More than a tax-season accountant.
A year-round financial partner.

Most firms appear at deadline and disappear after. We work as one coordinated relationship across accounting, tax, and advisory — staying close to your numbers all year and planning ahead, not just preparing what's already happened.

No. We serve founders, professionals, and families with complex returns as readily as businesses and growing organizations. If your financial life has more than one moving part, we can help.

After you complete the brief questionnaire below and send it to us, we will contact you to schedule a consultation. On our call we will review where things stand, tell you plainly how we'd help, and only then propose an engagement.

Yes. Many clients begin with tax or bookkeeping and add advisory as the business grows. Because everything is handled by one team, adding a service is a conversation, not a new onboarding.

Usually what people mean is that they want someone who understands their state's rules and who actually gives them attention. We handle multi-state matters routinely and work with clients across the country. In practice, our clients hear from us far more often than they did from the firm down the street.

Three things: read-only electronic access to your business accounts, prior-year returns and financials, and business activity kept separate from personal spending. Commingled accounts are the single biggest source of delay and cost — we'll help you untangle them if needed.

We use QuickBooks Online, and we prefer it for nearly every client. It's reliable, widely supported, and integrates with the payroll, payment, and reporting tools most businesses already run — which means cleaner data, faster closes, and no dependence on a system only your accountant understands.

We'll usually recommend migrating to QuickBooks Online during onboarding, and we handle the conversion for you. If your industry genuinely requires a different platform, we'll tell you honestly rather than force a move.

Through a secure document portal, plus email and phone — and Slack for Controller and advisory clients. Response times are defined in every plan, so you know what to expect before you ever need it.

Yes. You'll work directly with senior, credentialed leadership throughout your engagement, with consistent access to the people responsible for your work. Continuity is the point — the longer we work together, the more we can anticipate.

No. Everything runs through a secure portal — documents uploaded, returns reviewed, engagement letters and filings signed electronically. It's faster, it's safer than paper, and every document stays accessible to you afterward.

We use read-only connections to your financial institutions — your transactions can be imported, but no one here can move your money. Documents are exchanged through an encrypted portal rather than email attachments, and access is limited to the advisors on your engagement.

Always. The QuickBooks Online subscription is in your name and we work inside it, so your returns, statements, and supporting documents remain yours to export in full. Nothing about our setup is designed to make leaving difficult.

Our published figures are starting prices. Your final fee is quoted in writing after the consultation, once we understand your actual complexity — and it doesn't change without a conversation first.

Volume and complexity. Monthly transaction count, the number of bank and credit card accounts, revenue and expense volume, payroll, inventory, multiple entities or locations, multi-state filings, and how many people need to be coordinated with. More moving parts means more hours of senior attention.

Tax-only engagements are billed annually because the work concentrates around filing. Accounting and advisory are billed monthly, because the work is continuous. If you combine them, the whole engagement moves to monthly billing.

Never. Every engagement is a fixed fee agreed in advance. You should be able to call your accountant with a question without worrying about the meter running.

Engagements run for a twelve-month term so the work and the planning stay aligned across a full cycle. We'd rather earn the renewal than hold you to something that isn't working.

Usually, yes — onboarding is quoted separately based on the state of your records. If your books need catch-up or cleanup, or need migrating from another platform, that's a defined one-time project rather than something buried in your monthly fee.

It can. We review scope annually against your actual activity — transaction volume, accounts, entities, and support hours. If the work has grown materially, we'll discuss it with you before anything changes. No silent increases.

Give us notice before the end of your term and we'll complete the work in progress, close out your books cleanly, and hand everything over. Your records are yours — we won't hold them hostage.

Bookkeeper covers accurate books and core monthly statements. Senior Accountant adds accrual-basis reporting, cash flow statements, a faster close, and custom tracking. Controller adds a fully managed accounting function — bill pay, invoicing, payroll coordination, and a 7-day close.

Within 15 business days on the Bookkeeper plan, 10 on Senior Accountant, and 7 on Controller. Faster closes mean you're making decisions on current numbers rather than last quarter's.

The Bookkeeper plan is cash basis. Senior Accountant and Controller support either cash or accrual, depending on what your business, lenders, or investors require.

Yes. Catch-up and cleanup work is common at onboarding. We scope it separately as a one-time project so your ongoing monthly fee reflects the steady state, not the backlog.

Inexpensive bookkeeping is usually cash-basis data entry into generic accounts, delivered late enough that the numbers are already stale. We're a CPA-led firm that understands accounting, not just software — you get statements that show margin and profitability by revenue stream, in time to act on them, and a firm that can grow into planning and advisory as you do.

Bill pay, customer invoicing, and payroll coordination are included on the Controller plan. On lower plans we integrate with your existing payroll and payment platforms and keep the records clean — we can also add these services individually if you need them sooner.

For most clients, well under an hour — answering a short list of questions and forwarding the occasional document. Businesses that run personal spending through business accounts should expect that to take longer until the two are separated.

