The Accountrepreneur LLC

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of a coconut water company. We manufacture all-natural coconut water and supply it to retailers as well as consumers. 

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

They’re our full-service finance group.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We count on them for all things finance and accounting. They handle all of our payroll, tax, and balance sheet needs. We refer to Alex (CPA) as our CFO because he manages all financial matters, including investor presentations.  

What is the team composition?

We work directly with Alex.

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

Alex worked for us prior to forming his company. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have a monthly spend with them and have spent between $50,000–$100,000 to date. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2018.  

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The quality of work is very high. They keep us ahead and organized in our finances, so we never need to worry. In our business, we need to be raising capital almost constantly. They play a huge role at our company in keeping track of our finances. 

How did The Accountrepreneur LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

He’s incredibly organized and knows our company so well that he can solve problems almost immediately. Additionally, he makes himself very available for us. We rely on him quite a bit but can always get ahold of him. It feels like we’re his only client. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Alex is very important to the success of our business. He’s loyal and honest. We feel fortunate to have him as such a big part of this company. I can’t imagine what our company would be without his excellent services and personal touch.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We are confident and enthusiastic about his services.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend his services to anyone. Alex is knowledgeable in what’s needed to raise funds for early-stage companies. He’s a great partner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Rumi Spice. We’re a consumer goods business importing and selling spices from Afghanistan.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

The Accountrepreneur provides all of our financial planning and management.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team handles everything from our month-end reconciliation, bill payments, and financial forecasting and long-term planning. We use Quickbooks for our overall financial management, and Bill.com to manage bill processing and approval.

What is the team composition?

The majority of our contact is with Alex (Founder). We sometimes have a bit of additional contact with one other person on his team.

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

We belong to an incubator that’s based nearby. The Accountrepreneur was doing a presentation for the incubator, which is how I got to know Alex and eventually bring them on board.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $4,400 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The number one thing for us is the quality of financial reporting The Accountrepreneur brings. We get a really tight set of financial reports and metrics as part of our monthly reporting, which is really important and helpful for us. Everything we’ve done with The Accountrepreneur has been on time and accurate. 

They’re also a really good strategic partner in terms of providing guidance and identifying benchmarks. The team has a lot of experience in the industry, so they’re able to really look at it and offer great feedback. They’ve met and exceeded all of our goals.

How did The Accountrepreneur LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really strong. The team tends to operate within our ecosystem. Each month they upload our financials to a particular part of our Dropbox, and we find they’re always there and labeled consistently. In terms of organization and communication, they’re always very consistent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve given us easy visibility to all the financial metrics that drive our business. They provide data consistently and in an accurate way, which is what I need from someone who’s managing the financial side of my business. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any major critiques. This has been one of the best consulting engagements I’ve ever had. The Accountrepreneur delivers on what they say they’re going to; it makes it really easy to work with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand what are going to be the most important financial tools to run your business. Then, start with helping them either set those up for you or validate or evolve them, because that’s really what The Accountrepreneur is good at.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a luxury item e-commerce company.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

We previously worked with another company that managed our accounting needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We fully outsource our accounting work to The Accountrepreneur. Their team provides services ranging from basic bookkeeping to CFO-level support such as strategic finance consulting. They handle account payables and account receivables. Their team helps us with inventory build and projections too. At one point, they also helped us to negotiate with our creditors and vendors.

What is the team composition?

We only work with Alex (Founder, Principal & Chief Numbers Officer).

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

I found them through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $80,000–$90,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2018, and our partnership’s ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our books are incredibly organized, and our accounts are paid on time. Alex helps with more strategic initiatives such as discussions with creditors. He makes sure that our working capital cycle aligns with our business plan too. Alex is an integral part of our annual planning process. When I pass a task to The Accountrepreneur, I know that they’ll take care of it in a rational way.

How did The Accountrepreneur LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Alex keeps a to-do list for every client. Basically, he misses nothing. When I give him a task, he enters it into his to-do list. He’s on top of communication too. When we went through a working capital issue, he hopped on calls on Saturdays and Sundays to strategize with us. Alex is more than available. When he’s not, he’s upfront about it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

At the end of 2018, we had a significant working capital issue. We basically mismanaged the company’s debt-stack. That was right around the time when we brought Alex on board. Even though it was a messy situation, he dove right into it. The Accountrepreneur helped us untangle a lot of mess. He led negotiations with our creditors and helped us strategize a path forward.

