its own licensing line, so it never gets mistaken for a routine subscription. -
4
Advisory hours disappear into return prep
Hourly advisory and consulting work billed alongside compliance returns often lands in the same revenue account, hiding whether advisory work is actually the more profitable half of the practice.
What we doKeeps advisory and consulting fees in their own category, apart from return preparation, so each side of the practice is easy to compare. -
5
Busy season overflow staff get mislabeled
A firm that brings in extra preparers or a subcontracted accountant for the crunch often pays them the same way it pays full-time staff, which muddies both payroll and true busy season cost.
What we doKeeps seasonal contract help in its own line, separate from staff wages, so the real cost of busy season is visible after it ends.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for an accounting firm.
Set up once for how your firm bills and spends. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Tax return feesBusiness and individual return preparation, billed per engagement.
- Audit and review feesAttest engagements, kept apart from compliance work.
- Advisory feesHourly or fixed-fee consulting and planning work.
- Write-up retainersMonthly bookkeeping or controller work done for other clients.
- Extension and rush feesWhat clients pay to jump the spring queue.
Money out
- Staff wagesAssociates, seniors, and managers on payroll.
- Partner drawsDistributions to partners, kept apart from staff wages.
- Tax research and softwareCCH Axcess, Checkpoint, and similar subscriptions.
- Licensing and complianceState board renewals and the peer review fee.
- Continuing educationCPE courses and conference travel.
- Professional liability insuranceThe firm's own coverage against claims.
- Seasonal contract helpExtra preparers or subcontracted accountants brought in for the crunch.
- Office and client portal costsRent, e-signature tools, and secure document storage.
What we watch for you
- Service line split
Tax, audit, and advisory revenue against each other, so you know which one is really carrying the firm.
- Draws versus profit
What partners are pulling against what the firm actually made, before the year closes.
- Season split
How much of the year lands in the spring crunch versus the calmer months.
- Contract labor cost
What seasonal help costs against what busy season actually brings in.
Ask Gus
Things accounting firm partners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
No. I keep draws separate from wages, so they come out of equity, not profit. Your April number still shows what the firm actually earned.
Licensing and compliance, not dues and subscriptions. It is a real cost every three years, and now it will be easy to spot next time too.
That one is above my pay grade to say for certain from a bank feed alone. I keep the two revenue lines separate, and the accountant can walk through the margin with you.
The tax side
The tax side of running an accounting firm.
Most of what trips up a firm's own return is the same thing that trips up clients: mixing service lines, mistiming a deduction, or missing what a partner structure changes.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- The pass-through deduction can shrink hereUp to 20 percent of qualified business income can come off taxable income, but professional practices like this one are the kind where it can phase out faster once income passes the higher brackets. Worth a look every year, not just once.
- Partner structure and self-employment taxHow partners are paid, whether by draw, guaranteed payment, or K-1 share, changes what is subject to self-employment tax. Getting the structure right matters more than getting the return right.
- Section 179 on firm technologyServers, scanners, and workstations bought for the practice can usually be written off in the year purchased, up to $2,560,000, with 100 percent bonus depreciation on qualifying property bought after January 19, 2025.
- 1099s for busy season overflowA subcontracted preparer or accountant paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on staff payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
Deductions accounting firms miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Tax research subscriptions
- CPE courses and exam fees
- State board license renewal
- The peer review fee
- Professional liability insurance
- Practice management software
- Client portal and e-signature tools
- Secure document shredding
- Conference travel for CPE
- Office lease and utilities
- Staff recruiting costs
- Payroll processing fees
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
An accounting firm's year, kept every month.
Your calendar runs on other people's deadlines. Gus keeps the firm's own numbers moving in the background all year, so the firm that never misses a client date does not miss its own either. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Staff up and start
Seasonal help gets brought on, engagement letters go out, and the firm's own return gets started before the client rush hits full speed.
- April
The firm's own return, filed
Your firm's own return is filed and signed, right after the individual deadline clears, with no scramble because the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Midyear service-line check
Where the firm stands after the spring crunch, what advisory and write-up work brought in, and what the rest of the year looks like.
- October
Before the extension rush
A look at equipment or staffing worth doing before December, and what the extended filers coming due mean for the firm's own set-aside.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for accounting firms. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions accounting firm owners ask first.
Can Gus keep audit fees separate from tax prep fees?
Yes. He keeps attest engagement fees and return preparation fees in their own categories, so you can see which side of the practice is actually carrying it.
We use CCH Axcess and a client portal already. Does anything change?
No. Keep running the firm the way you do. Gus works from your bank statement, and he asks once if a deposit is unclear, then remembers the answer.
How does Gus handle partner draws versus staff payroll?
They stay in separate lines. Draws come out of equity, wages come out of payroll, and the firm's profit before distributions is always visible.
Our peer review is due this year. Does that change anything in the books?
It shows up as a licensing and compliance cost, kept apart from routine subscriptions, so it does not get missed or mistaken for something smaller.
Our books are a mess after busy season. Is that a problem?
No, and that is common right after a season like this one. Send what you have, whatever state it is in, and Gus works through it while the accountant checks behind him. Most firms know where they stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever