We offer a range of financial services that are built for small businesses. Use the link below to explore them!

 Learn more about our services. 

We want to focus on services that help us maximize efficiency and minimize fees. Because of this, we do not offer these accounting services:

• Bill pay.
• Invoicing.
• Job costing.
• Inventory management.
• Some one-off items (personal financial statements, business valuations, financial audits).

We also do not offer these payroll services:

• Job costing.
• Manually adding up hours worked and entering them into our system. However, our timekeeping solution does this automatically.
• Determining overtime hours.
• Divvying up pooled tips.
• Calculating commissions.
• Reporting fringe benefits to unions.
• Determining monthly deductions for non-monthly payroll.

No, but you must use our monthly accounting service or our payroll service. Some services are only included as part of these two main services.

For example, you can't just work with us for taxes; This is part of our monthly accounting service.

Another example is that you can't just work with us for timekeeping services; This is an add-on to our payroll service and integrates with our payroll software.

Accounting and payroll go hand-in-hand. When information needs to be exchanged between the two, you need to help them play telephone if they're separate companies. However, it's seamless if they're under the same roof (like at CSI).

Need another reason to bundle? If you outsource accounting and payroll with CSI, you'll get a discount!

We're made with small and midsized businesses in mind. A "good fit" to work with us is generally a business that:

• Is small or medium-sized.

• Is based and operating in the U.S.

• Has an owner who resides in the U.S.

   

• Wants to outsource its accounting and/or payroll.

   

• Wants to stay in compliance.

   

• Values great communication, accuracy, and timeliness.

However, some details will vary depending on which service you're interested in. Learn about good fits for our different services here.

Bookkeeping and annual tax filing are the bare minimum when it comes to accounting. For a service that allows you to make more informed decisions year-round and focus on growing your business, look at monthly accounting.

Get monthly reporting and bank reconciliation, expert financial help, and year-round tax strategy. Track your financial performance and identify any fluctuations in your cash flow throughout the year. Avoid a range of risks, including cash misappropriation, accounting errors, inaccurate financial and tax reporting, loss of deposited funds, and penalties.

Perhaps the biggest selling point is the variety of advice that monthly accounting allows. You’ll benefit from ongoing support from your dedicated accountant throughout the year, not just at tax time. Not to mention, audit support is a major perk that not many other services offer. Peace of mind should be a major factor in selecting an accounting service!

The advice portion of monthly accounting is where you’ll likely find the most value. Whether it’s addressing the past, present, or future, there are a variety of advice topics that are uniquely offered by monthly accounting.

Even though meetings can cover a bunch of advice topics, you’re also encouraged to reach out with one-off questions you have at any time! This is included in your monthly fee unless it’s deemed part of a large consulting project.

Getting into the specifics, monthly accountants can offer advice directly based on the financial statements they generate each month, tax strategy advice, and other topics surrounding:

• Setting KPIs.
• Maximizing profitability.
• Industry-specific advice.
• Sales and marketing ideas.

No, bookkeeping is part of our monthly accounting service. It is not a separate service.

Learn more about the differences between bookkeeping and monthly accounting here.

No, tax strategy and filing are part of our monthly accounting service.They are not separate services, and we don't work with individuals who don't own businesses.

Learn more about the differences between annual tax filing and monthly accounting here.

Our monthly accounting service includes all of the following:

• Monthly bookkeeping & account reconciliation.
• Monthly financial statements.
• Proactive monthly advice, plus extra communication as needed.
• Audit representation.
• Tax strategy, preparation, & business tax filing.

Learn more about these included services.

For more information about the tax portion of this service, please visit our tax service page.

There are a variety of add-on services for our monthly accounting clients. They may include:

• Large consulting projects.
• Census Bureau reports.
• Responding to IRS and State notices.
• Talking with lawyers on your behalf.
• Annual Secretary of State filings.
• Buying or selling your business.
• Entity formation and filings.
• Loan procurement assistance.

Pricing varies by your company’s needs. It is not based on the size of your company, rather your company’s accounting activity and the complexity of your financial statements.

For current pricing information and to estimate your cost, check out our pricing page!

We want to focus on services that help us maximize efficiency and minimize fees. Because of this, we do not offer these accounting services:

• Bill pay.
• Invoicing.
• Job costing.
• Inventory management.
• Some one-off items (personal financial statements, business valuations, financial audits).

A monthly accountant develops a thorough understanding of your business from working with your finances and talking to you about your operations and goals. They can advise you on:

• Setting KPIs.
• Maximizing profitability.
• Industry-specific topics.
• Sales and marketing ideas.
• Insight from financial statements.
• Tax planning and projections.
• Tax preparation.

