ACCOUNTING SERVICES · SANTA MONICA
Startup-ready accounting services for Santa Monica founders and Silicon Beach companies.
A packaged monthly service for pre-Seed to Series B founders on the Westside — VC-cadence financial reporting, R&D credit studies, QSBS §1202 tracking, and clean board packages, all on one recurring engagement.
GET A SCOPING CALL →Service menu
- Monthly bookkeeping (QBO) — categorized transactions, subsidiary ledgers, deferred-revenue and prepaid schedules.
- Month-end close — closed books by day 15, so the board package ships mid-month.
- Board-cadence financial statements — P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, budget-vs-actual, and a monthly commentary designed for investor eyes.
- Cash burn and runway modeling — trailing three months, forward six months, refreshed every close.
- R&D credit studies — federal §41 and California R&D credit, run in-house.
- QSBS §1202 tracking — original-issue documentation, 5-year holding tracking, and gross-asset ceiling monitoring.
- Sales & use tax — CDTFA and multi-state nexus review annually.
- 1099 compliance — vendor W-9 collection year-round; year-end filings.
- Payroll integration — Gusto, Rippling, or Justworks — journal integration and quarterly reconciliation.
- 409A valuation coordination — we prep the financial package the third-party valuator needs.
Who this is for
Silicon Beach founders — Wilshire through Ocean Ave, Third Street to Colorado, plus the Westside pockets of Playa Vista and Venice-adjacent — running Delaware C-corps with California operations. Typical fit: pre-Seed through Series B, headcount 5 to 80, priced-round investors, and quarterly board reporting expectations. Also boutique wellness, hospitality, and consumer brands along Montana and Main Street that need a firm that treats reporting like a discipline.
Pricing signal
Recurring packages start in the mid four-figures per month. R&D credit studies are typically priced as separate annual projects. QSBS tracking is bundled into the base engagement. Specific scoping happens after discovery.
Onboarding — four steps, roughly 45 days
1. Discovery. A 30-minute scoping call. If the round is closing soon, we compress this.
2. Data migration. QBO cleanup, chart of accounts rebuilt around startup reporting norms (revenue by product line, opex by function), integration wiring for payroll and Stripe.
3. 30-day parallel run. One full month of closes alongside your current setup before the switch.
4. Ongoing cadence. Day-15 close. Board package shipped by day 20. Quarterly review with the partner.
Signals that a founder should call
- A priced round is coming and the last board package needs to be redone before diligence sees it.
- Your existing bookkeeper has never heard of §1202, and you are already past year one.
- An R&D credit has never been claimed and the technical work clearly qualifies.
- Runway math is being done in a spreadsheet that nobody trusts.
- The 409A refresh is coming up and last time's financials were reconstructed under pressure.
- Deferred revenue is booked as revenue on receipt.
Response times and cadence commitments
Same-business-day acknowledgment. 24-hour substantive response on non-urgent items. Faster during round closes. Board packages by day 20. Partner available for board Q&A on request.
Frequently asked
Q: Do you use accrual accounting from day one?
A: Yes — deferred revenue, accrued expenses, and prepaid schedules are standard. Cash-basis reporting is available on request as a secondary view.
Q: Can you support a diligence process?
A: Yes. Data-room prep, financials in the format most VCs and QoE providers expect, and coordination with your outside counsel.
Q: Do you run the R&D credit study yourselves?
A: Yes. In-house. No fee-splitting with a third-party study house.
Q: QSBS §1202 — do you actively track it?
A: Yes. We document original issuance, monitor the gross-asset ceiling, and flag the 5-year holding date on the calendar the day the engagement starts.
Q: What if we grow past you?
A: We support handoffs to in-house controllers or larger firms cleanly when the time comes. That is a normal and expected outcome for our best startup clients.
One monthly engagement. Day-15 close. Investor-ready reporting.
Serving Santa Monica and Silicon Beach founders since 2013. Thirty-minute scoping call — no obligation.
GET A SCOPING CALL →CALL (866) 222-6060
Frequently Asked
Santa Monica — questions we hear.
What accounting services do Santa Monica businesses need most?
The most-requested accounting services in Santa Monica are monthly bookkeeping, R&D tax credit studies, sales tax nexus analysis, payroll, business tax returns, and CFO-level advisory. Startups add investor reporting and 409A coordination. Real estate investors add cost segregation studies and 1031 support. The common thread across Santa Monica clients is multi-state complexity — tech remote teams and out-of-state property both drive that.
How much do accounting services cost in Santa Monica?
Monthly accounting services in Santa Monica typically run $500-$2,500 for small businesses and $2,500-$8,000 for funded startups with payroll and higher transaction volume. R&D credit studies often price at $5,000-$15,000 depending on qualifying activity. Tax return preparation ranges from $1,500-$8,000 for business returns. Fractional CFO engagements usually run $2,500-$10,000 per month for growing companies.
Can Santa Monica accounting services be delivered remotely?
Yes. Santa Monica firms operate primarily through cloud platforms — QuickBooks Online, Bill.com, Gusto, and secure document portals — so nearly all work happens remotely. In-person meetings are available for strategic planning, R&D credit interviews, or investor prep. The tradeoff for going fully remote is usually less consistent communication; local Santa Monica firms tend to be more responsive because clients and staff share time zone and business hours.
What's included in monthly accounting services in Santa Monica?
Monthly accounting services in Santa Monica typically include categorizing transactions, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, monthly close, financial reports, and light advisory. Higher tiers add sales tax filings, payroll oversight, accounts payable through Bill.com, and a scheduled CPA review call. Startup-focused packages often add investor reporting, KPI dashboards, and burn/runway tracking as part of the standard scope.
Do Santa Monica accounting services include R&D tax credit work?
Many Santa Monica firms offer R&D credit studies because so many local startups qualify. The credit can offset up to $500,000 of payroll tax annually for eligible small businesses, which is meaningful cash for pre-revenue companies. A proper study includes qualifying activity documentation, wage allocation, and contemporaneous records that hold up to IRS examination. Not every accounting service provider does this in-house, so confirm scope upfront.