Precision Accounting, Strategic Insight
Our position is that reliable financial reporting begins long before the financial statements are produced.
Real Financial Accounting Solutions provides remote accounting support to businesses that need their books, reconciliations, supporting schedules and financial reports to be organized, traceable and understandable.
We assist with bookkeeping, account reconciliation, accounting schedules and subledgers, financial statement preparation support, management reporting, economic conditions & business-impact analysis, accounting-side tax reconciliation, and the investigation or reconstruction of difficult accounting records.
We apply rigorous analytical methodologies to deliver accounting solutions of the highest quality and facilitate informed executive decision-making.
How RFAS fixed-fee pricing works
The engagement is defined and a fixed fee is agreed before substantive work begins.
The price depends on the work actually required. Two businesses with the same number of transactions may require very different levels of accounting effort.
For that reason, our quotations ordinarily consider:
Service required. Bookkeeping, reconciliation, schedule preparation, financial reporting, management analysis, business macro analysis, and accounting cleanup involve different procedures.
Activity volume. This may include transactions, invoices, receipts, payments, statement lines, inventory movements or other relevant activity.
Accounting footprint. The number of active accounts, bank accounts, counterparties, assets, loans, leases, inventory items or other accounting objects can affect the scope.
Periods. One month of work is fundamentally different from reconstructing twelve, twenty-four or thirty-six months of accounting history.
Complexity. Foreign currencies, unusual transactions, modifications, estimates, multiple entities, specialized accounting treatments and other complications may increase the work required.
Condition of the records. Clean, complete and consistently structured records are significantly different from incomplete, duplicated, inconsistent or historically unreconciled records.
RFAS conducts a Diagnostic Review before issuing the definitive fixed-fee quotation. The diagnostic identifies the likely scope, important data gaps, unusual conditions and work required.
Accordingly, minimum starting prices represent straightforward qualifying scopes, and not automatic quotations, and they assume a single entity, one reporting framework, one currency, source records supplied in machine-readable form, the current reporting period only, with no historical reconstruction, and no unresolved differences carried forward from prior periods.
However, where any of these does not hold, the Diagnostic Review will establish the applicable scope and the fee will be quoted accordingly.
Supporting documents such as contracts, agreements, invoices and statements may be supplied in PDF or other agreed formats. Transaction histories should be supplied in CSV or spreadsheet form, and not as scans, images, or screenshots.
Certain specialist services are available as add-ons and are not included by default in the Monthly Accounting & Bookkeeping Support package. These must be purchased separately, and may be purchased as standalone engagements or as adjuncts to the bookkeeping package. The minimum starting prices for such specialist services assume dependence on relevant transaction history that is below a reasonable threshold of volume and complexity, and either that a reliable opening schedule can be established from complete, well-structured records without material reconstruction, or that RFAS is maintaining an already-established schedule.
Standalone projects, historical reconstruction, remediation of unresolved balances, missing records, or significant opening-balance investigation is separately scoped after Diagnostic Review and may differ substantially from the published starting prices shown below.
Diagnostic Review
New substantive engagements and materially new scopes ordinarily include a diagnostic fee of USD$300.00 that must be paid upfront before the main service is delivered. This fee is charged for the preparatory work of carefully analyzing the nature of the submitted data and producing a written findings summary highlighting the quality of records, the presence of gaps, unusual conditions, what remediation may involve, and other matters relevant to defining the engagement scope.
Where the client proceeds with the full engagement within the agreed period and without a material scope change, the diagnostic fee will be credited against the final engagement fee as stated in the engagement terms.
Every substantive RFAS engagement is priced at a fixed fee once the scope is understood. The price is determined principally by the type of service, activity volume, accounts or schedules in scope, reporting periods, accounting complexity, and condition of the underlying records, all of which are evaluated in the diagnostic review. The agreed price for the engagement is communicated after the diagnostic review is complete.
Monthly Accounting & Bookkeeping Support
What is it?
Bookkeeping is the disciplined recording and organization of the transactions that form the accounting history of your business.
Depending on the agreed scope, RFAS may assist with transaction recording or classification, maintenance of the general ledger, bank and card activity, customer and supplier activity, recurring accounting entries, period-end review and preparation of accounting information for reporting.
The objective is not simply to enter transactions. It is to maintain accounting records capable of supporting subsequent reconciliation and financial reporting.
This service may be appropriate if:
Your business has ongoing financial activity that needs to be maintained systematically; your existing books need greater structure or consistency; you require recurring month-end accounting support; or you want bookkeeping and reconciliation to operate as one controlled process rather than separate activities.
