
Business Advisory Services
Everything you need to help you launch your new business entity from business entity selection to multiple-entity business structures.
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Everything you need to help you launch your new business entity from business entity selection to multiple-entity business structures.

Designed for rental property owners where WCG CPAs & Advisors supports you as your real estate CPA.

Everything you need from tax return preparation for your small business to your rental to your corporation is here.

Posted Saturday, July 6, 2024
Table Of Contents
The best reason to use a small business accountant isn’t just “compliance”- it’s opportunity cost. Your time is best spent in your zone of genius; let us handle ours.
Sure, anyone can buy a QuickBooks subscription, but the drawbacks of DIY accounting are often subtle until they become very broken and mildly expensive.
QuickBooks has a way of making everyone feel like a CPA. But accounting is a profession, not a hobby, and it extends far beyond checking off boxes in a bank feed. We often hear: “What do you mean my books are a mess? All my accounts are reconciled!”
The reality? Business owners are usually great at making widgets, but, and to be blunt, they’re typically lousy at accounting. Keep in mind that WCG CPAs & Advisors sees over 6,000 financial statements a year. We know what looks good, what is actually good, and what is one hot mess. We see:
The list goes on (and on, and on, like a Journey song).
WCG is more than just a data-entry service. We define accounting as Bookkeeping + Analysis. Our approach is designed to:
Banks, lenders, and the IRS trust financials prepared by professional accountants. These agencies review records daily; they can spot accidental inconsistencies from a mile away. Having a CPA involved from the start provides a “seal of approval” that DIY software simply can’t offer.
Ultimately, it comes down to a simple question: Would you rather be closing your next sale, BBQing with friends, or getting sucked into a QuickBooks rabbit hole on a Sunday afternoon? Anyone?
Focus on growing your business. We’ll focus on analyzing the data, handling the operational reporting, and ensuring your tax consequence is as low as legally possible.
We have a handful of jumping off points-
| Monthly Accounting (bookkeeping + analysis) [more] | starting at $525 per month |
| Bi-Monthly Accounting (bookkeeping + analysis every 2 months) | starting at $280 per month |
| Quad-Monthly Accounting (bookkeeping + analysis every 4 months) | starting at $190 per month |
| Annual Compliance Bookkeeping For Tax Return Prep [more] | typically $1,200 annually |
| Annual Accounting | starting at $1,800 annually |
| Rental Property Bookkeeping [more] | starting at $1,200 annually |
| Sales Tax | typically $75 per month, or typically $150 per quarter |
| Personal Property Tax | typically $40 per month, or starting at $500 annually |
All starting points assume two bank accounts (such as one checking and one credit card), and fewer than 250 transactions and 10 manual checks per month. Do we really count each transaction? No, but we have to start somewhere.
WCG is a leader in finding value for our clients, and as such we have introduced the unique bi-monthly cadence for reconciliations and financial statements. For some business owners, this works perfectly since they still get data frequently for operational considerations and the “where am I spending my money” question, but at a lower fee. Frankly, going from 12 deliverables to 6 allows you, the busy business owner, to focus more on the impact of each set of financial statements and not be distracted by noise created simply because of frequency.
activities.
Quad-Monthly (every 4 months or 3 times a year) is designed for the small business owner who doesn’t rely on their financial statements to assess the health of their business or need them for periodic business reviews, including advanced tax planning. They are more interested in taking chores off their plate, recording all valid tax deductions and being prepared quickly for an early business tax return.
Deliverables are around May / June and then again in September / October. When considering that our tax planning season is May, June and July, the predictability of the future based on a singular May / June financial statement can be challenging. This is where you, the savvy business owner, comes in to help use the limited history to predict the future.
Annual Accounting Services are available but they come with a massive limitation. We can only perform annual accounting starting in April. Why? January, February and March are nutty for our Accounting Services Team as they wrap up all the monthly, bi-monthly and quad-monthly cadences above and synthesize a tax package for timely tax return preparation. Wait! There’s more.
Annual accounting services come in two variants-
For certain engagements that vary from time to time, we will customize a base plus model where we have a base fee which includes so many hours, and if we exceed those hours during the reporting period, we charge an hourly rate of $250. These engagements are not super common, but at times are required given the ebb and flow of your business activities.
Ok, nobody likes little fees here and there. But…
Our quoted Accounting Services scope of work and therefore fees rely on a stable environment. At times, your spending and business habits can change or spike or make left turns, or whatever you want to call it. As such, here is a list of Accounting Services Add-On fees, and to save energy and avoid unnecessary hassles, these fees are invoiced and automatically paid with the payment information on file. We will always explain the add-on fee to you ahead of time.
| Loan Setup and Amortization Schedule | $75 |
| Rental Asset Setup | See Rental Setup |
| Bank Account or Credit Card Account | $150 |
| Transaction Exceedance (over scope, per 250) | $150 |
| Check Transaction Exceedance (over scope, per 10) | $100 |
These are the common add-on fees that we can price accordingly. The following list outlines examples of out of scope requests and accounting matters that are charged at $250 per hour. Of course, these issues are discussed with you and agreed upon before starting-
Adjusting and clean up work for accounting software modules not being used properly. Huh? Did we just blame you? Maybe. Practically, many software packages that plug into or connect with or integrate or whatever sales brochure verb is being tossed around work... most of the time. These relationships are fragile, however. An update here. A fat finger there. An accidental click here. And these things can break.
We will deliver your financials in draft form if you do not respond to our emails regarding missing information or clarifications. No biggie, but at the same time we need to move off and move along. As such, we publish Draft Financial Statements, and clearly identify the issues preventing us from finalizing the data set. Should you later clarify the unresolved issues, additional fees may apply to resolve those items after the draft is issued.
WCG specializes in real estate investors and as such we provide accounting services for rental properties. Rental properties are a business like any other, and the proper tracking of revenue and more importantly the associated expenses are essential. The bookends to the varying service levels are your common single-family rental (SFR) home and that large commercial property with several tenants. That’s the X axis. The Y axis becomes tax return complexity based on number of owners, number of activities (rentals) or both.
Most of our real estate property owners with 1-5 rentals usually opt for annual compliance bookkeeping as described above. While you could record and present routine rental property transactions using QuickBooks Online and generate pretty financial statements… and while us nerdy accountants love formalized accounting platforms… this might be akin to killing a housefly with a sledgehammer. Yes, the fly is dead, but did you need such a massive swatter?
The Xero Alternative: If you want the power of a formalized platform without the “QuickBooks Tax,” we often recommend Xero. It is a wonderful accounting platform that is far more economical than QBO especially when you need to use Classes. Think of Classes like locations: whether you have multiple restaurants or a portfolio of rental properties, Classes allow you to segregate data into distinct “buckets.” This ensures tax reporting accuracy and allows for deep financial performance analysis without paying for a top-tier QBO subscription just to unlock a basic tracking feature.
Once you start hitting 6 or more rentals, you add complexity based on volume alone. In these situations, we strongly suggest quad-monthly accounting or begrudgingly annual accounting. However, compliance bookkeeping is not available. Most of our real estate investors with more then 20 rentals leverage bi-monthly accounting services simply because of the volume of transactions.
Mincing expenditures between an immediate expense and a capital improvement is where defensive bookkeeping pays for itself. To do this correctly, we first determine your Unit of Property (UOP). Under IRS regulations, we don’t just look at “the house,” rather we look at all nine critical systems: the building structure, plus plumbing, electrical, HVAC, elevators, escalators, fire protection, gas distribution, and security systems
By identifying these systems separately, we often categorize immediate deductions that others would bury in a 27.5-year depreciation schedule. This is because we can often classify a major expense as a “repair” if it only affects a minor portion of that specific building system. WCG applies the BRA test (Betterment, Restoration, or Adaptation) to these units of property (UoP’s) to ensure you are maximizing current-year deductions and not capitalizing otherwise deductible expenditures.
This is precisely why having WCG handle your accounting is a strategic move. A standard bookkeeper will see a $5,000 invoice and guess between “Expense” or “Asset” based on a hunch. That’s a coin flip you can’t afford. We leverage the de minimis, small taxpayer, and routine maintenance safe harbors as the work happens, ensuring your records are built to defend every deduction. This is the difference between a tax preparer who simply reacts to your data at year-end and a WCG strategist who builds a bulletproof ledger that minimizes your tax consequence from the start.
Laid it on pretty thick there, huh?!

