The short version
- Monthly means monthly. The books should close by a set date, and you should get a profit and loss with a comparison, a balance sheet, and a short note on anything odd.
- Quarterly means a number for your estimated tax payment before it's due, plus confirmation that payroll and Texas sales tax filings went out on whatever schedule you're on.
- Once a year, in the fall and before the year closes, the books should get a full review so the return can be prepared from them without a scramble.
- A fair reply time is one business day to acknowledge and one week to answer. Faster when there's a notice in your hand.
- Silence from January to April is not the same thing as normal. It means you're being treated as a tax return, not a business.
- When the standard slips, ask in writing, set a date, then decide. One missed month is not a reason to walk.
Why silence from January to April isn't normal
It's a familiar pattern: an owner sees their accountant twice a year, once in January to hand over a shoebox or a QuickBooks login, and once in April to sign a return. In between, nothing.
That gap is where money goes missing, and not by theft. It gets missed: a deduction nobody recorded, a quarterly payment that never made it into the books, a sales tax return filed late because nobody owned the date.
If what you got from your last accountant was a return and an invoice, that's a tax preparer's job. It's a fine job, and it isn't accounting.
If that's your setup, you haven't done anything wrong. Nobody handed you a standard to hold anyone to. So here's one. Read it as a checklist for evaluating any firm you're paying, including the one you have now.
What should land in your inbox every month
A monthly service has four pieces. If one is missing, ask why.
- Closed books by a stated date. The 15th of the following month is a common target. The exact date matters less than having one and hitting it.
- A profit and loss with a comparison. This month next to last month, or next to the same month last year. A single month on its own tells you almost nothing.
- The balance sheet. This is where loans, credit cards, and money owed to you sit. It's the report owners skip and the one where surprises hide.
- A short note on anything unusual, two or three sentences long: a cost that jumped, a customer who stopped paying, or a deposit that doesn't match an invoice.
The note is the easiest piece to skip, and it's the one that matters most. A report with no words is a report you have to read yourself. You didn't hire an accountant to do your own homework.
Whether you need a CPA or just a bookkeeper for the monthly close depends on how much is moving. A bookkeeper can close the books. Reading them and telling you what changed is the accountant's job, and that reading is what monthly bookkeeping and QuickBooks work is supposed to buy you.
What should happen every quarter
Quarters are where the tax side shows up. Three things should be handled without you having to ask.
- Estimated payment dates. A reminder sent well before each due date, and every payment you make recorded in the books so it lands on the return.
- Payroll filings confirmed. If you run payroll, ask your accountant which federal and state payroll filings they handle for you, and expect a one-line note each time one goes out instead of assuming it did.
- Sales tax filed. Texas collects these returns through Webfile, and the Comptroller warns there that late payments lose timely-filing discounts on top of the penalty. Your accountant should know which schedule you're on and confirm each filing landed.
If you pay quarterly estimated taxes and nobody has ever reminded you of a due date before it passed, that's the first gap to close. The IRS splits the year into four payment periods, each with its own due date, and the current calendar sits on the estimated taxes page rather than in anyone's memory. Check it there.
Payroll is the one that hurts most when it slips, because the money withheld from your employees' checks was never the company's to spend. Our post on the trust fund recovery penalty covers what's at stake when those deposits are missed. Of everything on this page, it's the deadline to protect first.
The once-a-year review, and when it should happen
The return is prepared after the year ends, and it can only be as good as the books behind it. A short review before the year closes is what keeps tax preparation from turning into a cleanup job.
October and November are the right window. By then school is back, storm season is winding down, and the year's numbers are clear enough to check. The agenda is short.
- Are the books reconciled through the latest month, with nothing left uncategorized?
- Payroll and sales tax: is every filing so far confirmed?
- Estimated payments already made: are they recorded so they land on the return?
- What documents will the return need, and who is gathering them?
Fixing those in November is a tidy job. Fixing them in March is a scramble. That's the whole reason for the timing.
Texas adds one piece that out-of-state advice usually skips. The Texas Comptroller sets the annual franchise tax report due date at May 15, after the federal deadline. If your accountant only ever talks about April, ask who owns May.