What we normally need:
The precise information depends on your business, but it may include bank and credit-card records, invoices, receipts, payment information, chart of accounts, opening balances and relevant supporting documentation.
What affects pricing:
Pricing is influenced largely by transaction volume and accounting complexity.
Prices start at USD$395.00/month and include by default journal entries for ordinary daily transactions, bank & credit card reconciliations, standard month-end journals, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement.
Bank & Credit Card Reconciliations
Do your bank records and accounting records actually agree?
A bank reconciliation compares the activity and balance recorded by your financial institution with the activity and balance recorded in your accounting records.
Differences do not necessarily mean that one side is wrong. They may arise from timing, outstanding items, deposits in transit, fees, interest, duplicated transactions, missing transactions, incorrect postings, transfers, foreign-currency effects or other causes.
The purpose of reconciliation is to identify and explain the difference, not merely to force two totals to agree.
RFAS may assist with:
Reconciling bank or cash accounts to the general ledger or cashbook; identifying unmatched transactions; investigating stale reconciling items; tracing missing or duplicated activity; preparing reconciliation schedules; and proposing accounting adjustments where appropriate.
What we normally need:
Bank statements or transaction exports, general-ledger or cashbook activity, opening reconciliation information where available, information concerning known outstanding items, and relevant explanations or supporting records.
What affects pricing:
The principal factors include number of bank accounts, statement-line volume, number of periods, number and age of unmatched items, currencies involved and condition of the accounting records.
This package is by default already included in the Monthly Accounting & Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable Reconciliation & Schedule Support
When the subledger says one thing and the general ledger says another.
Customer and supplier balances should ordinarily be capable of reconciliation to the corresponding control accounts in the general ledger.
Problems can arise from unapplied receipts, unallocated payments, duplicated invoices, omitted invoices, credit notes, write-offs, manual journal entries, incorrect customer or supplier allocation, foreign-currency differences, timing problems and historical opening-balance issues.
Accounts Receivable reconciliation may help answer:
How much do customers actually owe?
Why does the AR aging differ from the general ledger?
Are old balances genuine, disputed, duplicated or incorrectly allocated?
Have receipts and credit notes been applied properly?
Accounts Payable reconciliation may help answer:
How much does the business actually owe suppliers?
Why do supplier statements differ from the accounting records?
Have payments, credits and invoices been recorded and allocated correctly?
Are there old liabilities that require investigation?
What we normally need:
AR/AP listings or subledger exports, general-ledger control accounts, invoices, receipts, payments, credit/debit notes, customer or supplier statements where available, opening balances and relevant explanations.
What affects pricing:
Invoice volume, receipts/payments, number of open items, counterparties, periods, currencies, age of unresolved balances and degree of historical disorder.
For AR/AP Control-Account Reconciliation, prices start at USD$300.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. Standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
For Invoice & Billing Reconciliation, prices start at USD$400.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Fixed Asset Accounting & Register Support
Can the fixed asset balance in your financial statements be explained by the assets your business actually owns?
A proper fixed-asset schedule supports the accounting for assets over their life cycle rather than merely listing an ending balance.
Depending on the engagement, RFAS may assist with asset-register construction or maintenance, additions, disposals, transfers, depreciation, accumulated depreciation, components, assets under construction and reconciliation of the register to the general ledger.
More complex circumstances can be scoped separately where appropriate.
Typical problems include:
A fixed-asset register that does not agree with the GL; sold or retired assets remaining on the books; incorrect depreciation; missing acquisition information; unrecorded additions; unexplained accumulated-depreciation balances; or historical registers that have not been maintained consistently.
What we normally need:
Existing fixed-asset register, fixed-asset GL accounts, acquisition records, disposal information, depreciation policies, opening balances and supporting information for significant asset movements.
What affects pricing:
Number of assets and components, additions/disposals, number of periods, reconstruction required, currencies and complexity of the underlying asset accounting.
Prices start at USD$300.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Prepayment & Accrual Schedules
Are expenses being recognized in the periods in which the related benefits are consumed?
A prepayment arises when payment or recognition occurs before the related expense should be fully recognized.
Common examples include insurance, annual software contracts, subscriptions, rent and service arrangements covering multiple periods.
A prepayment schedule should explain the relationship between:
opening balance → new prepayments → periodic expense releases → adjustments → closing balance.
Does the business have obligations or earned amounts that have not yet been invoiced or settled?
Accrual accounting frequently requires expenses, liabilities, income or assets to be recognized before the corresponding invoice, payment or receipt occurs.
Accruals should therefore be treated as continuing accounting items rather than abandoned month-end journal entries.