Learn more about advice from monthly accountants here.

For the most part, yes! All year long, your dedicated accountant can be reached by call, text, or email and will respond promptly at no extra fee. This is true for one-off questions.

However, as communication ventures into professional consultation project territory, we will need to prepare an agreement outlining what we will cover and what it will cost you. You won’t face any surprise fees here.

We primarily use two systems: Xero and QuickBooks Online. However, we can also work with other systems depending on your preferences and needs.

Depending on the software you use, your software subscription fee may be included in your monthly investment. Read more about accounting software subscription coverage.

For the average small business owner, working with a monthly accountant saves 10-15 hours of bookkeeping each month. If you factor in the value of your time, our service pays for itself.

However, time isn't the only factor. Avoided errors matter, too! Learn about the problems with doing your own accounting here.

Once you're onboarded for our monthly accounting service, you don't really need to do anything! (That is, if you set up third-party access to your financial accounts and there are no surprises you need to tell us about, we can run with your bookkeeping.)

You can have regular or occasional meetings with your accountant, but they're not required. Just make sure you're available to talk about your taxes, respond to your accountant when they reach out, and you're all set!

Yes! You don't need to partner with us for our accounting service if you're not ready to take that step. Payroll-only is a choice that about 50 percent of our current clients make.

However, once you're ready to get the right value out of our monthly accounting service, we'll be happy to help you in that area, too!

Our pricing is comparable to larger providers! Pricing depends on what features you're looking for. Our payroll quotes are customizable, so we can't offer an exact one-size-fits-all number.

Instead, we talk about the typical experiences of our current payroll-only client base and offer a Pricing Calculator on our pricing page.

We offer a variety of elective features and services, such as:

• Showing PTO on paystubs.
• Timekeeping software.
• Printing and delivering paper checks and reports. 
• HR services.
• 401(k) plans.
• Workers' compensation insurance.

When you work with a payroll service, you handle certain parts of your payroll, and they handle the rest. How are the responsibilities divided?

Learn more about what your payroll specialist does with your setup, running payroll, and making different changes here.

Yes! This is something your dedicated specialist will handle for you as part of your investment.

Learn more about what your payroll specialist does here.

Your dedicated specialist will need some information to run your payroll each pay cycle. Make sure you report your payroll data per employee, which may include:

• Hours worked
• Commissions and bonuses earned
• Reimbursements needed
• Deduction amounts

There may also be other data you need to submit for each payroll if your employees have unique situations.

Learn more about what you need to do for onboarding, payroll runs, and making changes here.

Yes! We also provide timekeeping solutions. Check out our timekeeping service page for more information.

CSI’s payroll specialists are different than the ones at large, national payroll providers. Since we have low staff turnover, you will know your dedicated payroll specialist.

Feel free to reach out via any of these methods at your convenience:

• Phone call.
• Text.
• Email.

If you're in Minnesota or Maryland, you can also visit us at either of our office locations!

If you're experiencing a payroll emergency, email payroll@csiaccounting.com to alert our team.

No, business taxes are part of our monthly accounting package and not a separate service. The cost of year-round tax strategy and business tax filing is included.

We also only do the individual taxes of our monthly accounting clients. We don't do walk-in individual taxes for non-business owners.

We'll help you! CSI will file multiple years of back taxes for you at once when you come on board.

In fact, if you haven’t been filing your taxes, we require this. If your taxes aren't current, then your accounting won’t be accurate. We want to provide a quality accounting service for you, so we will need to start with a clean slate. Read more about back taxes and back work with CSI here.

We use a complete tax strategy, which consists of tax planning, tax projections, and tax preparation & filing. All year long, it monitors your situation to help reduce the stress of tax season and legally minimize your tax liability.

That's why annual tax accountants can't offer this. Your tax return only records history, but tax planning focuses on the moment. Learn more about a complete tax strategy here.

Your business taxes are included in your monthly accounting fee! That means no fee spikes at the end of the year.

Our monthly accounting clients are charged a separate fee for individual taxes. See our pricing page for a current cost estimate of individual tax services, which include:

• Full audit representation.
• Support throughout the year.
• The convenience of only working with one accountant.

Most accountants either don't offer audit representation or charge you extra for it. Our audit representation is included in your monthly investment and shows that we stand by our work.

Learn what an IRS audit is like and how CSI can help you with an audit.

