Straight answers about how we work, what we charge, and why we're built the way we are.
A general bookkeeper records transactions and reconciles accounts, which is necessary but not the whole job for a subscription business. We build on that with the parts a subscription model needs and a general bookkeeper usually isn't trained to catch: deferred revenue schedules, prepaid expense amortization, and reconciling your billing tool's MRR to the ledger. It's not bookkeeping plus extra fees, it's bookkeeping built around how a subscription business actually makes money.
There's no single revenue number where it suddenly makes sense. It's usually one of these: your own time is worth more spent on anything other than bookkeeping, you flat out hate doing it and would rather pay someone to make the problem go away, you just closed (or are about to close) a funding round and don't want to blow through it in the first few weeks without a real handle on the numbers, or bookkeeping genuinely scares you and you've been putting it off. One thing we hear a lot: "My CPA does my books." Most CPAs handle taxes and annual filings, not day-to-day bookkeeping, so if that's the plan, it's worth checking what your CPA is actually doing for you between filings. Usually the honest answer is "not much," and that gap is exactly what we fill.
Yes, on a case-by-case basis. Our pricing and process are built around subscription businesses specifically, but plenty of good fits fall outside a strict SaaS label, especially early-stage startups still figuring out their model. If that's you, the honest answer is: let's take a look. Book a Books and Runway Review and we'll tell you straight whether it's a good match, rather than take the work and figure it out later.
This is the one worth pressing any bookkeeping firm on, so we'd rather answer it directly than wave at it. When a customer pays for a year upfront, we don't book the whole amount as revenue that month. We build a deferred revenue schedule tied to the contract, recognize revenue monthly as the service is delivered, and reconcile that balance every close. Your MRR should tie out to what's on the books, and if it doesn't, that's usually the first thing we fix. (Our PrepaidPro tool runs on the same underlying logic, on the expense side instead of the revenue side, worth a look if you want to see the mechanics in action.)
We're Xero-exclusive on purpose, not by default. It handles multi-entity and subscription-style reporting more cleanly for accrual-basis books with heavy deferred revenue, and staying on one platform means we're deep in it instead of stretched thin across several. If you're already on QuickBooks, migrating is part of onboarding, not a separate project you have to manage.
Flat rate means flat rate. Monthly bookkeeping, the deferred revenue and prepaid schedules, and MRR-to-ledger reconciliation are standard, not upsells. Pricing is on the Bookkeeping page before you ever talk to anyone, on purpose. If something genuinely falls outside scope, a one-off project for example, we'll price it upfront rather than let it show up later as a surprise line item.
Yes, that's a normal starting point, not a disqualifying one. Most engagements start with a cleanup phase: however many months of mis-recorded revenue or miscategorized expenses get corrected before ongoing bookkeeping begins. How long it takes depends on how far back the mess goes, which is exactly what the $249 Books and Runway Review is for, an honest scope of the work before you commit to anything monthly.
Pricing is tied to the actual scope of the work, transaction volume and complexity, not sprung on you at renewal. If the business grows enough that the engagement genuinely changes shape, we'll tell you directly what's changing and why, not bury it in a renewal email.
Gaines Capital Books runs as a small, focused practice rather than a large team with account handoffs. That's deliberate: fewer clients, direct continuity on your books, no bouncing between junior staff. If that ever changes, you'll hear it from us directly.
It's a fixed-price, one-time engagement, not a sales call wearing a review's clothing. We go through your actual books, identify what's wrong, and give you a written assessment of what we found and what fixing it would take. Move to monthly bookkeeping afterward and the fee is credited toward your first month. Don't, and you keep the findings either way.
Because client confidentiality is something we take seriously, and most financial work isn't something clients want tied publicly to their name. Even a positive review can reveal who a company's bookkeeper is, what platform they run on, or that they're quietly preparing for a raise, none of which is ours to make public without deliberate, explicit permission. Instead of asking clients to go on record, we describe the patterns and problems we actually fix (see our case studies) without naming or identifying anyone. If you'd rather verify us a different way, our Xero Partner and Certified Advisor credentials are independently checkable on Xero's own advisor directory, proof we don't control ourselves, and in some ways a stronger signal than a quote we picked.
Still have a question?
Book a Books and Runway Review and ask us directly.