From what you send to what we sign.
No mystery, no black box: this is exactly what happens when you engage the firm — how onboarding works, how documents move, and the three-station process every piece of work travels before it reaches your inbox. The rule here is simple: if a step requires judgment or adds value, a human does it. If it doesn’t, it gets standardized and automated — and it still passes a licensed review before it ships.
Five steps to fully onboarded.
Send
Send what you have through secure guest access on the file exchange — no account needed, and never by email. Last year’s return, your books, a notice, whatever is in the drawer. We read it and tell you what the engagement looks like and where the pricing starts. If you would rather talk first, a short intro is available.
Connect
Once we have reviewed what you sent, we assign your portal login — the encrypted front door for everything that follows. Documents, deliverables, and the look-back all move through it.
Engage
What the engagement letter commits to depends on the track, along with any consents federal law requires before technology touches your return information, in plain language. A tax return gets a scope letter — what’s covered and where pricing starts — with the final fee set once the return’s actual complexity is known, near completion, not before. Advisory and representation engagements arrive with the fee already fixed, set from the scope call before work begins. Nothing starts until everything is signed.
Work
The engagement runs on the process below, with questions answered along the way — not billed by the minute. What “the work” means depends on the track — a return, an advisory matter, or a matter in front of the IRS. Working sessions are scheduled when there is something to hand you, not sold as an hour up front.
Review
Nothing gets signed or filed that you do not understand. A return arrives with a written look-back as page one: what actually happened this year and why, the red flags worth watching, and the openings worth acting on before next year closes. An advisory matter arrives as a written position and a prioritized action list. A matter in front of the IRS arrives as the response itself, with what it argues and what comes next. Ask for a walkthrough and we record one — the document on screen, narrated, yours to replay and to keep. Everything is delivered through the portal, never the inbox.
Same route. Three kinds of work.
The steps are the same for every track. What differs is what the engagement letter commits to, what Step 04 produces, and what Step 05 puts in your hands.
A Return
Books and source documents in; a prepared, reviewed, and principal-signed return out. The work is reconciliation, classification, and the judgment calls in between — which are the part that takes a license. You see the return, and the look-back that explains it, before anything is signed.
An Advisory Matter
An entity decision, a compensation structure, a purchase worth modeling before it happens. We work it against your actual return and your actual books, not a hypothetical. The deliverable is a written position and a prioritized action list — and a working session to walk it through, scheduled once the analysis exists.
A Matter in Front of the IRS
A notice, an examination, an information request, an appeal. We read the file, establish what the record actually supports, and prepare the response. You see what is being filed on your behalf and what it argues before it goes. We describe what we will do — never what the IRS will decide.
The CPA in the loop.
AI handles the arithmetic. A license handles the judgment. Every deliverable travels all three stations — no exceptions, no shortcuts.
Drafts, Not Decisions
Governed AI tools handle intake, document extraction, and first drafts inside our secured environment. The hours that used to go to keying and tie-outs go to reading your numbers instead.
A CPA Verifies
A licensed CPA or EA reviews every figure against source documents. Reconciliations tie to the penny, or the work doesn’t move forward.
A License Stands Behind It
Nothing is filed or delivered without professional sign-off — and every tax return is reviewed and signed by the firm’s principal CPA before it goes out. A credential and a signature, not a disclaimer.
Process, answered.
How long does onboarding take?
For most engagements, days rather than weeks — the pace is usually set by how quickly documents arrive through the portal. Time-sensitive situations (a deadline, a notice) are triaged accordingly; tell us the date you’re facing and we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s makeable.
What happens in the first meeting — do I need to prepare anything?
Just the honest version of how your business runs. Prior returns and current books help if you have them handy, but the first conversation is diagnostic: what you have, what hurts, and what engagement actually fits. You’ll leave knowing the recommended next step and the scope it would cover.
Can I switch to you mid-year from another accountant or bookkeeper?
Yes, and it’s routine. We request records from your prior provider (or you upload what you have), reconcile forward from the last clean point, and carry year-to-date payroll and books across so nothing is orphaned. The professional handoff is our job to manage, not yours.
Ready when you are. Virtual or in-office.
Every tax return prepared and signed by a licensed CPA or IRS Enrolled Agent. Documents run through the secure portal; anything you sign is sent to you electronically.
Fifteen Minutes with the Principal
Face to face by video with Kevin Hemingway, CPA. We size up what you need, whether the firm is a good fit, and what an engagement would cover — and you leave with a clear scope and next steps. This consultation is for engagement evaluation and does not include tax advice, tax planning, or detailed analysis of specific tax situations.
New Client IntroSend Documents
New or current, the portal is the way in. Last year’s return, your books, a notice — encrypted, and never by email. No account needed to send us something.
Send DocumentsAlready a ClientClient LoginClient Hub