Several times per year! We familiarize ourselves with your tax history and current situation during onboarding, then we generally have dedicated tax planning meetings in the fall and after your taxes are filed.

Read more about our tax planning meetings vs. regular meetings here.

Remember, monthly accounting allows for a complete tax strategy, consisting of tax planning, projections, preparation, and filing. As a small business owner, minimizing your tax liability is critical.

Tax planning meetings are often part of your regular meetings, but they can also be separate if you want or need extra help! There are typically at least two meetings needed per yeara: one in the spring to review your tax season and at least one more in the fall to anticipate the upcoming tax season.

You can expect these tax planning meetings to be similar to your regular meetings in that they don’t have an entirely set agenda. However, we want to make sure we discuss topics like:

• What your next tax season might look like.
• Various tax strategies to legally minimize what you owe.
• The best method to pay your government tax bill.

You also leave with a tax projection, which is an estimate (backed by your accounting) of what you might owe in taxes. This will help you plan your finances if you’re looking at a large tax bill from the government.

No! If you use our monthly accounting service, then your tax strategy, meetings, and tax filings are included. There's no need to use an additional service to get your taxes done each year.

If you work with CSI, you can choose to keep working with your annual tax accountant, but we don’t recommend this option. Continuing to work with your annual tax accountant will cost more and risks the consequences of splitting a service between different providers.

You may be used to setting aside a chunk of change for the cost of filing your taxes. However, with CSI, your monthly fee means there's nothing due at year-end for your business taxes. The personal taxes of our business clients are the only thing charged separately, as the amount of work (and, therefore, the fee) varies significantly. Individual taxes are where the tax savings are.

You can estimate your monthly fee by using our Pricing Calculator. If the range seems to fit your business, schedule a free consultation to get a professional quote.

Your investment won't vary each month, but we periodically reevaluate it to ensure it still matches the level of service you require.

Just like any business operating in a changing economy, our prices are subject to change. We try to keep this page updated with our most current averages and ranges, but please consult your service agreement for your custom rate.

Yes, outsourcing monthly accounting is much more affordable than hiring an internal accountant, especially when you consider paying for their salary, taxes, and benefits.

Large businesses often only hire internal accountants or accounting departments because they have a very large budget for it, and they want their accounting handled in a very specific way.

We charge an onboarding fee for the work that's required to get started with our service. This fee varies since it’s based on your monthly accounting fee. The formula to find your upfront cost to work with us is:

Onboarding Fee = (Monthly Fee * 2) + $1,000

Learn more about what the onboarding fee includes.

Costs associated with ongoing tax strategy and annual business tax filing are included in your monthly accounting investment. The only thing due at year-end is the cost to file your individual taxes.

Check out our taxes pricing page for more information.

Back work may be necessary to get your books caught up while switching from one accounting service to another. It's also part of how CSI can guarantee audit-proofed books at no additional cost. The formula to determine the price is:

Back Work Price = Number of Prior Months to Work On * Monthly Fee

If you need assistance with paying for back work, we offer payment plans.

To determine how far back we need to go, we find the last verifiable tax return or financial statement that was prepared by a party outside of your company. If the last completed item was a tax return, then your books are likely accurate through the end of December for that filed year.

No, not if you use Xero! Xero is our preferred software, but it's not the only one we can work with! However, to incentivize clients to use Xero, we cover the cost of the subscription.

If you've been using another accounting system but would like to switch to Xero, we can also help you convert your accounting data to save you the cost of the software subscription.

Unlimited one-off advice is included in your monthly accounting fee, whereas consulting is an additional service that incurs an additional cost.

Costs will vary by project and will be outlined in a separate agreement if you decide to explore a consulting service.

Here's an example. Software integration takes a few hours for simple integrations and upwards of 30 hours for complex ones. That's why it generally costs between $1,000 to $2,500.

Here are some situational or optional things that you'd face additional charges for, such as selling a building or obtaining a loan.

Payroll is a very customizable service, so it can be difficult to talk about the numbers. The features you add on and different situational factors will increase the cost.

Generally, though, you can expect that the more often you run payroll, the more employees you have on payroll, and the more states you owe payroll taxes to, the higher your payroll investment will be.

Estimate your per-payroll costs by using our Pricing Calculator, then get a professional quote by scheduling a free consultation!

Here are some situational or optional things that you would face additional charges for, such as handling paycheck garnishments or retirement plan reporting.

Yes, if your situation changes (such as adding or removing an employee from your payroll) or if you add or remove an optional feature, your payroll investment will change accordingly.

And just like any other business, we also periodically adjust our prices. This page should reflect the current average and range of investments.

