ACCOUNTING & REPORTING FOR A&E FIRMS
Know How the Firm Is Doing Without Waiting for the Tax Return
Most owners don’t need more reports. They need to believe the ones they already get, and to know what the numbers are telling them while there is still time to act.
Forrest W. Cameron, CPA handles monthly accounting and financial reporting for engineering, environmental, planning, surveying, CEI, geotechnical, and infrastructure consulting firms, and then walks you through what changed and why.
ACCURATE IS NOT THE SAME AS USEFUL
You Can Reconcile Every Account and Still Not Know How the Firm Is Doing
A clean set of books is a starting point. Plenty of firms have bank accounts that tie out to the penny and still can’t answer basic questions about the business.
The questions that go unanswered are usually these:
- Are we actually making money, or just busy?
- Why is cash tight when the income statement shows a profit?
- Are expenses growing faster than revenue?
- Are receivables becoming a problem?
- Is anything in these statements worth worrying about?
- Are the books in good enough shape for tax planning?
Getting the accounting right is the part most firms buy. Getting an answer to those six questions every month is the part most firms are missing.
WHO THIS SERVICE IS BUILT FOR
You’ve Outgrown Basic Bookkeeping and You May Not Need a CFO Yet
Four situations bring most firms to this service.
The books got complicated faster than the process did
More employees, more projects, more credit cards, more payroll activity. What worked at eight people is now producing numbers nobody fully trusts.
Statements arrive, insight doesn’t
You get a P&L and a balance sheet every month. Nobody interprets them, so nothing gets caught until it’s large.
Cash feels unpredictable
Revenue may be climbing while the bank balance does something else, driven by billing cycles, collections, project timing, or overhead that grew quietly.
Tax season keeps producing surprises
Accounting and tax planning meet for the first time in February, when most of the useful options have already expired.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
The Accounting Function, Run Properly
Monthly accounting
Transactions reviewed and categorized, bank and credit card accounts reconciled, balance sheet accounts substantiated, payroll recorded correctly, and a real month-end close on a schedule you can count on. If the books need cleanup before that rhythm can start, we scope it up front rather than discovering it in month three.
Financial reporting
Financial statements every month by the 15th business day, plus a customized dashboard most clients end up using more than the statements themselves. Reporting is organized around what an owner needs to see: revenue, profitability, cash position, receivables and collections, overhead, and the changes worth a second look.
Cash and performance review
Profit and cash move differently in a project-based firm. Each month we look at what is driving both, including collections, labor costs, overhead, distributions, and any large cash requirement coming up, so problems surface while they are still small.
The conversation
When something in the numbers deserves attention, we tell you, explain what changed and why it matters, and identify what to do about it.
Financial statements every month by the 15th business day
WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE
Two Firms Where the Accounting Was the Problem
A six-person architecture firm needed a line of credit to manage uneven project cash flow, but the bank would not approve it because the balance sheet did not balance. Years of accounting errors had left the financial statements unreliable. Cleaning up the accounts, correcting the balance sheet, and establishing a proper monthly reconciliation process gave management financials they could trust and gave the bank the information it needed to properly evaluate the firm.
A 15-person engineering firm showed strong revenue but constantly struggled with cash. The accounting system produced an aging report every month, but nobody was reviewing it or assigning responsibility for collections. Several large invoices had quietly moved past 60 and 90 days. Creating a monthly receivables review, identifying disputed invoices early, and assigning collection responsibility shortened the collection cycle and turned the aging report into a cash-management tool instead of an accounting report nobody opened.
These are real client engagements. Identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality.
BUILT FOR PROJECT-BASED FIRMS
Your Accounting Should Reflect How Your Firm Actually Makes Money
A project-based professional services firm doesn’t run like a retailer or a contractor. Your results are driven by people, utilization, billing, collections, overhead, and the gap between doing the work and getting paid for it. A general bookkeeper can record all of it accurately and still structure the accounts in a way that makes the useful questions impossible to answer.
We work with engineering, architecture, environmental consulting, transportation, planning, surveying, CEI, geotechnical, materials testing, and infrastructure consulting firms, including firms doing significant government work where cost classification carries consequences well beyond the financial statements.