Implementation covers the initial setup required to transition your accounting into Alinea's ongoing workflow, including account and reporting setup, system configuration, workflow design, and opening review. Historical cleanup, catch-up bookkeeping, or accounting remediation identified during implementation is scoped separately.

Yes. Multi-state filings, multiple entities, rental and investment income, K-1s, and entity-structure questions are exactly the kind of complexity we're built for.

Planning is built into our tax engagements — quarterly estimated tax guidance and a mid-year planning consultation on the Business plan, plus owner compensation and retirement contribution planning on Integrated. Preparation alone reports history; planning changes the outcome.

If you own a business, almost certainly. Your personal and entity returns affect one another — owner compensation, distributions, and retirement contributions only optimize when one firm sees both sides.

Send it to us. If you receive a notice from the IRS or a state taxing authority concerning a return prepared by Alinea, we'll review the notice, explain what it means, and help determine the appropriate response. Matters unrelated to returns we prepared, as well as audits, examinations, appeals, or more extensive representation, may require a separate engagement and fee.

Yes. CPAs carry licensure, continuing education, and professional standards that seasonal preparers and unlicensed filers do not — and can represent you before the IRS. When the return is complex, that difference tends to show up in what gets caught and what gets missed.

Yes, and you're not the first. We'll get the delinquent returns filed, work with the IRS and state authorities on your behalf, and pursue penalty relief where it's available. Back filings are scoped as a separate project.

We review recent returns as part of onboarding. If we find missed deductions or positions worth revisiting, we'll tell you plainly and, where it's worth the effort, file an amended return.

We represent you. As CPAs we can deal with the IRS or state directly on your behalf, so you aren't answering questions on the spot. Examination support is scoped when it arises — but you won't face it alone.

Bookkeeping tells you what happened. Advisory tells you what to do next — budgets, forecasts, cash flow, and the analysis behind hiring, pricing, and financing decisions. Most clients add it when the decisions get bigger than the spreadsheet.

Finance Director covers budgeting, cash flow monitoring, KPIs, and a monthly review. Senior Finance Director adds rolling forecasts, 13-week cash flow, scenario modeling, and bi-weekly reviews. Fractional CFO adds board and investor reporting, leadership meeting participation, business valuation, and weekly reviews.

Not strictly, but advisory is only as good as the books beneath it. If your records are maintained elsewhere, we'll assess their reliability first — forecasting on inaccurate data helps no one.

Hiring in-house means recruiting, managing, and paying for a function most owners aren't equipped to supervise. A fractional engagement gives you senior expertise at a fraction of a full-time salary, with no management burden. For larger teams it isn't either/or — in-house staff supported by our advisory is often the right structure.

Monthly at Finance Director, bi-weekly at Senior Finance Director, and weekly at Fractional CFO — plus participation in leadership and board meetings at the CFO level. Meetings are generally remote, with on-site attendance for significant sessions given reasonable notice.

An outsourced family office provides many of the financial capabilities of a traditional family office without requiring a family to hire and manage an internal team. Alinea focuses on accounting, tax, financial administration, reporting, planning and advisor coordination.

Not necessarily. Wealth alone does not determine whether Private Client & Family Office services are appropriate. We consider the complexity of your entities, investments, properties, tax situation, reporting needs and financial administration.

Yes. Family Office and Private Office engagements can include personal, household and entity bill payment. We establish documented approval procedures and financial controls during implementation.

No. Alinea provides investment account reconciliation and financial reporting coordination, private investment and capital activity tracking, and related financial administration. Investment recommendations and portfolio management remain with your investment advisor or another appropriately qualified professional.

Absolutely. Our model is designed to complement existing investment relationships. Alinea can reconcile investment activity, coordinate financial reporting, monitor liquidity requirements and work with your investment team on relevant financial and tax matters.

No. Alinea is a CPA firm and can provide accounting and tax services within the scope of your engagement. We do not replace your attorney, investment advisor, insurance professional or other specialists. Instead, we coordinate with them so financial decisions can be considered as part of the larger picture.

Alinea provides tax and financial analysis related to estate planning and can assist with implementation and ongoing financial coordination. Legal documents and legal advice remain the responsibility of qualified estate counsel.

Yes, depending on complexity and engagement scope. Services may include accounting, financial reporting, tax coordination, cash management and financial administration related to trusts and family entities.

No. Alinea focuses on financial administration rather than lifestyle management. We don't book travel, source household staff, arrange events or manage personal errands.

Fees are based on complexity and workload rather than net worth. Factors include entities and trusts, financial accounts, transaction and bill-payment volume, private investments, properties, tax requirements, reporting needs and the level of ongoing administration and coordination required.

Private Client & Family Office relationships require significant upfront work to understand and organize the family's financial structure before ongoing services begin. Implementation may include entity and ownership mapping, account inventories, historical financial review, reporting setup, bill-pay workflows, authorization procedures and financial controls. The fee varies based on complexity.