Small Business Bookkeeping in San Jose, CA

If you own a small business in San Jose, you already know the feeling of a bank balance that looks fine and a tax bill that says otherwise. Bookkeeping is the fix. Tower Accounting has kept the books for contractors, restaurants, auto shops, landscapers, salons and consultants across Santa Clara County since 2000, and we do it from an office on Blue Mountain Drive where you can walk in and talk to the person doing the work.

We handle monthly, quarterly and annual bookkeeping, catch-up work for owners who fell behind, bank and credit card reconciliations, financial statement preparation, and the accounting system setup that makes all of it run. Most clients never think about the books between our check-ins.

What is included in our bookkeeping service

• Transaction categorization. Every deposit, payment, transfer and card charge is recorded to the right account, with a question to you only when something is unclear.
• Bank and credit card reconciliation. Each account is reconciled to the statement every month so the books match the bank to the penny. Missing deposits, duplicate charges and bank errors get caught here.
• Accounts receivable and payable tracking. Who owes you, who you owe, and what is overdue. For businesses that invoice, we keep the customer and vendor ledgers current.
• Financial statements. A profit and loss statement and balance sheet every month, in a format you can read, with the prior period beside it so you can see what changed.
• Sales tax tracking. For retail, restaurants and anyone who collects California sales tax, we track what was collected and prepare the CDTFA return so it is filed on time.
• Year-end package. Clean books handed to the tax side of the office, 1099s for your contractors, and a closed year you will not have to reopen.

How the monthly process works

We keep it simple because simple is what gets done.

1. Setup. We review your existing records, set up or clean up the chart of accounts, connect bank feeds where you want them connected, and agree on how you will get us anything the bank does not show, such as cash sales or receipts for the card.
2. Monthly close. Within a few days of month end we categorize, reconcile and review. You get a short list of questions, usually under ten, by email or text.
3. Reports. Once your answers are in, the month is closed and the statements go out. Ray adds a note on anything worth a conversation.
4. Quarterly review. Every quarter we look at the year to date against last year and against what you will owe in estimated taxes, so April is a number you already know.

Why bookkeeping matters more than most owners think

You cannot manage what you cannot see

A business that only looks at the bank balance is driving by looking at the gas gauge. The profit and loss statement tells you whether this month actually made money or whether a big customer just paid late. The balance sheet tells you how much of that cash is already spoken for by payroll taxes, sales tax and credit cards. Owners who read those two reports every month make different decisions about hiring, pricing and spending than owners who do not.

Clean books are the cheapest tax planning there is

Most missed deductions are not exotic. They are the ordinary expenses that never got recorded because the receipt was in a truck and the charge was on a personal card. When the books are kept monthly, those get captured in the month they happen. When the books are rebuilt in March from a year of statements, a lot of them are gone for good.

Agencies notice when the records are a mess

The IRS, the Franchise Tax Board, the CDTFA and the EDD all start an audit by asking for the books. A reconciled set of books with support for the big numbers usually ends an audit quickly. A shoebox turns a one-letter inquiry into a six-month project. Because we also help clients through sales tax and payroll audits, we keep the books the way an auditor would want to see them.

Catch-up bookkeeping, done right

If you are a year or more behind, you are not alone and it is fixable. We reconstruct each year from bank and card statements and deposit records, reconcile the accounts, and produce statements that are ready for the tax return. If returns are also unfiled, our tax preparation side picks up from there, and if there is a balance owed we can set up a payment plan with the agency.

Pricing

Monthly bookkeeping is billed from a rate sheet based on how many transactions you run each month. Ask for the rate sheet and we will go over where your business falls. Sales tax filings and catch-up work are quoted separately, with catch-up projects priced per year rebuilt. There is no charge for the conversation and no long-term contract.

We do not run payroll. If you have employees, we refer you to a payroll processor and reconcile their payroll reports in your books each month.

Businesses we keep the books for

Construction and the trades, restaurants and food trucks, auto repair and body shops, landscaping and tree services, hair and nail salons, trucking owner-operators, cleaning companies, real estate agents and small property owners, medical and dental offices, consultants and contractors who get a 1099. If you run a small business in San Jose or anywhere in Santa Clara County, we have probably kept the books for someone in your line of work.

Many of our bookkeeping clients first came to us for QuickBooks help or for a new business setup and stayed on for the monthly work. If you are not sure what you need, send us a note and we will tell you.