Bookkeeping Clients
All Out Adventures, Inc. - Easthampton, Massachusetts
12-15 hrs/month, since 2006
I was brought in to All Out when their executive director went on maternity leave. A small non-profit which provides full inclusion of people with disabilities in outdoor recreational activities, including biking, hiking, kayaking and camping, they needed someone to keep up with their Massachusetts DCR and State Head Injury contract services billing, A/P, and development of a budget for fiscal year 2007. The executive director left permanently after the birth of her daughter, and Sue Tracy, the program director, took over many of her duties in addition to maintaining the web site, running programs, training instructors, acting as liaison on the state service contracts, etc. She has an extremely full plate! Philippe Galaski, Board Chair, has been very active in assisting her, while I continue providing bookkeeping and budget development services and have begun work on a (beta version) donor and participant tracking database for the new development officer so she can begin to do targeted mailings and improve their outreach.
Amherst Building Company, LLC - Northampton, Massachusetts
40-45 hrs/year, since 2001
Builders of the Eastman Meadow development in Amherst as well as the Phelps Settlement in East Granby, CT, Amherst Building Company specializes in custom homes with an historic feel but all the modern amenities. I work with ABC on a quarterly basis, catching up bank account reconciliations, booking property closings, and reviewing all materials at fiscal year end. However, the most important service I provide for them is preparing for their annual workers' compensation and liability audits (see the Employee vs. Subcontractors article). This has saved them thousands of dollars in insurance premiums over the years - they know which of their vendors do not carry their own insurance (allowing them to compare estimates from various subcontractors with an awareness of the insurance costs they will have to carry at audit), and at audit they have proof of coverage for all the vendors who do have their own insurance. For those vendors who don't have separate insurance, reviewing the Quickbooks file and 'splitting' payments between labor and materials wherever applicable means ABC pays comp premiums only on labor, not the total amount they paid that vendor.
Hilltown Land Trust, Inc. - Chesterfield, Massachusetts
10-12 hrs/year, since 2004
The Hilltown Land Trust preserves and protects rural land in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. Their bookkeeping needs are minor, so their treasurer, Ruth Pardoe (AMAZING! lady - met her when we both served on the board of the now defunct Hampshire Community Action Commission - volunteered at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts from its inception thru 2005, probably has given to the community in so many other ways I've never heard about) pays things as they come up and mails me the bank statements, paid bills, etc. every quarter for entry into Quickbooks. A few times a year I prepare reports for board meetings, and at the end of their fiscal year I prepare all materials for their accountant.
Thomas Douglas Architects, Inc - Northampton, Massachusetts
4-5 hrs/week, since 1997
If you've spent any time in downtown Northampton, chances are good you've eaten in a restaurant Tom and his staff designed. Projects include the Toasted Owl, Spoleto and Spoleto Express and Sylvester's. He did the award-winning design work on the Calvin Theater restoration and the conversion of the old Firehouse building into the Media Education Foundation (with the Woodstar Cafe located in the bottom front), as well as several projects for Smith College. I have been providing his firm with project time and expense tracking, client invoicing and full payroll services, as well as the more basic bookkeeping functions such as accounts payable and bank account reconciliations.
Stop It Now! Inc. - Florence, Massachusetts
6-8 hrs/week, since 2005
Stop It Now! is a mid-sized nonprofit on a tight budget whose mission statement is to prevent the sexual abuse of children. As a non-profit at their income level, they are subject to full accountant audit and review, which requires more detailed bookkeeping than a for-profit or a smaller non-profit would. I have been working with them since 2005, tracking restricted grant income and expenses, allocating expenses between Administrative, Development and the various programs they run, and providing vendor research and recommendations to help keep their costs down.
Sunraise Printing, Inc. - Hadley, Massachusetts (an incredible success story!)
4-5 hrs/week, since 2002
When I first started working with Sunraise they faced some real challenges. The founder, Bob Salvini, had been ill for over a year. Since he handled all money matters, his illness had created several problems. Sunraise had fallen behind on vendor and company credit card payments. Many suppliers had begun insisting on COD delivery, while interest rates on the credit cards skyrocketed, creating terrible cash flow problems... Adding to cash flow issues, their invoicing system was antiquated (it ran on DOS!). Several customers owed them money, but between Bob's illness and difficulty in using the DOS-based system, those customers were not being followed up on and many were putting Sunraise at the bottom of the list of things to pay when their own cash was tight.
It took a good couple of years to dig out of the hole and re-establish credit. However, Sunraise now runs both A/P and A/R in Quickbooks, has paid off 100% of the business credit card debt and re-established credit with most suppliers. They monitor receivables and call customers or mail duplicate copies of invoices when needed, so 'slow payers' are much less of a problem. Based on a cost analysis I did, they moved their apparel printing from Northampton back into their Hadley building, saving thousands of dollars a year in heating, telephone, rent and other costs associated with having the separate location. I realized their electric bills seemed very high compared to other clients - it turned out one of their large presses was being left in 'stand-by' mode but for the amount it was used, this was unnecessary. Turning it off completely when it isn't being used has saved them $200-300/month on their electric bills. Liability insurance costs also seemed high compared to other clients - I brought it to their attention, and the new carrier is providing the same coverage at about 30% lower cost.
They are now able to provide company health insurance and modest annual payraises, and have invested in new computer, digital short-run color printing, and sign making equipment, allowing their business to expand and stay current.
Rob and Gineen Salvini, Bob's children, have worked extremely hard to bring the business back. With Bob's death in 2006, Rob took over many of the marketing and general management functions, and Gineen handles most of the A/R. I take care of all other bookkeeping functions, manage cash flow, and assist Rob in planning for large equipment purchases or other costly expenses. It has been incredibly satisfying to watch a business that was struggling so hard come back so strongly. I enjoy working with them a great deal.
Yes Computers, Inc. - Northampton, Massachusetts
12-15hrs/week, since 2005
I started working with Yes Computers in the spring of 2005, when their general manager left. She had been handling most bookkeeping duties, but it was not her primary job responsibility, nor had she been trained in it. As a result, there were several discrepancies in the books, 'stale' A/R, and cash flow and inventory management were not being handled well. It was a huge advantage to Yes to have me come in, since the only thing I was responsible for was bookkeeping and cash-flow management, so it was being attended to consistently, vendor payments were going out on time, and shorted deliveries were being caught and followed up on. Once the books were in reasonable shape and cash flow stabilized, I expanded my work to build a Filemaker database for the service department to track repairs which linked to the retail side customer database (both were replaced in August 2007 by a LightSpeed database), assisted the owner in establishing and expanding lines of credit with his major suppliers to have better control over inventory fluctuations, and took over ordering stock Apple brand product. Since I always know (or can quickly look up) open credit at the major vendors for the Apple product, the store now consistently has computers, i-pods, and Apple accessories in stock unless they are unavailable from the distributor.