Their team distills the information that we provide them and separates what does and doesn’t matter. They tighten our focus to 1–2 pieces of data that really matter. The Accountrepreneur digests information and forms a coherent, focused narrative around numbers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any constructive feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This may be uncomfortable because Alex isn’t an internal colleague. However, give him all of the information upfront. For example, when we want him to build a projection, we give him our purchase orders from the last two years. Give them more data than less.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of a low ingredient, natural ice cream company.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur?

We worked with them on a wide variety of financial services and processes for our company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have helped us with assessing the cost and finance structure of our online store and partnerships in retail and grocery stores. That includes everything from all of the costs associated with those to consistently evaluating our pricing model and target customers to get the best possible understanding of our margins on both of those revenue streams.

What was the team composition?

Our interactions have all been directly with Alex (Owner).

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur?

We met the owner at an event in Chicago, and he was local to the area and came recommended by another food owner in the area. The timing worked out really well for us because we were just starting out, so we decided to move forward with him.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, our spend with them has been somewhere between $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first partnered with them in July 2018 and are continuing to do so.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We still handle our day-to-day accounting, but they have been incredibly helpful in all of the projects we’ve worked on with them, which has freed up a lot of our time and helped us to really hone down the efficiency of a lot of our areas of revenue and save us money in the long run.

Any time we have specific questions we can take those to them, and they are able to answer all of those for us. Whether it’s how to build out 3–4-year revenue projections or just figuring out manufacturing fees, they have been in the trenches with us to make sure the margins were where they needed to be.

How did The Accountrepreneur perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management capabilities have been great so far. Everything is very organized and very fair, and we always get tasks completed within the expected time frame that we set out at the beginning. If we do need to make any modifications or adjustments along the way, they’re very flexible in accommodating those as well. We mostly communicate through email, but before the pandemic, we had a lot of in-person meetings as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The working relationship has been really enjoyable for us, honestly. He goes above and beyond on projects in ways that are not part of the initial scope just to help us more and is always willing to take on additional tasks.
Alex is very good at explaining things to us in a way that we can understand without having a background in finance.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really can’t think of anything in particular that I wish he was doing differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask as many questions as possible, because sometimes you don’t even know what you don’t know, but his skill really lies in being able to illuminate the subject for you and make it seem far more accessible than it does from the outside.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a food production company.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

I’d previously used three different accountants and wasn’t happy with any of them. We wanted to hand the reins of our accounting, projections, and financial components to someone I could rely on. It was taking up a lot of my time. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Alex (Founder) does our bookkeeping. He also helps create strategies for projections, run down bills, and work with distributors.

What is the team composition?

I just work with Alex. Some people on his team do backend stuff, but I only communicate with him. 

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

They came recommended by a peer in the food industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together nine months ago, and the partnership is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Alex has been amazing: the team has gone above and beyond, freed up a ton of my time, and made my life way easier. He’s been super helpful with our financial strategy, fundraising, and even our dealings with investors. He knows the financial components of our business inside and out. Plus. his prices are very reasonable.

How did The Accountrepreneur LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

He’s wonderful at meeting deadlines and communication. We keep in touch over email, phone calls, and text.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Alex knows the food industry really, which is what makes him so valuable. He never gets things wrong.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nope. I’d always like to get things at a lower price, but there’s always a cost to good work.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront and provide the information and access that he needs to do his job. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former controller of Neon One.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

When I became the controller at NeonOne, I needed some assistance with accounting. When I started, the accounting team in place wasn’t made up of true US Gaap accountants. The team played more of a bookkeeping role, so I was brought in to form true accounting processes.

Neon One was the parent of four different companies that all ran their own set of QuickBooks, so we had to consolidate all of the financials under a brand new system, NetSuite. I brought in Alex (Founder, Principal, & Chief Numbers Officer) to help me get four companies to report in US Gaap.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Alex worked with me and, together, we went through and reconciled every account for those four different companies. He also helped me to create processes on NetSuite and to form a true month-end closed process. 

We worked all the way down the balance sheet, put in reconciliation, and did the basics of accounting to get a consolidated financial set for the management. Additionally, since we were a conglomerate of small businesses that had been acquired, we had to undergo our first audit and needed to do purchase accounting, which is technical and complicated. 

