Startup accounting services are sold with the assumption that a startup will grow into them, which is how a company with twelve transactions a month ends up paying for a monthly close built for a finance team. What a startup actually needs in its first years is narrower: reconciled books every month, a chart of accounts that will not need rebuilding, clean records of what founders and investors put in, and the payroll and tax filings done on time. This page sets out that scope, what can wait, and how to price it, and the scope sheet on this site sizes the monthly work from the startup's own counts.
What a startup needs from month one
One business account and card, reconciled monthly. A chart of accounts set up for the business it will be, not the one it is, so the numbers do not have to be restated when an investor asks. Every founder contribution, loan and investment recorded as what it is, because the cap table and the books have to agree. Payroll, if there is one, run by a provider and posted by the bookkeeper. A monthly profit and loss and balance sheet, even when they are small, because the habit is the asset.
What can wait
A monthly close with an approval queue, departmental reporting, accruals for a business that has no revenue to accrue, and a controller. Those arrive with a finance team, and buying them from a service before then is paying for ceremony. A startup's bookkeeping should be a small, reconciled, monthly job that a bookkeeper does in a few hours; the scope sheet on this site will show how few.
What investors and the IRS will ask for
Investors ask for reconciled books, a clean record of what was put in by whom, and the burn: what leaves each month and how long the cash lasts. The IRS asks for the records behind every return, kept for the years its rules name, and for employment tax records if there is payroll. A bookkeeper who has worked with startups knows both lists and sets the books up so that the answers fall out of the month-end reports rather than out of a scramble.
Choosing and pricing the service
Look for a bookkeeper or a firm that has done early-stage companies and can name what changes at a fundraise. Price the monthly scope on the pricing calculator from the startup's real counts, not from a package for a business ten times the size. Agree that the ledger is the company's, that the founders have a login, and that the handover to a future finance hire will be complete. A startup outgrows its first bookkeeper; the engagement should make that easy.
Questions people ask about startup accounting services
Does a startup need a CPA or a bookkeeper?
A bookkeeper monthly and a CPA at year end, like any small business, plus a CPA's advice at formation and at each fundraise. Paying a CPA to do monthly bookkeeping is the common early mistake.
Should a startup use a startup-specialist service?
It helps if the specialist has seen a fundraise and knows what changes. It does not help if the specialist's package is a finance team's close priced for a company with no revenue. Price the scope, not the label.
What records does a startup have to keep?
Everything behind every return, for the periods the IRS names, and employment tax records if there is payroll. Keep them by month from the start; reconstructing year one at a fundraise is expensive.
When does a startup need an in-house finance person?
When the monthly scope on the scope sheet is more hours than an outsourced engagement makes sense for, or when someone has to be in the room for decisions daily. The hiring sheet on this site prices the moment.