Ledger Essentials
The senior bookkeeper who always has time for your question.
Journal entries, reconciliations, month-end close — and knowing when it’s a CPA’s call. Answered in plain language, with the entry written out for you.
$2 starter usage · no card needed
How do I record a $6,000 12-month insurance premium paid up front?
It’s an asset until you use it. Book the payment, then expense it over the year:
Then each month, move 1/12 to expense:
Prepaid Insurance is an asset — you’ve paid for coverage you haven’t used yet.
Everything a bookkeeper reaches for
Ask in plain words. Get the right treatment, the entry, and the reasoning.
Journal entries
Record any transaction the right way — with the entry written out.
Bank & card reconciliation
Match, find the difference, and book the adjustments.
Month-end & year-end close
A clear checklist and the closing entries that go with it.
Sales tax
Collect it, track it as a liability, and remit it correctly.
Payroll entries
Gross-to-net, employer taxes, and the liabilities behind them.
AR / AP & 1099s
Aging, bad debt, vendor credits, and who gets a 1099.
Book-to-tax
How your books feed Schedule M-1 and the return.
QuickBooks, Xero & spreadsheets
Practical, software-aware help — spreadsheets included.
See it in action
Real bookkeeping questions, answered in plain language — with the entry, the visual, or the honest “that’s your CPA’s call.”
Show me a T-account for Cash: opening 5,000, received 2,000 from a customer, paid 1,500 rent.
Debits on the left, credits on the right — foot each side and net them:
Cash has a normal debit balance, so the 5,500 lands on the debit side.
My bank reconciliation is off by $43. What do I do?
Don’t force an adjustment — that just hides the error. An off-by amount like this almost always means a previously reconciled transaction was edited or deleted.
Run the Reconciliation Discrepancy report to see exactly what changed, then fix that transaction — don’t type over the beginning balance.
What's the journal entry for a $4,000 gross payroll run?
Here’s the employee-side entry (employer taxes are a separate one):
FICA is 7.65% of gross; net pay is what actually leaves the bank.
Should we record a valuation allowance against our NOLs?
That one’s an entity-specific judgment call — your CPA’s, not mine. It hinges on whether the NOLs are “more likely than not” to be used.
What I can do is get your books ready for that call: clean NOL tracking and the deferred-tax accounts set up, so your CPA has what they need.
Built to be trusted with the books
Grounded, not guessing
Answers come from real tax and accounting rules — not a chatbot winging it.
Knows its limits
It tells you plainly when something is a CPA’s call, instead of bluffing.
Tax-firm-grade depth
Built inside a tax practice: cash, accrual, and FRF for SMEs — the world small businesses actually live in.
Simple usage pricing
Subscribe for our best rate, or buy credit packs anytime — no subscription required.
Monthly
Includes a full month of AI usage at our best rate. Unused included usage expires each cycle.
- Included monthly usage (subscriber rate)
- Chat, voice, and statement review
- Buy $10 credit packs anytime if you run out
- Cancel anytime
Credit pack
Prepaid usage that never expires. Works alone or stacked on a subscription.
- Use for chat, voice, and statement review
- Credits roll over — no monthly reset
- Stack packs as needed
- No subscription required
Get the books right.
Your experienced bookkeeping colleague, on call whenever you have a question.
Start with $2