A controlled accrual process may follow the sequence:
recognition → estimation or measurement → reversal where applicable → actual invoice or amount → settlement → closure.
RFAS may assist with:
Building or maintaining the prepayment register; calculating periodic releases; investigating old or unusual balances; reconciling the schedule to the general ledger; and preparing proposed recurring accounting entries.
Accrual registers, recurring accrual calculations, reversals, reconciliation to actual invoices or outcomes, stale accrual investigation, GL reconciliation and proposed journal entries.
What we normally need:
Invoices/contracts, payment dates, service periods, relevant GL accounts, existing schedules where available and information regarding cancellations, amendments or other relevant events.
What affects pricing:
Number of active prepaid items/contracts, number of events, release periods, allocation complexity, currencies and historical reconstruction required.
Number of active accruals, frequency, estimates required, reversals, subsequent invoices/actuals, periods, allocations and complexity of unresolved historical balances.
Prices start at USD$200.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Loan & Debt Accounting
Can the loan balance in the general ledger be reconciled to the underlying borrowing arrangements?
A debt balance is not merely the original amount borrowed.
Depending on the arrangement, the carrying amount may be affected by drawdowns, principal repayments, interest, fees, foreign exchange, modifications and other contractual events.
RFAS may assist with:
Loan schedules, principal rollforwards, interest schedules, current/non-current analysis, lender-statement reconciliation, GL reconciliation and investigation of unexplained loan-account differences.
What we normally need:
Loan agreements, amendments, lender statements, repayment history, drawdown information, relevant GL accounts, opening balances and applicable rate information.
What affects pricing:
Number of facilities or tranches, payment events, currencies, rate structures, modifications, periods and state of the historical records.
Prices start at USD$300.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Lease Accounting Support
Does your lease schedule still reflect what the contract actually requires?
Lease accounting can become complicated when contracts contain different payment patterns, renewal or purchase options, incentives, deposits, modifications, reassessments, concessions or foreign-currency terms.
RFAS may assist with the construction, maintenance or reconciliation of supporting lease schedules where the required accounting treatment falls within the agreed scope.
What we normally need:
Lease contracts, amendments, payment schedules, commencement information, relevant accounting policies and judgments, existing lease schedules where available, and related GL accounts.
What affects pricing:
Number of lease contracts, payment events, modifications/reassessments, currencies, periods and complexity of the individual arrangements.
Prices start at USD$350.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Inventory Accounting & Reconciliation
Do the quantities and values in your inventory records agree with the amounts recorded in your accounts?
Inventory accounting can involve much more than counting units.
Depending upon the business, relevant considerations can include purchases, movements, landed costs, cost layers, production, work in progress, write-downs, physical-count differences and reconciliation between inventory records and the general ledger.
What we normally need:
Inventory master data, movement records, purchase information, physical counts, costing information, locations, relevant GL accounts and existing inventory reports.
What affects pricing:
Number of SKUs, locations, transaction movements, periods, costing methodology, manufacturing or WIP complexity, reconciliation problems and record condition.
Prices start at USD$400.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Financial Instruments & Investment Accounting
Are investment balances being measured, classified and reconciled consistently with their underlying transactions?
Investment accounting can range from a straightforward investment register to substantially more complicated accounting involving valuation, interest, impairment, foreign currency, disposals or other events.
RFAS may assist with supporting schedules and accounting reconciliations where the engagement is within scope and does not constitute regulated investment advice.
What affects pricing:
Number and type of instruments, transaction or valuation events, measurement categories, currencies, periods and complexity of the accounting treatment.
Prices start at USD$400.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Payroll Accounting & Reconciliation Support
Does the payroll that was processed actually agree with the accounting records?
Payroll does not end when employees are paid.
Once payroll has been calculated by the client or its payroll provider, the resulting wages, employer costs, employee deductions, statutory liabilities, benefits, accruals and net-pay settlements must still be recorded correctly in the accounting records and reconciled to the general ledger, bank activity and supporting payroll reports.
Differences can arise from incorrect journal mappings, omitted employer contributions, unreconciled payroll-clearing accounts, timing differences, duplicated or missing entries, unrecorded deductions, benefits, corrections, accruals or statutory remittances.
RFAS may assist with:
Payroll-register-to-general-ledger reconciliation; payroll journal preparation; net-pay and bank reconciliation; payroll-clearing-account reconciliation; payroll-tax and statutory-liability reconciliation; employee-benefit and deduction-liability reconciliation; employer-contribution accounting; accrued wages, bonuses, leave and related accounting schedules; payroll variance analysis; departmental, project or cost-centre payroll reporting; month-end payroll accounting; year-end payroll-account reconciliation; and payroll-cost management reporting.