Nope! Depending on which add-ons and situational factors you have, our pricing is comparable to what the big guys charge you.

Here's a satisfied client who says our customer service is better anyway, and that's made a huge difference in value.

Standalone tax filing isn't offered at CSI. Taxes are part of our monthly accounting service, including usingongoing tax strategy to legally minimize what you owe. That makes this comparison apples to oranges, but here's what we can say.

An annual tax preparer will typically charge between $2,000-$3,000+ just to file annual business taxes. With CSI, that cost is included in your monthly fee.

Remember, your business taxes are included as part of your monthly accounting investment, which is determined upfront when you come on board with us.

We charge on a per-form basis, and while forms vary a lot from business to business, they also vary a ton from person to person. Some clients will only have a few forms, while others will have dozens.

Plus, forms that are more complicated or more uncommon will cost more because they require significantly more effort to prepare.

Nope! A complete business tax package (planning, projections, preparation, and filing) is part of our monthly accounting service. You don't pay anything extra for any part of it!

Do you know what not getting your back work done costs you more over time? With penalties and interest, it only gets bigger... and you lose all of the benefits that can come with having current financial records.

Luckily, we have a free eBook that talks about everything back work and back taxes-related all in one place. You don't even need to submit your information to get it! Get your free copy of Beyond the Deadline here.

Any amounts listed here may be outdated; please consult your proposal for actual pricing customized to your business’s situation. This is a brief description of some of the fees that you may expect to encounter.

Click this link to learn more about what monthly accounting fees look like. Of course, this will vary quite a bit depending on the complexity of your business’s accounting and how much financial activity you have.

Click this link to learn more about what payroll service fees look like, but be aware that pricing can vary a lot depending on the features you’re looking for and the frequency you want to run payroll at. A basic payroll package includes:

• Payroll check processing.
• Direct deposit.
• Electronic payroll tax payments.
• Federal (941) & State withholding tax returns.
• Federal (940) & State unemployment tax returns.
• Workers' compensation audit reports.
• Payroll tax audit representation.
• Personal portal logins for your employees.
• Employer portal login for your admin account.
• Standard report package:
  
  • Cash requirement report.
  • Payroll journal report.
  • Check register report.

There are also many circumstances that might lead to these additional accounting and payroll fees.

Go ahead! For the most part, it can't hurt to submit the form even if you're not sure if we're a match. We can talk about it and decide together.

However, there are some exceptions. You should not submit the form if:

• You do not own a business.
• Your business is unable to pay its bills.
  
• You only want annual tax filing, not monthly accounting or payroll services.
• You or your business are not based in the U.S.

Many accountants will accept any client, but by limiting our client base to the best fit, we offer a more efficient service that keeps fees minimized.

Shortly after submitting the form, you'll get a brief call to schedule your consultation. (See the consultation process in the FAQ below.)

If you become a client, our onboarding team will walk you through your next steps. The steps will vary depending on your situation, your needs, and the services you want us to provide.

Or, if we go our separate ways, you may still receive our occasional email newsletter. This is optional, and you can adjust your email preferences at any time.

Step 1: Qualifying call. Shortly after submitting the form, you'll be called by one of our consultants. This call is only a few minutes long, and its goal is to see if we might be a good fit before scheduling an in-depth consultation at a time that works best for you.

Step 2: Consultation. During the scheduled consultation, we'll cover your business needs, challenges, and goals. Have any questions about us? Ask away!

Step 3: Next steps. If we decide to work together, we'll request information to help us give you a custom quote. Otherwise, if we go our separate ways, we'll offer advice and point you in the right direction. There is no obligation to work with us after the consultation.

Some business owners prefer to switch accounting or payroll providers on January 1st. However, if you're experiencing issues, errors, or falling behind, you need to make the change now. Waiting can lead to additional cleanup work, compliance risks, missed insights, and upset employees.

Still not sure when you should switch? Submit the form, and we'll help you determine the best timing for your situation.

 Yes! We've worked with almost every industry in our 60 years of service. This has earned us hundreds of Google reviews, averaging 4.9 out of 5 stars. Our consultants can even share case studies from clients who may have similar businesses or similar struggles that we helped relieve. 

For 60+ years, CSI Accounting & Payroll has provided trusted, customized financial services to thousands of small businesses. Whether you need help catching up on records, organizing your books, or minimizing your tax liability, we're here to support you every step of the way.

