Accounting Services

Monthly Bookkeeping

Accurate books are only useful if they are current. Guide Accounting maintains monthly bookkeeping for businesses and nonprofits across Alabama — transactions categorized correctly, accounts reconciled, and the period closed on a predictable schedule. We work either as your full accounting function or alongside existing staff, depending on what the organization already has in place.

Bank & Credit Card Reconciliations

Reconciliation is the control that catches what everything else misses. Guide Accounting reconciles every bank and credit card account monthly, without exception, identifying errors, duplicate charges, unrecorded activity, and potential fraud while the trail is still fresh. Discrepancies are researched and resolved rather than carried forward as unexplained balances.

Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable Management

Receivables and payables are where cash flow is won or lost day to day. Guide Accounting manages the full cycle — invoicing, collection follow-up, vendor bill entry, approval routing, and payment scheduling — so revenue is collected on time and obligations are met without straining cash. We provide aging reports and payment recommendations monthly, giving you visibility into both sides of the ledger.

Payroll Processing Oversight

Payroll is unforgiving: it must be correct every cycle, and errors are expensive to unwind. Guide Accounting oversees payroll processing as part of the broader accounting function — verifying wages, withholdings, benefit deductions, and tax filings, and reconciling payroll to the general ledger each period. We coordinate directly with your payroll provider so the process runs without requiring your attention.

Monthly Close & Controller-Level Oversight

A close that takes six weeks is not a close. Guide Accounting manages the monthly close at a controller level — reviewing the general ledger, posting accruals and adjusting entries, analyzing account balances, and delivering financial statements within days of period end. We provide the review layer that bookkeeping alone does not: catching misclassifications, questioning unusual balances, and confirming the financials hold up under scrutiny.

General Ledger Maintenance

The chart of accounts determines whether financial statements describe a business or obscure it. Guide Accounting structures and maintains the general ledger so reporting aligns with how the organization actually operates — by department, location, program, or funding source as needed. We clean up legacy account structures that have accumulated over time and keep the ledger disciplined going forward.

Financial Statement Preparation

Guide Accounting prepares complete financial statements — balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows — on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, with comparative periods and supporting schedules. Statements are formatted for management, board, and lender use and presented consistently, so trends remain readable from one period to the next.

Internal Controls Assessment

Most small organizations operate with informal controls — often one person handling deposits, disbursements, and reconciliation alike. Guide Accounting evaluates the existing control environment, identifies where authority and access are concentrated, and recommends practical safeguards: separation of duties, approval thresholds, documented authorization limits, and review procedures. Recommendations are scaled to organizations that cannot simply add headcount, and prioritized by risk. Findings are delivered in writing, so the assessment can be shared with a board or audit committee.

Financial Process & Systems Review

Accounting systems that were set up quickly, or that grew without design, eventually become the constraint. Guide Accounting reviews your accounting software configuration, chart of accounts, workflows, and month-end procedures against how the business actually runs. We deliver a prioritized written assessment — what is working, what is not, and what to address first — with specific recommendations rather than general observations.

Audit Preparation Assistance

An external audit goes smoothly or poorly depending almost entirely on preparation. Guide Accounting readies your organization for a financial statement audit: reconciling accounts, assembling supporting schedules and requested documentation, resolving open items in advance, and serving as primary liaison during fieldwork. We bring experience from more than twenty external audits completed without post-closing adjustments. Nonprofit engagements include grant compliance documentation and functional expense allocation support. [This is preparation for an audit performed by an independent CPA firm — Guide Accounting does not conduct audits or issue attest opinions.]