ALREADY HAVE A BOOKKEEPER?
You May Not Need to Replace Anyone
Many firms already have an internal bookkeeper or office manager handling part of this work. That doesn’t automatically mean starting over.
Depending on the situation, we can take the accounting on entirely, or provide oversight, reporting, and review while your existing staff continues the day-to-day work. Which structure makes sense depends on the condition of the current accounting, your systems, and how much financial guidance you want. We’ll tell you which one we recommend and why.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT LEVEL
Accounting & Reporting Explains the Past. Virtual CFO Decides the Future.
Start here when the problem is that you can’t consistently trust, understand, or use your financial reports.
Move up to Virtual CFO when the numbers are already reliable and the questions have shifted to hiring, forecasting, distributions, and growth decisions. Firms that build the foundation first find the transition straightforward, because the forecasting has something solid underneath it.
ACCOUNTING AND TAX SHOULD WORK TOGETHER
Tax Planning Is Only as Good as the Books Underneath It
When the accounting is incomplete or behind, tax projections stop being reliable and planning options get harder to evaluate. Keeping the records current through the year means tax conversations can happen in October, when you can still do something, instead of March, when you can’t.
Tax preparation and proactive Tax Strategy work are scoped separately and coordinated with your accounting.
WHY FORREST W. CAMERON, CPA?
What You Get From Working With Us
Industry depth
A&E and infrastructure consulting is what we do, so you don’t spend meetings explaining how your business works.
More than transaction processing
The work doesn’t end when the bank account reconciles. We interpret the information and tell you what deserves attention.
CPA-level oversight
Your accounting benefits from a firm that also works in tax and government contracting, so issues get spotted from more than one angle.
Fixed, predictable pricing
Engagements are scoped and priced up front, so you know what’s included without wondering what a phone call will cost.
20+
Years
Serving A&E firms
500+
Firms
Reviewed from the inside
A&E + GovCon
Specialization
Not a side practice
With over 20 years serving A&E firms and insight gained from reviewing the inner workings of more than 500 architecture and engineering firms, we understand the financial challenges, benchmarks, and decisions that drive a stronger firm.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions About Accounting & Reporting
DO NOT DELETE
Do you still do the bookkeeping?
Yes. Transaction processing and reconciliations are included. They’re the foundation the reporting sits on rather than the end product.
Can you clean up our existing books?
Yes. We assess the condition of the accounting first and scope the cleanup separately, so you know what it involves before we start the recurring work.
How often are the books closed?
Monthly, on a set schedule, with statements delivered by the 15th business day. The whole point of the service is that you know when the numbers arrive and can rely on them when they do.
Do you help with project profitability?
We can improve visibility into project performance when the underlying accounting and project data support it. Firms that need deeper project, utilization, and forecasting analysis are usually a better fit for Virtual CFO.
What accounting software do you work with?
Cloud-based accounting and project-accounting platforms commonly used by professional services firms. In the first conversation we’ll review what you’re running and whether it supports the reporting you want.
What does an Accounting & Reporting engagement cost?
Engagements typically begin at $1,000 per month, with the final number depending on transaction volume, entity count, and complexity. You’ll have a fixed figure before any work starts, and it won’t change because you picked up the phone.
When will we get our financial statements?
By the 15th business day of each month. Consistent timing is the point of the service, because financial information that arrives whenever it arrives can’t be used to run anything.
NOT READY FOR A CONVERSATION YET?
The A&E Firm Profit Playbook
Seven CFO-level moves to improve cash, margin, and owner pay without chasing more clients. It covers the things that quietly drain profit from a project-based firm: slow cash conversion, scope creep, mix and pricing decisions, and margin leaks that don’t show up until the year is over.
Free, delivered instantly.
YOUR ACCOUNTING SHOULD DO MORE THAN KEEP YOU COMPLIANT
Get Numbers You Trust, and Know What They Mean
You shouldn’t have to wait until tax season to learn how the firm performed. With the accounting handled properly, you see problems while they’re small, understand where the money is going, and make decisions on information you believe.
Let’s find out what your firm needs and whether this is the right fit.