Our journey began in the 1960s when Al Clausnitzer founded CSI to provide bookkeeping, consulting, and tax services for small businesses. Today, under the ownership of Brian Paulson, we've grown in size and expanded our services to include payroll, recognizing the close relationship between accounting and payroll.

We value transparency, confidence, and growth. We believe in open communication, so you always know what we're doing and how we can help you. Our accurate insights help you make confident decisions, freeing up your time to focus on growing your business.

While it technically stands for Computerized Accounting Services Incorporated (Our age is showing...), we now like to think of it as Clients Seriously Impressed. Because that’s exactly how we want you to feel after working with us!

Accounting Service Good Fit

You’re a good fit to work with CSI for accounting if:

• You are a small or medium-sized business.
• You are based in and operate in the United States.
• You will have only one regular point of contact with us (typically the owner of your business).
• You are in any industry except for manufacturing or non-profit
  
• You are financially stable and willing to grow (typically with revenues between $500,000-$5 million+).
• You want to outsource and receive monthly financial statements and advice.
• You value great communication, accuracy, and timeliness.
• You see the value in year-round tax strategy.

Please note that our accounting service offers more value to established businesses. However, we don't rule out startups automatically; We just investigate your business's situation more closely to make sure you get the right value out of a service like ours.

Payroll Service Good Fit

You’re a good fit to work with CSI for payroll if:

• You are a small or medium-sized business.
• You have 1-50+ employees as an average client (although we will consider taking on new clients with up to 500 employees).
• You are based in and operate in the United States.
• You will have only one or two regular points of contact with us.
• You operate in any industry.
• You have good cash flow.
• You value outsourcing your payroll and staying in compliance.

CSI has provided monthly accounting services since our start in 1966. We also handled payroll for some clients over the years before forming an official payroll department in 2009.

The average accounting firm tends to have a lifespan of 15-30 years, and the typical small payroll service operates for around 5-15 years, so CSI's track record is exceptional.

According to our clients, we're different because we offer a wider range of services, have excellent customer service and communication, and offer a greater potential for growing profitability.

According to our staff, we're different because we trust and care for our employees. For more information, check out our careers page!

On average, each client stays with us for 10 years. This accounts for clients who only stay for a year, and those who stay for many, many decades.

That's a huge testament to our service! Hear from our clients directly by checking out our case studies.

Our Learning Center is your go-to resource for finding answers to questions about your business or ours. It contains a wealth of information on a variety of topics. You can search for specific information or browse through different categories to find what you need.

Otherwise, it's our goal to have FAQs on every page of our website, and we're happy to answer questions via call, chat, or email. Hit us up!

 Yes! You don't need to be in proximity to our offices. We can work with businesses that are based in and operate in the U.S. 

 No! While locals can choose to drop in to our Minneapolis or Columbia offices for a meeting, some advice, or just to say hi, our service can also be handled completely remotely. 

Our Columbia office is fully wheelchair accessible, with the office and restrooms being located on the first floor.

However, our Minneapolis office is located on the second floor of a building with no elevator, so it is not accessible aside from the restrooms on the first floor. Please contact us if you use a wheelchair and want to visit us in Minneapolis, and we will be happy to discuss accommodations.

CSI is different from other firms in many ways, including:

• Service range. CSI is more of a one-stop shop for small business financial needs. Our service offerings reduce the need to bridge communication with other providers.
• Experience & low turnover. We’ve been in business for much longer than other providers, which we hope reflects highly of our satisfied clients and steadily growing client base. We don’t stretch our service side as thin as other providers, either. Our team grows at a rate that doesn’t compromise on the quality or quantity of work we put out.
• Small business focus. By limiting our client base to only the best fit, we can offer a more efficient service while minimizing fees. Many accountants will accept any client, but we focus on small business owners to avoid getting bogged down with other projects.
• Communication & advice. While we offer an add-on consulting service for large projects, unlimited one-off questions and communication are included in our standard monthly accounting service. Our payroll specialists are always available to answer questions, too!

Outsourcing your payroll is a great alternative to managing it in-house. While DIY payroll software provides the necessary features to comply with regulations, it lacks the intuition and expertise that only a trained payroll specialist can offer. And if you're already outsourcing your payroll, there are many pros of outsourcing with a small firm instead of a big-name provider.

There are also many benefits to bundling accounting and payroll with one provider. Communication issues can arise frequently when you juggle multiple providers, but with CSI, you get one dedicated payroll specialist and one dedicated accountant who work under the same roof, saving you time and money while ensuring your financial needs are handled.

Payroll Software

For payroll, we use iSolved People Cloud.

