Reviewed by a licensed CPA · Last updated:
What is CPA-supervised bookkeeping?
CPA-supervised bookkeeping is monthly bookkeeping that a licensed CPA reviews before it reaches you. Business decisions rest on the books. Errors there carry into tax filings and cash flow. At ProAxis, bookkeeping is a CPA-managed process rather than low-cost data entry. It produces financial data your business can trust.
Our bookkeeping engagements are built around QuickBooks Online, the most widely used cloud accounting platform for small and mid-sized businesses. As QBO ProAdvisor Certified professionals, we implement and optimize your QBO environment and establish a clean chart of accounts. Our monthly workflow keeps your books current, reconciled, and tax-ready all year — not just in April.
Our QuickBooks Online (Level 1, Level 2 Advanced) and Payroll certifications are earned by exam. Every Intuit credential below is independently verifiable on Credly. Click any badge to confirm it.
Here is what a typical ProAxis bookkeeping engagement includes:
- ✓ Monthly bank and credit card reconciliation — every account reconciled to the statement each month
- ✓ Bank feed categorization — transactions automatically imported and categorized against your chart of accounts with CPA review for accuracy
- ✓ Accounts payable management — tracking what you owe, when it is due, and ensuring it is recorded correctly
- ✓ Accounts receivable tracking — monitoring outstanding invoices and flagging aging balances that need follow-up
- ✓ Month-end financial reporting — profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flow summary delivered each month
- ✓ Year-end close — complete close process to prepare your books for tax filing, including depreciation entries and adjusting journal entries
- ✓ Catch-up bookkeeping — for businesses coming in with months or years of backlog that need to be cleaned up before getting current
- ✓ Monthly check-in calls — a brief review of your financials each month so you understand your numbers and have a forum to ask questions
Every one of these deliverables is reviewed by a licensed CPA before it reaches you — a level of CPA oversight that isn't part of every bookkeeping arrangement.
Who is CPA-supervised bookkeeping for?
Our bookkeeping clients are typically NJ businesses in the $500,000 to $5 million annual revenue range. They fall into a few categories:
Businesses that have outgrown DIY
You started by doing your own bookkeeping in QuickBooks or a spreadsheet. The business has grown, transactions are more complex, and you no longer have the time — or the accounting knowledge — to keep up. Your books may be months behind and you are not confident in the numbers.
Businesses with messy or incorrect books
A previous bookkeeper made categorization errors, left accounts unreconciled, or created a chart of accounts that does not reflect your actual business. You are not sure what your financials mean and your CPA has flagged problems at tax time. You need a clean start.
Businesses preparing for a loan or line of credit
Your bank is asking for financial statements and a lender review of your books. Lenders want to see clean, reconciled financials prepared or reviewed by a CPA. Incomplete or unreconciled books are a common reason a loan application stalls.
Businesses that want better financial visibility
You want monthly financial reports you can actually read and act on — not just a year-end P&L that arrives in February. You want to know your margins, your cash position, and where your money is going on a rolling basis.
How does the ProAxis monthly bookkeeping process work?
Our process starts with onboarding. We review your existing books, clean up any backlog, rationalize your chart of accounts, and set up the right workflows in QuickBooks Online. For most new clients, this means a one-time catch-up project before we move to monthly maintenance.
Once current, our monthly workflow runs like clockwork. We pull your bank and credit card feeds, categorize and review every transaction, reconcile every account, and close the month. You receive a standard financial package — P&L, balance sheet, and a brief narrative — by the 15th of the following month. We then hold a short check-in call, typically 20–30 minutes, to walk through the numbers and surface any issues or opportunities.
As a CPA firm, we read your books through a tax lens year-round. We flag deductible items that might be misclassified, watch for estimated tax payment triggers, and coordinate directly with our tax team when year-end planning decisions arise. Clean, current books support a smoother year-end and can help reduce the risk of errors or overlooked deductions. Results vary by business and applicable tax rules.
All of our bookkeeping is cloud-based. You have 24/7 access to your QuickBooks Online file, and our team works collaboratively in the same platform. Nothing gets emailed back and forth as PDFs, so there are no version control issues or delays. If you need a report or have a question on a Tuesday afternoon, the data is there.
Industry-Specific Bookkeeping
Different industries demand fundamentally different bookkeeping. A contractor needs job costing and WIP schedules; a real estate investor needs entity-level tracking and depreciation rollforwards; a dental practice needs insurance ERA reconciliation; an e-commerce seller needs marketplace-settlement accounting and multi-state sales-tax compliance. ProAxis runs a dedicated bookkeeping practice for each Tri-State industry below. Each has its own QuickBooks setup, chart of accounts, and CPA-led monthly workflow.
Bookkeeping for Home Service Contractors →
Job costing, WIP schedules, change-order tracking, subcontractor 1099 management, and NJ sales-tax compliance for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and landscaping companies.
Bookkeeping for Real Estate Investors →
Multi-LLC entity tracking, Schedule E by property, per-property depreciation schedules, suspended PAL rollforwards, 1031 exchange records, and cost-segregation implementation.
Bookkeeping for Medical & Dental Practices →
Insurance ERA / EOB reconciliation, per-provider P&L, multi-provider payroll, equipment-financing tracking, and HIPAA-aware workflows.
Bookkeeping for E-commerce & Retail →
Shopify / Amazon / Stripe settlement reconciliation, multi-state sales-tax nexus, COGS & inventory accounting, and channel-by-channel contribution margin.
Bookkeeping for Law Firms →
Per-client attorney trust ledgers, the monthly three-way reconciliation required by Court Rule 1:21-6, fee-transfer tracking, client cost advances, and partner capital & draw accounts.