Commercial real estate is like a snowflake- no two are alike. You could have a single-user property hosting a Starbucks. You could have a 12-unit apartment complex. You could have a strip-mall with all kinds of moving parts.
Next, commercial rentals could either be gross rental leases or NNN. Gross rent arrangements are straightforward and are similar to any single-family rental property. While triple net or NNN leases are no different in terms of memorializing the transactions, your tenants are also supplied versions of the financial statements since they directly share in the expenses. Specifically, expenses such as property taxes, insurance and maintenance are passed along and reimbursed by the tenant.
When you have multiple rental properties, transactions are “classed” or “tracked” within your accounting platform. This allows for reporting separation between the activities (properties) while maintaining one data file for simplicity. Whether you use QuickBooks Online, Xero, or REIHub, we ensure your financial statements show each property in its own column, allowing for clean revenue and expense analysis.
Common expenses among all rental activities such as umbrella insurance policies or maintenance personnel salaries are allocated to each property. This allocation can be based on revenue (the more revenue, the more risk or maintenance) or based on a straight percentage (3 rentals… umbrella insurance is allocated 1/3 1/3 1/3). As you can see, more discussion is required in these situations. Please see our section on allocations from our rental book.
Selfishly, using a separate checkbook for each rental property makes bookkeeping life a bit easier. When rental properties share a checkbook, then that Home Depot expense or that tree service expense becomes a “whodunit” mystery. Another option is using a business credit card where you can have a series of cards, each with different ending account numbers, that can be tied to a specific property. This is similar to employee credit cards where all the expenditures are reported on a combined statement but is also grouped by each employee.
We strongly and obnoxiously encourage one tax return per QuickBooks, Xero or REIHub data file. For example, you own a rental with your brother-in-law and report that activity on a partnership tax return (Form 1065). You also own other properties 100% by yourself or with your spouse which might be reported on Schedule E of your Form 1040 tax return. In this example, two data files might be required.
Alternatively with our example above, you could mix and match- the rental property owned within a partnership could be memorialized within QBO or Xero while the rentals you own personally could be tracked with compliance bookkeeping (Excel pivot tables).
If you own a rental with others, usually formalized accounting using QBO is required for tax return preparation on Form 8825 and Form 1065. Balance sheet items, capital accounts, and tracking inside and outside basis become critical. Additionally, proper bank reconciliation and cash tracing is required. In any business deal including rental properties, valuation and exit strategies rely on accurate accounting.
Did you pay for some Home Depot stuff with personal funds because you forgot the rental credit card? No biggie, but that is actually a capital contribution to the partnership or you need to get reimbursed with actual cash movement. Formalized accounting ensures these “oops” moments are captured correctly so your basis remains accurate.
As you might be aware, WCG CPAs & Advisors recommend owning rental properties in multi-member limited liability companies (MMLLCs) because of the lower audit rate and the ability to mechanically show your ability to deduct rental losses (your at-risk money and basis in the venture). In other words, a K-1 issued by the partnership and reported on your individual tax return flies way below the radar. However, if you own a rental with your spouse in a MMLLC taxed as a partnership, formalized accounting might not be necessary.
If you are new to WCG CPAs & Advisors, or if you have recently acquired a rental property, here are typical set up fees-
| Rental Setup, Existing Rental Prior to 2025 (unless nutty asset listing) | $125 ea |
| Rental Setup, New Rental Purchased in 2025 (yay!) | $200 ea |
| Rental Setup, New Short Term Rental Purchased in 2025 | $250 ea |
| Add On: Cost Seg Setup, New Rental in 2025 | $150 |
| Add On: Rental Acquired in a 2025 1031 Exchange | $250 |
| Add On: Rental Acquired before 2025 in a 1031 Exchange | $350 |
| Add On: Commercial, 4-Plex, Apartments, Several Assets | varies |
WCG has become a coast-to-coast leader in short-term rental (STR) tax strategy. While many STRs can technically fall into the Annual Bookkeeping category above, they often present like high-volume commercial properties especially in the first year.
The startup phase is a whirlwind of furniture purchases, linens, repairs, and platform fees. If you aren’t tracking these meticulously, you are leaving thousands in deductions on the table.
If you have a handful of STRs with varying management models (self-managed via Airbnb/VRBO vs. boutique property managers), formalized accounting is a non-negotiable. We help you solve the three biggest STR headaches:
If you only have one vacation rental, annual compliance bookkeeping might suffice. However, once you scale to three or more units or if you are leveraging the STR Loophole to offset W-2 income ‘defensive’ accounting isn’t optional. In an audit, the IRS doesn’t just look at your calendar; they look at your ledger to see if your activity matches your claims. Material participation and time logs must have corroboration with your financial data.