We hired an outside firm to do the actual purchase accounting and valuation work, but Alex took the lead from the accounting side in terms of translating the valuation work into entries. 

What is the team composition?

I only work with Alex. 

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

I know Alex because he used to work for me at a previous company and he was smart and educated – one of the best people I’ve worked with. When he left that company, we stayed in touch.

He was the first person I reached out to when I took on this project. I knew that I needed something quick but I didn’t need a full-time hire. I chose Alex because he’s talented, has a good attitude, and is so patient. 

He can do the basics, but he can also take on complicated tasks such as helping with entries related to purchase accounting. He has a wide breadth of knowledge.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in July 2019. I left Neon One about a month ago, but Alex is still providing them with consulting services.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Alex has a lot of experience so he can work on his own without much guidance, which is key. He’s self-sufficient, his work is clean, and he always explains what he’s doing before recording the journal entries. He calls to make sure that you understand it. 

Overall, he’s conscientious, diligent, responsible, and knows the right thing to do. He’s probably one of the top two people I’ve ever hired because he’s so self-motivated. Additionally, Alex has a lot of financial skills with cash flow analysis and helping companies try and get funding.

How did The Accountrepreneur LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

In the first month, he was at my company about three days a week. As things got to be more under control, he would only come in a couple of days a month. We would always touch base every week to come up with the plan for the week. 

I would always make sure that we had laid out what we needed help with on our end. Alex and I would then go over, especially in the early phases of the engagement, what each party was working on. Additionally, he’s very organized because he works with a lot of clients. 

Even though we have a friendship outside of work, our relationship was very business-oriented. We worked according to a timeline and he always met every deadline. If a deadline wasn’t going to be met or if he ran into anything that complicated the process, he would let me know. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

His ability to remain calm was impressive. When I took on the job, I hadn’t realized that the accounting books were in such poor shape. But Alex helped to keep me calm, laying out the plan clearly. He reassured me that the situation wasn’t terrible.

He’s seen a lot of company’s books, so he has that perspective. He knows when something is a problem. When I thought the books were a huge mess, he was able to take a lot of his experience from working with businesses of all sizes and industries and set a plan.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions, to be honest. I don’t have anything negative to say about Alex. I would hire him to help me with any work in any position.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your objective. I knew exactly what tasks I needed him for and we had a plan to ramp up the process, and then eventually tail it off. He’s a consultant, so he’s not going to be with you forever. 

Make sure that you have very specific tasks. Additionally, don’t be afraid to challenge Alex. I would recommend him to anyone looking to get a clean set of books.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Hello Beverages. We offer fiber-infused nutritional beverage products.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

The Accountrepreneur helps us with a range of accounting services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When the team came in, they basically took over our Quickbooks account. Taking on a CFO-like role, at the end of each month The Accountrepreneur comes in with a complete financial package with about 10–12 different reports. It provides a vast amount of information; looking at it, we can identify margins on each of our clients as well as other details. 

We’ve also begun to raise money, and The Accountrepreneur puts together those reports as well.

What is the team composition?

I work only with Alex (Founder & Principal).

How did you come to work with The Accountrepreneur LLC?

Alex approached me on LinkedIn. I wasn’t looking for accounting services at the time, but I agreed to a meeting anyway. What I saw in the meeting blew me away, and I decided to start working with him on the spot.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in August 2018 and is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’m able to send my investors the monthly financial reports they put together, which keeps them informed in a very professional manner. They’re always impressed with how clean, detailed, and up-to-date the information is. 

Their work has also helped us to lower our COGS and ensure all of our inventory was accounted for. It saves me a lot of time. Plus, Alex totally understands CPG. He knows what to look for on all of our invoices and documents, so I can feel comfortable knowing I’m never being cheated on something. The Accountrepreneur picks up on a lot of things I would miss—I wouldn’t work without them.

How did The Accountrepreneur LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Alex works extremely quickly and always meets our deadlines. His communication skills are great, too. We keep in touch through text messages, emails, and phone calls, and I can count on him to be available when I need him. If he can’t help me out right away, he’s extremely forthcoming and always provides a date when he will be able to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Accountrepreneur’s services would make any CEO look great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there hasn’t been anything so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Sit down with them and see where your baseline is. From there, The Accountrepreneur will analyze where you and where you need to be, and then they’ll get you there.