What we normally need:
Payroll registers or payroll-provider reports, payroll summaries, employee deduction and employer-contribution reports, statutory-remittance information, net-pay or settlement reports, relevant bank activity, payroll-related general-ledger accounts, opening balances or prior reconciliations where available, and information concerning known corrections, reversals, accruals or unusual payroll events.
Important boundary:
RFAS provides accounting and reconciliation support for payroll that has already been calculated and administered by the client or its payroll provider.
RFAS does not process employee payroll, issue payslips, initiate employee payroll payments, administer employees, prepare or file payroll returns, make statutory remittances on behalf of the client, or provide payroll-tax compliance services under this service.
Management and the client's payroll provider remain responsible for payroll calculations, employee information, payroll administration, statutory filings and payment obligations.
What affects pricing:
Pricing is influenced by the number of employees or payees, payroll frequency, number of payroll runs, earnings and deduction categories, employer contributions and benefits, payroll-related general-ledger accounts, departments or projects, currencies, jurisdictions, correction or retroactive activity, accrual requirements, reporting requirements, number of periods and condition of the historical accounting records.
Prices start at USD$300.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Financial Statement Preparation Support
Turning a properly supported trial balance into understandable financial reporting.
RFAS can assist management with converting a client-approved trial balance and accounting information into management accounts or other agreed financial reporting formats.
The work may include reporting mappings, proposed adjustments, statement preparation and supporting schedules, depending on the agreed engagement.
Important distinction:
RFAS financial reporting outputs are not audits, reviews, assurance engagements or independent certifications.
They are accounting-support outputs based on client records, management-approved judgments and the agreed reporting framework.
Where a client's accounting software already produces complete and appropriately structured financial reports from properly maintained records, RFAS does not duplicate that functionality merely for the purpose of regenerating the same reports. Standalone financial statement support is intended for circumstances requiring accounting review, reporting mappings, adjustments, supporting schedules, customized presentation or conversion of an approved trial balance into an agreed reporting format.
What affects pricing:
Number of active trial-balance accounts, number of entities, periods, currencies, adjustments required, reporting framework, comparative periods and condition of the underlying accounting records.
This service is by default already included in the Monthly Accounting & Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Management Reporting & Performance Analysis
Financial statements tell you what was recorded. Analysis helps explain what changed.
Management reporting can help business owners and management understand profitability, margins, liquidity, working capital, cost structure, leverage and unusual financial movements.
Depending on the available information and agreed scope, RFAS may provide ratios, trend analysis, composition analysis, period comparisons, KPIs, diagnostic observations and management questions requiring further investigation.
Examples of questions management reporting may help address:
Why did revenue grow but profit decline?
Why is the business profitable but cash constrained?
Which costs are increasing most rapidly?
Has working capital deteriorated?
Are receivables or inventory absorbing increasing amounts of cash?
Which financial movements deserve management attention?
What affects pricing:
Number of financial statements and periods, comparative information, entities, KPI requirements, analysis depth, data quality and whether supporting accounting information is already maintained by RFAS.
Prices start at USD$500.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
Tax Reconciliation & Tax Accounting Support
Helping the accounting records support a coherent tax-accounting position.
RFAS can assist with the accounting side of tax-related balances and transactions.
This may include reconciliation of tax accounts to the general ledger, book-to-tax accounting schedules, withholding-tax accounting, indirect-tax accounting, deferred-tax accounting support and identification of tax-accounting matters requiring additional information or professional determination.
Tax-accounting support is currently available for selected United Kingdom and United States engagements, subject to jurisdiction, tax domain and scope review during the Diagnostic Review. State-specific U.S. work is accepted only where the applicable jurisdiction is within RFAS's supported scope.
Important boundary:
RFAS does not provide tax-return preparation or filing, representation before tax authorities, tax strategy, tax planning or tax structuring under the present service model.
Where specialist tax, legal or regulatory advice is required, the matter should be referred to an appropriately qualified professional.
What affects pricing:
Number of relevant transaction groups, tax domains, jurisdictions or regimes, reporting periods, number of tax-related accounts, historical reconciliation issues and complexity of the underlying transactions.
Prices start at USD$500.00/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
General Accounting Cleanup & Reconstruction Projects
When the problem is not one account but the condition of the books themselves.
Sometimes the correct service cannot initially be described as a single reconciliation.
The records may contain historical errors, unexplained balances, duplicated entries, incomplete periods, inconsistent classifications, abandoned reconciliation items, unsupported opening balances or accounting schedules that have not been maintained.