Accounting Software

For accounting, if you’re interested in working with CSI, it doesn’t matter which accounting software you’ve been using up until now. We use both QuickBooks Online and Xero, and we’re happy to help you switch to either.

However, if you choose to switch to Xero, there’s one more perk: we cover the software’s subscription fee for you! There are three reasons for this:

• It is a cheaper subscription than QuickBooks.
• It is the tool we use to produce financials.
• It also allows you to see your financial information.

Otherwise, if you want to use QuickBooks Online, that’s totally fine - but the responsibility of paying the subscription fee will fall onto your shoulders.

A major selling point of monthly accounting is the audit trail it provides, which means that monthly accountants are able to uniquely support their clients in the case of an audit! Audits are no fun for business owners and, even in a best-case scenario, can just take up a lot of your time.

When you work with CSI, we’re so confident in our work that we offer agent-level support for income tax audits at no extra cost to you! Nearly all of the time, agent-level support is all that’s needed. It means that we deal with the IRS agent directly for income tax audits, and we get power of attorney to appeal if we feel they incorrectly made a determination.

If you want to work with CSI but are currently going through an audit, we can still help if you come on board! However, since the audit would not be a result of any work that we performed, we would charge a fee for audit support.

If you’re in a bad payroll or accounting situation, it’s always the right time to switch... and CSI is always accepting new clients!

Switching Accounting Solutions

We can help you get started with us, whether you’re starting with in-house bookkeeping or you’re switching from a different outsourced accounting service.

We’ll go through the steps to determine if monthly accounting is the right form of accounting for you right now, what you should look for in an accountant, and how to plan ahead for the transition if you’re coming on board with us. Our goal is to make this as easy as possible for you!

Switching Payroll Solutions

The payroll side is a bit simpler. We’ll guide you through the steps that may look like these:

• Third-party or agent access to state taxing authorities.
• EFTPS enrollment.
• Bank information.
• Other necessary information that may be encrypted by software.
• Details on your desired payroll.

Afterward, we’ll ensure your payroll data is transferred to our system correctly and that our system uses the data to create reports correctly. These are the steps we follow:

• Obtain online access to your current system.
• Transfer your data into their system, then run in parallel.
• Compare Forms 941.
• Automatically transfer sensitive information.

If your books aren’t completely up to date when you come on board with CSI, we need to catch you up. Don’t worry. We won’t judge. We've had clients with as many as 10 years of back work and taxes to file before. Read about why back work is necessary, what the benefits are, and what it may cost you here.

For smaller projects, our goal is to get back work done in a few months, whereas we’ve never had a large project take us more than six months. Much of this depends on how quickly you provide us with the information we need to move forward.

In the meantime, we can start some of your current accounting, but we can’t produce any financial statements until your back work is completed. (Again, this is because accounting numbers build on each other over time and can't just be estimated.)

Once you sign your proposal with CSI for accounting or payroll services, you’re going to be eager to get started! What happens next?

Payroll Onboarding

On the payroll side, you’re going to be walked through these fairly short steps over a period of about three weeks:

• Welcome to CSI Accounting & Payroll.
• Payroll Setup Meeting.
• Payroll System Setup.
• Payroll Software Demonstration.

Accounting Onboarding

For accounting, you’re going to go through some similar introductions to CSI as you would on the payroll side, and then you’ll enter into a short series of onboarding meetings called Initial Strategy Sessions (ISS). The timeline can vary a lot depending on any back work required, but it’s typically a 90-day process.

While our service is monthly, the onboarding process includes more frequent ISS meetings (Initial Strategy Sessions). So, what do these ISS meetings look like? Generally, there are three sessions, but there may be subsequent sessions for unique situations or larger operations.

• Session 1: Your accountant will focus on fact-finding to get a deeper understanding of your situation and answer some of your burning questions.
• Session 2: You will be offered accounting education so you can properly document income and expenses, pay bills, and handle reimbursements.
• Session 3: This is all about tax education and some preliminary tax planning.

During this time, we also work on gaining access to any business accounts needed so we can pull your numbers each month. The information we need varies, but common examples include:

• Copies of your bank statements for that prior month.
• Copies of your credit card statements for that prior month.
• Your sales reports for that prior month.
• A journal of the assets you purchased in that prior month.

Regular meetings are quite different from onboarding meetings. Once you get through onboarding, we shift into Monthly Meaningful Client Contact (M2C2) meetings.

Our meetings often last around 30 minutes, but we're happy to chat until all of your priority questions are answered. If you have any additional one-off questions between meetings, you can call, text, or email your accountant for advice at no additional cost!

