---
title: For CPA & tax firms | Countabl
description: You keep the return, the planning and the client. Countabl takes the close, the forecast and the cash questions between filings. Not a CPA firm.
image: https://www.countabl.io/hubfs/og-image.png
---

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[Countabl.](https://www.countabl.io/)

[Services](https://www.countabl.io/services) [How it works](https://www.countabl.io/how-it-works) [Who we work with](https://www.countabl.io/who-we-work-with) [Team](https://www.countabl.io/team)

[Notes](https://www.countabl.io/notes) [Tools](https://www.countabl.io/tools)[Calculators](https://www.countabl.io/tools)[Know Your Numbers](https://www.countabl.io/tools/know-your-numbers)[Finance Team Cost](https://www.countabl.io/tools/finance-team-cost)[Glossary](https://www.countabl.io/tools/glossary)

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For CPA & tax firms

# You keep the return. *We take the other eleven months.*

Countabl runs the close, the forecast and the cash questions your clients bring you in March. We are not a CPA firm (no income tax, no audit, no attest, and no plan to add them), so nothing we do competes for the return. The one piece of tax work we do handle is sales-and-use compliance, which is operational filing. If your firm already does that for a client, it stays yours; we pick up whatever you would rather not carry.

Other partner types

You do the tax returnCPA & tax firms

[You underwrite the fileBanks & SBA lenders](https://www.countabl.io/partners/lenders) [You sit on the boardFunds & angels](https://www.countabl.io/partners/investors) [You're selling the companyM&A & fractional execs](https://www.countabl.io/partners/advisors)

[The full partner overview: boundary, mechanics, team →](https://www.countabl.io/partners)

What actually happens

## The three requests that arrive *at the worst possible time.*

None of these are work your firm is set up to absorb in the month they land.

Every one of these is finance work rather than income tax work, That is the line we do not cross.

February through April

The forecasting ask during filing season

A client wants to know what cash looks like in Q3, and they want it this week. It is not the work your team is staffed for that month, and pointing them nowhere in particular means they go looking on their own.

Every engagement

Cleanup you are doing at tax-prep rates

Reclassifications, unreconciled accounts, owner draws run through the wrong accounts. You are doing bookkeeping before you can do the return, and nobody enjoys that line on the invoice.

The one that costs you

The client who outgrows you into someone else

They hire a fractional finance person who arrives with opinions about the accountant. We arrive having already told you, in writing on this page, that we will not compete for the return.

The division of labor

## Who owns what, *written down.*

This is the part worth forwarding to your partner group. If any line here reads wrong for how your firm works, tell us and we will put it in writing for your clients specifically.

You keep

- **✓**The return and the tax planning, every year
- **✓**Any attest engagement, and the independence that comes with it
- **✓**The client relationship and the annual conversation
- **✓**Your chart of accounts, which we work inside

We take

- **→**Monthly close, reconciliation, budget versus actual
- **→**The rolling 13-week cash forecast
- **→**Lender and board reporting
- **→**Cash management and fractional CFO work

What we never do

- **×**Income tax preparation
- **×**Tax planning or tax advice of any kind
- **×**Audit, review, compilation or attest work
- **×**Anything that puts us between you and your client

Use this on your own client list

## Which of your clients *is this?*

Signals that a client has outgrown annual cleanup. You do not need to refer anyone to find this useful: run it down your own list and you will know who is going to cost you time in February.

- **▲**The file arrives in February with a year of uncategorized transactions
- **▲**They call you in July about something that is not a tax question
- **▲**The books close once a year, in your office, in the spring
- **▲**A bank or a buyer has asked them for monthly statements they cannot produce
- **▲**They have asked you whether they should hire a controller
- **▲**A raise, a loan or a sale is coming and the books will not support it

Borrow this line

“I do your return and your tax planning. What you need is someone running the close and the forecast every month, and I would rather that be a firm that does not touch income tax work.”

Says the boundary out loud, keeps the return yours, and puts the monthly work somewhere it will actually get done. We work in whichever file the client already has (QuickBooks Online or Desktop, Xero, NetSuite), and inside your chart of accounts.

Free · no email required

## What you can send a client *today*

Nothing here asks your client for an email address. A referral that turns into a lead-capture form makes you look bad, not us.

[Note Why your month-end close takes so long Written for the owner, not the accountant. Useful when a client blames the software and the real problem is that nobody owns the close. Read it → *send as-is*](https://www.countabl.io/notes/month-end-close) [Checklist · PDF Diligence-readiness checklist What has to be true before a data room opens. Short enough to read before a call, ending in the questions an owner should be able to answer out loud. We will put your firm logo in the header on request. Download → *co-branding on request*](https://www.countabl.io/hubfs/countabl-diligence-ready-checklist.pdf) [Calculator Runway and burn calculator Runs in the browser with example values already filled in. A fast answer for the client who asks how long the cash lasts while you are mid-return. Open it → *no signup*](https://www.countabl.io/tools?t=runway)

How it works

## How a referral *actually* goes

Only the first step is yours.

01

Yours

You send an intro email

That's the whole ask. No form, no portal, no partner tier, and no agreement to sign.

02

Within a week

We scope it in one call

Thirty minutes with the founder. If we're not the right answer we say so on that call and tell them what is.

03

Same conversation

They see a fixed price first

Tiers and scoped projects are published on our site, so they see the price before they talk to us.

04

Once, then never again

You hear from us

A short note confirming what we're doing and where the boundary sits. After that we don't put you in a nurture sequence.

No referral fees,  
in either direction.

We don't pay for introductions and we don't accept payment for ours. If we send you a client, it's because they need what you do. It keeps the advice clean, and it means there is no referral fee for you to disclose.

## Have a client whose books *keep landing on your desk?*

Send them over, or send us the situation first and we will tell you whether it is ours. Either is fine, and neither costs you anything.

Book 30 minutes

No prep needed. We will tell you on the call if we are not the answer.

→

Send us the situation

A real reply, not a sequence

taylor@countabl.io

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[See how the work actually runs →](https://www.countabl.io/how-it-works)

[Countabl.](https://www.countabl.io/)

Financial operating partner for founder-led and owner-operated companies: bookkeeping, cash management and fractional CFO. Based in New Orleans.

[Book a 30-minute call →](https://calendly.com/tdwhite/countabl-customer-discovery)

[taylor@countabl.io](mailto:taylor@countabl.io) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/countabl/)

Services [Services & pricing](https://www.countabl.io/services) [How it works](https://www.countabl.io/how-it-works) [Who we work with](https://www.countabl.io/who-we-work-with) [Partners](https://www.countabl.io/partners)

Free tools [Calculators](https://www.countabl.io/tools) [Know Your Numbers](https://www.countabl.io/tools/know-your-numbers) [Finance team cost](https://www.countabl.io/tools/finance-team-cost) [Finance glossary](https://www.countabl.io/tools/glossary)

Company [Team](https://www.countabl.io/team) [Notes](https://www.countabl.io/notes) [Book a call](https://calendly.com/tdwhite/countabl-customer-discovery)

© 2026 Countabl · New Orleans

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Countabl provides financial operations and advisory services, including sales-and-use tax compliance. We are not a CPA firm: we do not prepare income tax returns and do not provide tax planning, audit, or attest services.

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