To move from reading about our services to seeing how they apply to your specific situation, the Accounting Assessment is the essential next step. By sharing a few details about your current setup and goals, we can tailor a scope of work and fee structure that fits your business perfectly.
We don’t believe in “call center” accounting. When you engage with WCG, you aren’t just getting a software subscription; you are getting a dedicated team of professionals who understand the nuances of your business.
Our accounting department is led by Karlee Tiesler, EA, Director of Accounting Services, and supported by our experienced Managers, Michelle Ihlefeldt, EA, and Mitchell Wade.
To maintain a small-firm feel with large-firm resources, our team is structured into agile “Pods.” This allows your dedicated professionals to stay in constant communication with your tax preparer, ensuring that the person doing your books is talking to the person planning your tax strategy.
Whether they are based in Colorado or working with our specialized teams abroad, every member of our staff is a vital part of the WCG ecosystem. Our collaborative roster includes:
This “follow the sun” collaboration means your data is being processed, reviewed, and audited around the clock. By the time a report hits your desk, it has been vetted through a rigorous quality control process to ensure it is accurate, defensible, and ready for tax planning.
Reach Reporting integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks Online and Xero to provide real-time financial reporting and tools for financial performance data in a secure and easy way. With the built-in dashboards and report builder, WCG CPAs & Advisors connects your financial data to create powerful dashboards and enhanced visuals. Backed by their SOC 2 Type I and Type II certifications, the Reach Reporting app only retrieves data from the online platform and never modifies or replaces any information stored there.
Reach Reporting makes reporting, forecasting and budgeting easy with powerful dashboards and enhanced visuals. You, the business owner, will gain valuable insights into your business trajectory with their 3-Way Forecasting feature. By connecting your profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, we create a comprehensive view of your financials with automated cash flow forecasting.