There's no set agenda for these meetings because every client’s needs are different. However, if you're like most of our clients, you may want to receive advice based directly on the financial statements that we create for you each month.

When you’re passionate about your small business, you care about its profitability and growth. If your current services are unaffordable or aren’t meeting your needs, then it’s time to start looking for an alternative. Not all professional services are made equal.

CSI Accounting & Payroll is truly the small business owner's one-stop shop. Our clients love us for the time we save them, our service and responsiveness, our upfront quotes, and our ongoing efforts to inform them of current events that affect their businesses. Let’s cover the services we offer:

• Accounting. This includes bookkeeping, monthly financial statements, advice, and tax services.
• Payroll. An assigned specialist provides a complete payroll service, including electronic employee payments, tax payments, and tax filings.
• Other services. Examples include consulting, HR packages, timekeeping, employee retirement plans, workers’ compensation insurance, and more.

Learn more about our services.

No, these promotional offers from our partners are for our monthly accounting clients only.

However, you're welcome to check out retirement plan providers yourself if you're not interested in our monthly accounting service!

If your state does not mandate retirement plans, the choice is up to you. However, we believe these benefits make offering retirement plans worth it for most small businesses:

• Attract and retain talent. Offering any 401(k), even without a match, is a great way to gain the attention of job applicants and to keep quality employees around. Both of those things can be hard to do at times! Profit sharing or an employer match can make it even more attractive. Consider the cost of offering a match versus how much money and effort it takes to constantly try to hire new employees or replace employees who leave.
• They may be expected. Retirement plans are expected in certain industries that require higher education, such as small law practices. If you’re in one of these industries and don’t offer this benefit, your competitors who do offer retirement plans are more likely to hire and retain quality employees who may have otherwise worked for you.
• You, as the owner, will get retirement plan benefits as well. This alone should show the value in offering these plans as a small business. You get to help your employees, and you also get to help yourself in the process.

In many instances, your state can provide no-cost employee retirement plans. However, they aren't usually the greatest quality.

If you want to offer better plans, our 401(k) partner offers low-cost 401(k) plans that give 3% of contributions back (like a credit card)! We can also refer you to our financial advisor partners who can help you find other plans, like no-cost Simple IRAs.

Large payroll providers are known to outsource their retirement plans and white label them as their own, where they have an on-staff financial planner who will typically deal with their retirement plan provider.

When you try to switch to a new payroll provider, you may feel extra pressure to continue using their retirement plans because you will otherwise face high conversion fees. Luckily, our 401(k) partner reimburses a generous amount of conversion fees.

Yes, absolutely! Our payroll specialists go through continuing education to ensure they are always aware of relevant laws and tax requirements – staying on top of the latest guidance from the Department of Labor and the IRS. They also work under the same roof as our accountants, so relevant knowledge is easily exchanged.

If you would like to come on board with CSI’s payroll service and would like to keep your current 401(k) provider, we will still work with them, provided they're not tied to your previous payroll provider.

If they are tied to your previous payroll service provider, we can help you make the change away from that situation. Retirement plans tied to your financial planner can still be used with CSI.

To maintain your retirement plans through our payroll service, we will report your contribution amounts every pay period. While each 401(k) program’s process is different, this typically involves your dedicated payroll specialist manually entering the numbers or uploading files.

Our 401(k) partner offers an integration that reduces manual work. It helps you automate:

• Processing employee contributions.
• Adjusting any contribution changes.
• Making personnel updates for new or prior employees.
• Assisting in completing year-end census and reporting.

This relieves a lot of the administrative burden that would generally land on the plate of your already-busy admin or HR staff.

No, timekeeping is not a standalone service. It's an add-on for our payroll service and is one of the miscellaneous factors that go into our payroll fee.

Timekeeping is important to get right because:

• It's used to track your employees’ time worked and pay them accurately.
• It's required for most businesses to stay in compliance with labor laws. 
• It can be used to fulfill accessibility and security requirements.

Here are some of the complex factors that we can assist with:

• Salaried employees (exempt & non-exempt)
• Tracking different pay rates
• Tracking billable time vs. working hours
• Accessibility (mobile apps, fob proximity clocks)
• Security (timecards, physical clocks, biometric clocks, geofencing, prevented buddy punching and time theft)
• Location-based pay, such as Earned Sick and Safe Time in Minneapolis & St. Paul
• Manager approvals and scheduling

Timekeeping and payroll are not always used together. You could manually transfer timekeeping data to your payroll software, but this is time-consuming and has a huge risk of human error.

