Common Bookkeeping FAQs
Here at Protea Financial, we get asked a lot of questions from our current and prospective clients. In order to help, we have come up with FAQs to help decide if we are a good fit. Please take a look through them to see if they help answer any questions you have. If you have specific questions on bookkeeping you would like us to answer, please fill out the form below and email us. We will do our best to answer each of them!
Protea Financial is a Client Advisory Service (CAS) business. We offer a comprehensive range of accounting and advisory services tailored to meet the needs of your business. Our services include:
- Accounting Services: Bookkeeping! We record your business’s historical transactions, keeping your financial records accurate and up-to-date.
- Back-office Processing: We ensure actions needed by the business are covered. We can help you pay vendors, issue invoices, run payroll, and file your sales and local taxes accurately and on time!
- Financial Reporting: Providing detailed reports to help you make informed business decisions.
- Inventory Costing and Management: Bulk wine/beverage inventory costing including analyzing production cost to help manage financial performance, control costs, and ensure accurate pricing, as well as finished cased goods (SKU) inventory costing, tracking and reconciliations.
- Advisory Services: Offering insights and strategies to improve financial health and business performance.
We do not prepare state and federal income tax returns, but we work closely with trusted partners to meet all your income tax needs.
At Protea, we specialize in wineries and the wine business with a broader focus on the beverage industry. Our deep expertise in these sectors allows us to provide industry-specific insights, efficient expert inventory costing, accurate financial structuring, and the ability to talk your language. We also serve clients in other industries where it benefits our beverage business owners, including leveraging our incredible team to help with personal accounting needs.
We take data security and confidentiality very seriously. Here’s how we protect your information:
- Secure Practice Management Software: We use Karbon to manage and protect your data.
- Secure Document Exchange: We use Karbon client tasks and Dropbox for secure data sharing.
- Data Storage and Password Management: Your data is stored securely, and our team receives regular training, including monthly phishing tests, to manage passwords and protect your information.
Our pricing is transparent and straightforward. We primarily operate on an hourly billing basis, ensuring you only pay for the services you use. We do not offer the lowest prices, but our fees reflect our exceptional service and value. We encourage clients to discuss their specific needs with us so we can provide an accurate estimate and avoid any hidden fees.
Our rates start from as little as $65 per hour.
Our typical average billing is $1,650 per month.
Effective communication is a cornerstone of our service. Here’s how we ensure you stay informed:
- Regular Updates: We provide regular updates and detailed financial reports per your business needs.
- Responsive Support: Our team adheres to a 24-hour response rule, ensuring your questions are answered promptly.
- Clear Communication Protocols: We establish clear communication protocols from the outset so you know exactly what to expect regarding response times and reporting.
Protea Financial is a Client Advisory Service (CAS) business. We offer a comprehensive range of accounting and advisory services tailored to meet the needs of your business. Our services include:
- Accounting Services: Bookkeeping! We record your business’s historical transactions, keeping your financial records accurate and up-to-date.
- Back-office Processing: We ensure actions needed by the business are covered. We can help you pay vendors, issue invoices, run payroll, and file your sales and local taxes accurately and on time!
- Financial Reporting: Providing detailed reports to help you make informed business decisions.
- Inventory Costing and Management: Bulk wine/beverage inventory costing including analyzing production cost to help manage financial performance, control costs, and ensure accurate pricing, as well as finished cased goods (SKU) inventory costing, tracking and reconciliations.
- Advisory Services: Offering insights and strategies to improve financial health and business performance.
We do not prepare state and federal income tax returns, but we work closely with trusted partners to meet all your income tax needs.
Thanks to the cloud and videoconferencing options, there’s no longer any inherent advantage to meeting with a bookkeeper in person. You can share information from anywhere. In fact, working with a virtual bookkeeper means you have more options and can look for someone who specializes in bookkeeping for your industry.
This depends on how much bookkeeping work you have and what you need. When you contact Protea Financial, we’ll discuss what your needs are and how much work you’ll have for your bookkeeper. Then we’ll determine a schedule for your virtual bookkeeper that meets those needs.
There are a variety of different ways you can reach out to your virtual bookkeeper. You can call them, communicate via email, set up virtual meetings, or do a combination of all three. We’ll use whatever method of communication you’re most comfortable with.
Yes, all our bookkeepers are trained in professional bookkeeping practices and standards. Many have additional training and certifications and have experience working in a variety of bookkeeping and accounting positions.
