Los Gatos, California
Bookkeeping, Payroll and Tax Services in Los Gatos
For established Los Gatos businesses and practices that have outgrown the way their books were set up.
Year-round, not just at tax timeBooks kept current every month
Los Gatos, California
For established Los Gatos businesses and practices that have outgrown the way their books were set up.
Los Gatos
Many businesses here have been trading for twenty or thirty years. The books were usually set up early on, often by someone who has since moved on, and the structure hasn’t really been looked at since. It still works, but it was built for a smaller version of the business. Nothing alarming, just overdue for a fresh look.
Through the year
January to March
Year-end close, tax filing, new wage rates and new reporting thresholds all land in the same quarter. This is where unfinished bookkeeping from last year becomes a problem.
April to June
The best window for cleaning up structure, fixing accounts that have drifted, and planning the rest of the year properly.
July to September
Half the year is on the books. This is when you find out whether the numbers are tracking where you thought they were.
October to December
Equipment, bonuses, retirement contributions, timing. Most of what affects the year has to be decided before it ends, not after.
Most of the work that makes March easy happens between April and December.
Owner and business
In owner-run businesses the line between personal and business money moves over time. A card gets used for both. A draw replaces a salary one month and not the next. None of it is unusual, and none of it is a problem until the books have to be relied on for something.
Owner draws and distributions recorded consistently, not reconstructed at year end.
Personal and business spending separated as it happens.
Reporting that shows what the business earned, separately from what you took out of it.
Services
Los Gatos follows the California state minimum wage rather than setting its own, so payroll here tracks the state rate and the state’s rules on overtime, breaks and final pay.
Who we work with
In Los Gatos we tend to work with professional practices such as attorneys, advisors and consultants, and with medical and dental practices. There are also boutique retail shops and restaurants along the main streets, real estate and property businesses, and home-services firms. Several are owner-run with a small team, and the owner is usually the one who ends up handling the books.
Mostly it changes how the numbers get read. We compare each month with the same month last year rather than the one before it, so a quiet stretch is seen in context. We also look ahead at when cash will be tighter, so payroll and bills in the slower months are planned for rather than a surprise.
Usually, yes. We go through the accounts, sort transactions into business and personal, and record anything personal that ran through the business in a consistent way. From then on the two are kept apart as they happen. It takes some patience at the start, but it’s a common job and rarely as messy as it feels.
No. Los Gatos follows the California state minimum wage rather than setting its own, so payroll here tracks the state rate along with the state’s rules on overtime, breaks and final pay. If some of your staff also work in a nearby city that sets its own rate, those hours can be treated differently.
We record them as they happen, against the owner rather than as a business expense, and keep them consistent from month to month. That way the reports show what the business earned separately from what was taken out. How they’re treated at tax time is dealt with when the return is prepared; in the books, the job is a clean record.
Yes. We start by reviewing what’s been recorded so far this year and reconciling it to the bank, then carry on from there. Anything that needs correcting is fixed before new months are added on top. We’ll work with whoever is doing the books now, so nothing is lost in the handover.
Where we are
Our office is in Campbell, a few minutes from Los Gatos. We work in person or remotely, whichever you prefer.
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