See it in Action! Financial statements should tell a clear story about your business health without requiring a degree in accounting to decipher. Click below to explore a sample report and see how we translate your raw data into a clear, visual summary.
We exclusively support QuickBooks Online, Xero, and REIHub. The benefit of these cloud-based platforms is real-time visibility from any device.
A Note on Data Custody: To ensure the integrity of your records, WCG maintains 100% custody of the financial data. While you will have full visibility, your access will be read-only. Think of it as a safety net- we hold the pen so you can focus on the business without worrying about accidental deletions or “un-reconciling” a month we’ve already closed. In other words, please don’t help. In some cases, we’d rather pay you to just watch. Ok, that was a bit much, but you get it.
WCG provides the following core accounting services:
Does your “square peg” not fit the starting fees above? No worries. We customize fees based on your specific needs. Over 80% of our small business owners pay less than $550 per month. An extra account or a few more transactions won’t dramatically compound your fee.
It’s a crummy deal, but our service fees do not include the software subscription. Historically, firms received massive discounts, but changes to Intuit’s pricing model (for example) mean those savings no longer justify the administrative hassle of WCG paying the bill. We will collect your payment information and set up your billing directly with the provider. Piece of cake.
Our accounting services are specialized. We do not provide invoicing, accounts receivable collections, or bill pay (accounts payable). Our work is typically performed on a cash-basis; if you require accrual-basis bookkeeping, let’s talk.
Please note that these services are for internal management use and cannot be relied upon to disclose fraud, errors, or illegal acts. Furthermore, WCG is not providing “assurance” services—we are not engaged to perform a compilation, review, or audit as defined by industry “terms of art.” No formal auditor’s report will be issued.
We just reviewed the basic accounting services above, but accounting can also have several offshoots and complexity. Let’s run through some of the most common ones.
Most small business owners are cash-based (versus accrual). The IRS code recently changed, allowing more taxpayers to be cash based, and it has even expanded some hybrid methods. If you need accrual-based accounting for whatever reason, (better tax position in the near future, required by your franchisor or investors, etc.) this adds time to the accounting service.
This is not common in most service-oriented businesses, but even dentists, eye doctors and veterinarians (just to name a few) have a retail angle to their practices. And boom, they also have a sales tax obligation which can vary between monthly, quarterly and annually depending on the volume.
WCG does not offer sales tax services for online retailers such as Amazon merchants, FBA merchants, etc. It is way too complicated, and while we could be good at it, there are others who already are. Our recommendation is taxjar.com.
Many counties want you to pay a tax not only on your real estate, but also on your personal property (like equipment and furnishings) that are deployed in your business. Don’t get hung up on the word personal — it basically means non-real estate property.

