Bookkeeping and controller questions, answered.
What owners ask before working with us — including the things we do not do.
Getting started
What is the difference between a bookkeeper and a controller?
A bookkeeper records and reconciles transactions and produces clean monthly statements. A controller works one level up — owning the close, checking the numbers are right, and turning them into margin analysis, KPIs, and forecasts you can act on. Bookkeeping tells you what happened. Controller work tells you what it means.
Can I start with just bookkeeping?
Yes, and many do. Bookkeeping gets the books clean and reliable first. Controller work is added when the questions change from “are these numbers right” to “what do these numbers tell me.”
When should I add controller services?
The usual trigger is a decision you cannot make from the books you have — a hire, a price change, a second location, a lender asking questions. If you are exporting to a spreadsheet every time you need an answer, that is the signal.
Who is Averan for?
Businesses at any stage — startups that want the books right from day one, and companies that need a real close and controller-level reporting. Rather than sort by industry, we organize by how a business gets paid, because that is what actually decides how the books work. See who we serve.
How do we get started?
A short call, then a look at your current books. From there you get a written scope of what we would take on, what it costs, and what changes in the first ninety days. Get in touch to start.
Scope — what we do and don't do
Do you handle taxes?
No. Averan is not a CPA firm and does not provide tax, legal, or investment advice. We keep the books in the condition your CPA needs and work alongside them at filing time. Tax filing stays with them.
Do you provide fractional CFO services?
Not under Averan. That work is handled by our sister firm, Sync CFO. We take the books through bookkeeping, controller, and strategic planning; when a business needs standing CFO-level leadership, that is where it goes.
Do you run payroll?
We do not run it, we integrate it — so wages, taxes, and employer burden post to the right accounts instead of landing as one lump. Running payroll stays with your provider. See Systems & Automation QuickBooks Cleanup Outsourced Controller Month-End Close Sale Preparation.
Do you do the billing or collections?
No. We account for what your billing produces and make the results legible — separating what a customer owes from what a third party owes, and aging each properly. Chasing the money stays with you.
Are you an audit firm?
No. We keep records in audit-ready condition and provide the schedules and support your auditors ask for. We do not perform the audit.
Do you replace our current bookkeeper?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. Plenty of businesses keep an internal person for day-to-day entry and bring us in at the controller level above them. Both work.
How the work runs
What actually happens in a monthly close?
Accounts are reconciled, transactions are categorized and reviewed, accruals and adjustments are booked, and the statements are produced and checked, then sent. A close is finished when the numbers have been verified — not when the last transaction is entered.
What do you need from us each month?
Bank and card access or statements, payroll reports, and answers on anything ambiguous. The goal is a short list that shrinks as we learn the business.
What is a cleanup, and do we need one?
A cleanup brings historical books into a state you can rely on — correcting miscategorized transactions, fixing reconciliations that never tied, and rebuilding the chart of accounts where it is working against you. If your books have never closed properly or nobody trusts the numbers, you need one before ongoing work makes sense.
Can you handle multiple entities or locations?
Yes. Each entity is kept on its own books with intercompany activity reconciled, and consolidated reporting is produced on top. Location-level P&Ls only compare if every location uses the same structure, so standardizing that is usually step one.
How quickly can you close our books each month?
That depends on how fast third-party information arrives — bank feeds, payroll, merchant statements. What we commit to is a set close date each month rather than a moving one, because a predictable close is what makes the numbers usable.
Who owns our accounting file?
You do. It is your file, your subscription, and your data. If we stop working together you keep everything, including the structure and documentation we built.
Software and systems
What accounting software do you work in?
Primarily QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, where we hold ProAdvisor certification. We also work in Sage Intacct and NetSuite environments, and handle migrations between platforms.
Do we have to switch software to work with you?
Usually not. Most of the work is connecting and correcting what you already run. We recommend a move only when the current tool genuinely cannot do the job.
Can you migrate us from QuickBooks Desktop to Online?
Yes — and we will tell you when Online is the wrong destination. Multi-entity companies and some inventory-heavy operations are often better served on Desktop or Enterprise. See Systems & Automation QuickBooks Cleanup Outsourced Controller Month-End Close Sale Preparation.
Do you work with our existing tools?
That is the usual arrangement — your practice-management system, point-of-sale, job-costing software, or field app stays the operational source of truth, and the accounting close ties back to it each month.
Working together
How is this different from my current accountant or CPA?
A CPA typically looks backwards once a year to file. This is ongoing work on the books themselves — monthly, forward-looking, and built so the decisions you make in between are based on numbers you can trust. Most of our clients keep their CPA.
How does pricing work?
Pricing is scoped to the work rather than billed by the hour, and quoted after we have looked at the books. Cleanup of historical records is quoted separately as a one-time piece, since it is finite work with a defined end.
What happens in the first ninety days?
The first weeks are learning the business and reviewing what exists. The first month is cleanup and rebuilding the structure. By the end of the first quarter the close runs on schedule and reporting arrives when it is supposed to.
What if we outgrow you?
Then we say so. When the work becomes constant rather than periodic — usually around a transaction, an outside investor, or real capital complexity — the right answer is CFO-level leadership at Sync CFO or a full-time hire.
Where to next
Still have a question?
If it is not here, ask it. We will give you a straight answer, including when the answer is that we are not the right fit.
Get started