RFAS can undertake defined cleanup or reconstruction work where sufficient source information exists and the engagement is feasible.
Typical objectives may include:
Establishing reliable opening balances, correcting or proposing correction of historical classifications, reconciling selected accounts, rebuilding supporting schedules, identifying unsupported balances, organizing data and preparing the accounting records for ongoing maintenance or financial reporting.
What affects pricing:
Transaction volume, number of affected accounts, periods, error density, missing-data level, number of unresolved balances, amount of manual reconstruction and overall disorder of the records.
Because the true condition of the records is often unknown at first, cleanup and reconstruction engagements will ordinarily require a Diagnostic Review before a final fixed fee can be quoted.
Price quoted after diagnostic review.
Business Macro Advisory
You understand your business internally, but do you understand the opportunities and threats that await externally?
Your financial statements describe what is happening inside the business. Economic conditions can help explain some of the pressures and opportunities developing outside it.
Changes in economic growth, inflation, interest rates, credit conditions, currencies, labour markets, commodity prices and other external factors can affect customer demand, financing costs, input costs, pricing decisions, margins, working capital, cash flow and financial risk.
RFAS can provide recurring economic-condition monitoring designed around the agreed characteristics and exposures of the client's business. The objective would be not merely to keep the client informed to identify developments that may be relevant to the business and translate them into practical financial and management considerations.
Depending on the agreed scope, the service may include:
weekly, biweekly, or monthly economic and business-condition updates;
monitoring of countries, currencies, interest-rate conditions, commodities or economic sectors relevant to the business;
comparison of current economic developments with RFAS's internal macroeconomic analysis and selected external research;
assessment of potential implications for revenue, costs, financing, margins, working capital, liquidity and other relevant financial areas;
identification of important changes, uncertainties and alternative scenarios;
periodic deeper reviews of the economic outlook and matters management may wish to monitor; and
interim notes where a material economic development significantly changes an existing assessment relevant to the agreed business profile.
The service begins with an assessment of the economic exposures relevant to the engagement. These may include principal customer and supplier markets, currencies, borrowing arrangements, important input costs, commodity exposure, labour intensity, international revenue or expenditure, and other factors that may cause economic developments to affect the business.
The purpose of this service is not to predict markets with certainty or provide investment advice. Conditions can change rapidly and unexpectedly, and different economic indicators may sometimes point in different directions. RFAS therefore distinguishes observed economic conditions, model-based assessments, external research, assumptions and conditional expectations where appropriate.
What affects pricing:
Pricing is influenced by the number of countries, currencies, economic exposures and business segments being monitored, the frequency and depth of reporting, and the degree of customization required and whether RFAS already maintains the client's accounting records or management reporting.
Prices start at USD$250/month as an add-on to the Monthly Accounting and Bookkeeping Support package or the Management Reporting Package. However, standalone, reconstruction and remediation engagements are quoted after Diagnostic Review.
What Every Client Should Know Before Engaging RFAS
Fixed fees
RFAS works on a fixed-fee basis. The agreed fee covers the services, entities, periods, accounts, schedules and deliverables specifically included in the Scope of Work.
All RFAS pricing is quoted in USD
RFAS quotes and invoices its professional fees in United States Dollars (USD).
The client must provide complete and usable information
RFAS's conclusions depend upon the records supplied.
Clients are expected to disclose known errors, missing records, disputes and unreconciled balances and to provide the requested information in a usable form.
Poor or unusable data can change the scope
Scanned images, screenshots, incomplete exports, inconsistent files, missing periods, corrupted records or significant manual reconstruction may require additional work.
Where this was not included in the original scope, a revised quotation or Change Order may be required.
Management remains responsible for management decisions
RFAS can calculate, analyze, reconcile, identify exceptions and make accounting-support recommendations.
However, management remains responsible for accounting policies, estimates, judgments, classifications, tax positions, useful lives, impairment decisions, approval of proposed journal entries and final approval of financial-statement presentation.
Additional work is not performed without agreement
If additional periods, entities, accounts, schedules or complexity are discovered that go beyond the originally defined scope, RFAS will inform the client before performing the extra work.
Updated data can require reprocessing
If the client provides corrected or additional records after processing has begun, the work required to incorporate them may fall outside the original fixed fee.
Delivery timelines depend on complete information
We work most efficiently when complete records and responses are supplied promptly. Your delivery estimate will be confirmed once the information required to begin is available.
Your accounting software remains yours
RFAS can work from accounting exports and, where specifically agreed, prepare data or journal schedules intended to support systems such as QuickBooks, Xero or other accounting platforms.
But the client remains responsible for its own software licensing, configuration, access controls and backups.
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