Not sure which fits? Read our pricing guide: How Much Does Outsourced Bookkeeping Cost in 2026 → or our Bergen County bookkeeping guide →
Ready to get started?
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with our team.
How much does CPA-supervised bookkeeping cost in NJ?
Fees are fixed monthly and scale with business size and complexity. Here are the published 2026 ranges for NJ, NY, and PA businesses.
| Business Profile | Typical Monthly Range |
|---|---|
| Solo professional / freelancer (low volume, 1–2 accounts) | $300 – $500 |
| Small business under $500K revenue (basic) | $400 – $700 |
| Small business $500K – $2M revenue (standard) | $700 – $1,400 |
| Mid-size business $2M – $5M revenue | $1,200 – $2,500 |
| Multi-entity, multi-state, or complex industry | $1,800 – $4,000+ |
| Catch-up bookkeeping (one-time project) | $300 – $600 per month of backlog |
Typical published ranges, not an offer. The final fee is scoped during the engagement based on transaction volume, accounts, and complexity.
For the full variable-by-variable breakdown, read our 2026 outsourced bookkeeping cost guide for NJ, NY & PA. Comparing bookkeeping fees against tax-prep fees? See what a CPA costs in NJ in 2026.
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What best describes you?
Outsourced Bookkeeping vs. Hiring In-House
Outsourced bookkeeping replaces an in-house hire with a monthly service. You get the work of a bookkeeper plus CPA review, without payroll, benefits, software seats, or coverage gaps when someone is out.
The math favors outsourcing for most businesses under $5M revenue. A part-time in-house bookkeeper in North Jersey typically costs more per month than the published ranges above, before adding a CPA's review on top. Outsourced, both layers come in one fixed fee.
The tradeoff is physical presence. If someone must hand-count register cash daily, you may still want a person on site for that task — the books themselves can still be outsourced. ProAxis runs the entire engagement remotely across NJ, NY, and PA.
Switching to ProAxis: How We Take Over Your Books
Already have a bookkeeper, a DIY file, or books that are behind? The handoff follows four steps:
- Free scoping call — including a read-only look at your current QuickBooks file, so the recommendation is based on your actual books.
- Written fixed quote — the monthly fee (and any one-time catch-up scope) is documented in an engagement letter before work begins.
- Takeover — we connect bank feeds, correct or rebuild what needs it, and pick up the monthly cycle. If you are behind, catch-up bookkeeping runs first.
- Monthly rhythm — reconciled books with P&L and balance sheet by the 15th, plus a short check-in call.
Nothing is required from your current bookkeeper beyond file access — we handle the transition mechanics.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is CPA-supervised bookkeeping different from hiring a bookkeeper?
A standalone bookkeeper — even a good one — does not carry a CPA license and does not bring tax planning awareness to the work. With CPA-supervised bookkeeping, every transaction, classification, and reconciliation is reviewed by a licensed CPA who is also thinking about your tax position. You get accurate books, organized to support your tax filings and directly useful for business decisions. In some engagements we identify prior misclassifications during onboarding; whether any tax overpayment can be recovered depends on the specific facts. For a side-by-side comparison of bookkeeper vs. CPA-supervised vs. DIY, read our 2026 decision guide.
How much does bookkeeping cost for a small NJ business?
Most small NJ businesses pay $400–$700 per month under $500K revenue, and $700–$1,400 per month at $500K–$2M. Fees are fixed monthly (typical published ranges, not an offer; final scope is set during the engagement). Pricing is based on your monthly transaction volume, number of accounts, and service complexity. We provide a firm quote after a free initial consultation where we assess your current books and workflow.
Is outsourced bookkeeping cheaper than hiring a bookkeeper in-house?
For most NJ businesses under $5M revenue, yes. An in-house bookkeeper adds salary, payroll taxes, benefits, and software seats. Outsourced bookkeeping replaces that with one fixed monthly fee — $300–$1,400 for most small businesses (typical published ranges, not an offer). It also includes CPA review, which an in-house bookkeeper alone does not provide. The tradeoff is on-site presence for physical tasks like daily cash counts.
Do I need to switch to QuickBooks Online to work with ProAxis?
QuickBooks Online is our recommended platform. It supports real-time collaboration, automated bank feeds, and integration with our tax and reporting tools. If you are currently on QuickBooks Desktop, Wave, FreshBooks, or another platform, we will walk through the tradeoffs during onboarding. For many growing businesses, switching to QBO can simplify the monthly workflow. We handle the migration.
How does the monthly bookkeeping process work once we get started?
After onboarding, the monthly process runs automatically. We connect to your bank feeds, process transactions daily, and reconcile all accounts at month-end. We then deliver a financial package including P&L and balance sheet by the 15th of the following month. We schedule a 20–30 minute check-in call to walk through the numbers. If anything unusual comes up mid-month, you can reach us by email or our client portal. That includes a large purchase, a new vendor, or a payroll question. The process is designed to require minimal time from you.
What a Client Says on Google
"Working with Dor and his bookkeeper completely transformed how we handle our business bookkeeping. It was great to have my business's bookkeeping and tax return done under one roof, saving us a massive amount of time and stress. If you need a reliable CPA firm ProAxis Tax and Accounting is the way to go!"
Quoted verbatim from a public Google review. Client experiences reflect their specific situations; results vary. Read more client reviews.
Run Your Numbers in 30 Seconds
Use the free ProAxis bookkeeping calculators to estimate monthly fee or one-time catch-up cost before you book a scoping call. Both use ProAxis's published 2026 NJ/NY/PA pricing tiers.