Having an inventory can add complexity to your accounting services. How often are you counting inventory? Do you need to count at all (ie, you have lot numbers, or you are exempted by tax code)? How are we valuating the inventory (FIFO, LIFO, weighted average cost)? What is the most appropriate cost (market, original purchase price, etc.)? Ok! We really beat the heck out of that stuff.
One more thing: do you have direct labor or depreciation built into your cost of goods sold? Ok, now we’re done with this.
Certain industries have their own nuances. Construction sees a lot of job costing, where certain expenses are allocated to be a part of the project cost and are capitalized. Retail sees a lot of cash, theft, and inventory adjustments. Construction contractors, such as electrical, HVAC and plumbing, usually want to split their world into sales and service, and track revenue and expenses separately. Attorneys have trust accounts and goofy 1099s that need special handling.
Time billing systems (attorney), patient billing systems (doctors), point of sale systems (retail or restaurant) and a zillion other operations-oriented software applications all claim to interface with QuickBooks. Generally they do. But they can also create a big mess… as an attorney, do you want to pay taxes on uncollected revenue less expenses (what we can accrual based accounting) or pay taxes on cash received less expenses (cash based accounting)?
What we are saying here is that software integrations must be carefully monitored for phantom revenue and other downright stupid things.
Alternatively, and commonly, we don’t let the software and QuickBooks directly talk to each other. Instead, we take reports or other data dumps, synthesize that into something that makes sense, and then make adjusting entries in QuickBooks.
Some franchises are basic… you pay a few bucks, and get to use their name and their processes. Others are super overbearing. It is not necessarily the franchisor’s fault… they might be required, either contractually or the Federal Trade Commission, to present consolidated financial statements of all their franchises, and therefore you must report transactions in a certain fashion for compliance. In other words, the franchisor supplies the Chart of Accounts, and determines where things go, the accounting method and how often reporting must be performed.
This isn’t a super huge deal, but when you start piling on 401k plans, disability, insurance and other benefits platforms, they create extra time during payroll entries. You pay your staff on Friday. On the same day, we must book the obligations for all the payroll stuff although you might be cash based as an accounting method. This is just to make the journal entry from the payroll activity tie out. Then we need to make sure these payables are cleared when paid. Again, not a huge deal, but certainly more complexity.

Our QuickStart fee is $750 and includes-
QuickStart does not include payroll setup within QuickBooks.
Accounting is more than memorializing transactions for a small business. It is the analysis and business consultation based on the information that allows owners to manage his or her business. WCG will analyze financial statements to look for obvious misstatements and errors. This includes:
There are two questions we want to answer. What does a financial statement mean to you? How can you use it to get more out of your business?
Additionally, one of our concerns with financial statements and accounting records that are not prepared by a CPA firm is that you might not be getting all the tax deductions you are entitled to.
Statistical comparisons and trend analysis is a service we provide to each owner to identify action items and areas needing improvement. We can leverage Fathom reporting and First Research to provide baseline data for your industry or peer group. How do you compare to yourself in previous months or years, and how do you compare to others in the same business? For example, for restaurants factoring the impact of cost of goods sold, labor and rent on business profits, the variations can be dramatic. We will work with you to keep more of your money as you continue to develop your business.
Anyone can crunch numbers. But we crunch numbers and tell you what they mean, plus offer business consultation and coaching to create a successful future.
WCG utilizes KMK Ventures Private Limited, a tax and accounting company in India with over 15 years of experience and 225 professionals including Chartered Accountants, to assist us with our accounting services. Many well-known and highly visible accounting firms have been offshoring tax return preparation and accounting services for more than two decades.
We realize that identity protection and security is top of mind for everyone; WCG is following the accounting industry’s best practices, including IRS compliance directives to safeguard your data. Fortunately, there are excellent resources and guidelines from the hundreds of CPA firms that have done this before us.
We have an experienced CPA and in-house trainer who leads the KMK team and is primarily charged with training and quality control. All accounting work will be reviewed, modified as necessary and reviewed again by our team of “stateside” Accounting Managers and Supervisors prior to delivery.
Please review our Accounting Services Engagement Agreement.
Table Of Contents

Tax planning season is here! Let's schedule a time to review tax reduction strategies and generate a mock tax return.

Tired of maintaining your own books? Seems like a chore to offload?
Did you want to chat about this? Do you have questions about Small Business Accounting? Let’s chat!
The tax advisors, business consultants and rental property experts at WCG CPAs & Advisors are not salespeople; we are not putting lipstick on a pig expecting you to love it. Our job remains being professionally detached, giving you information and letting you decide within our ethical guidelines and your risk profiles.
We see far too many crazy schemes and half-baked ideas from attorneys and wealth managers. In some cases, they are good ideas. In most cases, all the entities, layering and mixed ownership is only the illusion of precision. As Chris Rock says, just because you can drive your car with your feet doesn’t make it a good idea. In other words, let’s not automatically convert “you can” into “you must.”
Let’s chat so you can be smart about it.
We typically schedule a 20-minute complimentary quick chat with one of our Partners or our amazing Senior Tax Professionals to determine if we are a good fit for each other, and how an engagement with our team looks. Tax returns only? Business advisory? Tax strategy and planning? Rental property support?

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Everything you need to help you launch your new business entity from business entity selection to multiple-entity business structures.

Designed for rental property owners where WCG CPAs & Advisors supports you as your real estate CPA.

Everything you need from tax return preparation for your small business to your rental to your corporation is here.