However, when you integrate your timekeeping data with your payroll software, the data is automatically totaled and transferred to your payroll software to create a faster, more accurate process. That’s the value of automated payroll.

We offer a variety of elective features, such as:

• Showing PTO on paystubs
• Different levels of HR services
• Printing and delivering paper checks and reports

No, this is only available as an add-on to our payroll service.

Workers’ compensation is a type of insurance that most businesses hold, especially if their industry has a high risk of injury. It protects employees if they get injured on the job, and it protects you from being sued.

It can't hurt! Plus, most states (except Texas) require small businesses to carry this type of insurance. Check with your payroll provider to see if your state mandates workers' compensation insurance. 

Note: We legally cannot offer workers' compensation insurance to businesses in these locations. You must get workers’ compensation insurance through your state’s designated bureau if you live in:

• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Puerto Rico
• Washington
• Wyoming
• The Virgin Islands

You can expect workers' compensation insurance rates to run close to unemployment insurance rates: about 1% of your payroll costs. For most small businesses, this is under $50 per month.

Since this is insurance, the rate will vary by:

• The type of business and industry
• Your location
• The number of employees you have
• Your history of employee claims

Yes! There are three options.

• Option 1: Pull your own reports. Our secure online portal lets you pull your payroll reports and tax forms for free at any time. Avoid waiting to speak to a representative when the due date is approaching quickly!
• Option 2: Have us handle it. CSI can conduct the audit for you for an additional fee.
• Option 3: Use Pay As You Go. Avoid the stress with Pay As You Go workers’ compensation, which uses the payroll data to calculate the premiums owed each payroll. That means audits generally won’t involve you! There’s also no need to adjust payments for overestimating or underestimating your annual wages paid.

You bet it does! Our Pay As You Go partner, E-COMP, integrates directly with the iSolved People Cloud™ platform.

Our cutting-edge quoting platform shops the marketplace for Pay As You Go workers’ compensation insurance in just 3 minutes, securing the most coverage at the best price from the nation’s top insurance carriers.

During your onboarding meetings at CSI, we review your business’s situation. It’s at this time that workers’ compensation would likely come up, although you can bring it up with your contact at any time.

After you let us know that you’re interested, we’ll pass on your contact information to our workers’ compensation insurance partner. They’ll be in touch with you shortly to request the rest of the information they need to get you a quote.

Yes, consulting is not a separate service. Whether it's standard advice and one-off questions or a consulting project, you must be a monthly accounting client for CSI to advise you.

That's because we can offer better service if we have an understanding of your finances and unique situation. Surface-level, non-customized advice isn't what most people tend to seek from a professional.

Yes, as part of our monthly accounting service, your accountant can be reached by call, text, or email and will respond promptly to quick, one-off questions at no extra fee.

However, if communication ventures into professional consultation project territory, we will need to prepare an agreement outlining what we will cover and what it will cost you. You won’t face any surprise fees here.

Standard advice and unlimited one-off questions are included in our monthly accounting service.

However, once a request exceeds a casual conversation or 15-minute task, it generally becomes an add-on consulting project for an additional fee. This fee will vary based on the project, but before you're charged, we'll produce an agreement that shows you understand the project and the fee.

Learn more about the differences between advice and consulting here.

Examples of consulting projects include:

• Registering startups with the government (on your behalf).
  
• Obtaining certain tax credits, such as the Research & Development Credit (R&D).
  
• Analyzing the purchase or sale of a business.
  
• Coordinating a cost segregation study.
  
• Cash flow analysis.
  
• Software integrations.
  

Don't see your request here? Feel free to ask! We may be able to handle it for you as a consulting project, or it may already be included in your investment.

More general questions can be tackled quickly or immediately! We have a series of onboarding meetings in which we can address some basic questions.

However, the best, most customized advice comes into play once we’ve had the chance to work with your accounting data. It will take a little while of getting to know your business before we can advise on more complex issues.

If you add a consulting project while you're already a client, we may be able to jump right into it. It depends on the depth of the project and upfront work needed.

No, the three HR packages we offer are add-ons to our payroll service. You are welcome to contact any HR service directly if you're not interested in switching payroll providers, though!

No. For full transparency, our HR service comes from a partner. However, we're picky with our service partners and only choose the best of the best for small businesses.

With that being said, we welcome feedback on any of our service partners. Help us stay in the loop!

We need to know more about you before we decide what your best fit is! If you ask your payroll specialist to put you in touch with an HR representative, they'll be happy to help find your ideal package based on your business's needs.