One more local item. Hurricane and heavy rain season runs from summer into fall, and that's when lost paperwork and a flooded shop collide with a filing date. A yearly review should include where your records live and who has a copy that isn't in the building.
How fast your accountant should answer you
Reply time is the part nobody writes down, so nobody can be held to it. Ask any firm you're considering to put these four in writing, and hold the answer to whatever they commit to rather than to a number off a blog.
- A reply within one business day to say your question was seen. Not an answer. Just an acknowledgment.
- A real answer within a week for normal questions.
- Faster when there's an IRS or Texas Comptroller notice in your hand. Notices have clocks on them.
- A known slow period. Filing season is the crunch, roughly mid-February to mid-April. A good firm tells you that in January, not while you're waiting.
Get whatever they agree to into the engagement letter, or at least into an email you keep. A standard nobody wrote down is a standard nobody broke.
If the person who signs off on the numbers is not the person who speaks to the accountant, say so at the start. Ask whether the firm can work in the language that decision-maker actually uses, and treat it as part of what you're buying rather than a favor to request later.
What to do when the standard slips
One missed month isn't a crisis, though a pattern is. Handle it in this order.
- Step 1. Ask in a single written email: 'I didn't get a P&L for July. When should I expect it?' Keep the tone plain.
- Step 2. Set a date. If the answer is vague, name one yourself. 'Can I have it by Friday?'
- Step 3. Look for the reason. A firm that lost a staff member, or a client who sent statements late, is a different problem from a firm that never sends reports.
- Step 4. Decide after the second miss, not the first.
Nothing on that list is a reason to fire anyone on the spot. The point is to get what you're paying for. Start with one clear email. If that doesn't close the gap, you'll know that too, and you'll have the emails to show why.
One honest warning. Sometimes the slip is on the client's side. If your bank statements land on the 25th, the books can't close on the 15th. Ask your accountant what they need from you and by when, then hold yourself to the same date you hold them to.
Which setup fits your business
The right standard depends on what you're paying for. Match yourself to one of these.
- Choose a bookkeeper only if you have no employees, one bank account, and a simple sales tax setup. You'll still need someone for the return and the yearly review.
- Choose a monthly CPA relationship if you have payroll, you pay estimated taxes, or revenue has grown past what your current setup handles.
- A tax-only relationship is enough if the business is side income with a few transactions a month. Just know what you're giving up. You'll get the return and nothing else.
- Go with an in-house bookkeeper plus an outside CPA if there's enough volume that someone needs to be in the books daily. The in-house person closes the month. The CPA reads it and prepares the returns.
If you're weighing the monthly CPA against an in-house bookkeeper, cost matters as much as service. We compared an in-house bookkeeper vs outsourced CPA in a separate post. Payroll is usually its own line on top of either one.
How to use this list
Print it. Put it next to your next engagement letter. If you're interviewing firms in Katy, Sugar Land, Missouri City or anywhere in the Houston metro, ask each one which of these they send and on what date. The ones who do it will answer in ten seconds. The ones who don't will talk about their software.
Then ask the same questions of the firm you already pay. That's the harder conversation, and it's the one that ends the silence.
Your accountant should at least keep the due dates in front of you, before each one and not after. The IRS is direct about the risk of missing one: if you don't pay enough by the due date of each payment period, you may be charged a penalty even if you're due a refund when you file. Expect a short reminder before each federal due date, and expect every payment you make to be recorded in the books so it lands on the return. If you've never gotten that reminder, that's the first thing to ask for at your next meeting.
Start with the two the state publishes. Sales tax, which the Comptroller collects through Webfile and which has its own due date depending on the schedule you're on. The franchise tax report, which the Texas Comptroller puts on an annual May 15 due date, after the federal deadline the calendar tends to be built around. If you have employees, add whatever payroll filings your accountant handles for you, and ask them to name those filings rather than leaving it vague. On top of all that sit the federal dates, including the estimated payment periods on the IRS calendar. Your accountant should keep one calendar with all of them and tell you what's coming a few weeks out. If you're the one reminding them, something is backwards, and it's worth saying so.
Talk to a Houston CPA
Nguyen Accounting Group serves Houston small businesses with tax preparation, tax resolution, and bookkeeping. See how our tax preparation services and bookkeeping and QuickBooks support work, or Book Your 15-Minute Intro Call.
