BookKeeping Express

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of a fitness company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

#1 In Home Personal Training.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire BookKeeping Express to accomplish?

• Bookkeeping

SOLUTION

How did you find BookKeeping Express?

Referral

Why did you select BookKeeping Express over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from BookKeeping Express were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of work provided by BKE Bookkeeping Services was to manage and deliver accurate, timely bookkeeping on a monthly basis. The services were intended to support the financial management of our business, particularly in its crucial startup phase, and to ensure that financial reports, statements, and tax-related documents were prepared and delivered on time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Expected Measurable Outcomes (Targets)
Timely Monthly Financial Reports:

Target: Delivery of accurate financial reports (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement) within 30 days after each month-end.
Measure of Success: Each month’s financial reports received on time and error-free, allowing for informed business decisions.
Accurate Account Reconciliation:

Target: Monthly reconciliation of bank and credit card accounts without discrepancies.
Measure of Success: Zero discrepancies between bank statements and internal records, ensuring the company’s financial data was accurate and balanced.
Seamless Collaboration with CPA for Tax Preparation:

Target: Timely coordination with our CPA to ensure smooth, accurate tax filings.
Measure of Success: No delays or missed tax filing deadlines, ensuring the business remained compliant and avoided penalties or extra fees.
Improved Financial Transparency:

Target: Providing clear, transparent financial summaries to help guide the business’s strategic decisions.
Measure of Success: Regular monthly financial reviews resulting in data-driven business decisions.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Actual Measurable Outcomes (Results)
Failure to Deliver Monthly Financial Reports:

Outcome: No financial reports were delivered for April, May, or June 2024, despite being billed for these services.
Measure of Failure: 3 months of missing reports led to uncertainty in the business’s financial performance and decisions.
Significant Delays in Account Reconciliation:

Outcome: BKE consistently failed to reconcile accounts on time, with delays spanning over 2 months.
Measure of Failure: Financial records were incomplete and inaccurate, making it impossible to properly track business income and expenses.
Tax Filing Delays and Penalties:

Outcome: BKE’s delays directly caused our tax filings to miss deadlines, leading to additional filing fees from their CPA referral.
Measure of Failure: Late filings resulted in extra fees and created a need for another CPA to correct the bookkeeping errors, costing both time and money.
Increased Operational Costs and Wasted Time:

Outcome: The failure to deliver timely financials resulted in increased costs due to late fees, hiring another CPA, and additional hours spent trying to resolve the issues with BKE.
Measure of Failure: Financial losses included:$450 in undelivered services.
Additional CPA fees to fix errors.
Extra filing fees for missed tax deadlines.
Time wasted chasing BKE for resolution.
Unprofessional Communication and Customer Service:

Outcome: The refusal by BKE’s CEO to engage in a phone call, along with unprofessional communication, led to delays in resolving the matter.
Measure of Failure: Poor customer service compounded the financial and operational damage, with no clear path to resolution.

The delays caused significant disruptions, including missed tax deadlines that resulted in additional fees. Timeliness is crucial for bookkeeping, and BKE failed entirely in this regard. In addition, the mistakes and delays on their part ended up costing me even more in CPA fees and penalties for late tax filings. Instead of providing value, BKE’s service created financial stress.

Conclusion of Outcomes
Instead of demonstrating success, the project with BKE showed significant failures across multiple critical areas: service delivery, accuracy, timeliness, and customer service. These failures directly impacted our business operations, resulting in unnecessary financial costs, lost time, and a breakdown in trust.

What was your primary form of communication with BookKeeping Express?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Initially, BKE appeared to have a well-structured communication and onboarding process. Their use of dashboard-based communication and scheduled calendar links for calls seemed professional and organized. This gave us the impression that their system could facilitate smooth collaboration, especially with time-sensitive tasks like monthly bookkeeping and tax preparations.

Additionally, BKE’s referral network to CPAs like Ledgers offered a unique touch that, in theory, should have streamlined the process of tax filings and financial management for our business. Unfortunately, while this structure had potential, the execution fell far short.

Despite being billed for multiple months, I never received the promised deliverables. There was also no proactive effort from BKE to rectify the situation. While I did receive occasional communication, it didn’t result in any tangible solutions, making this a very disappointing experience overall.

Are there any areas for improvement or something BookKeeping Express could have done differently?

Yes, there are several areas where BookKeeping Express (BKE) could have improved or handled the situation differently:

Timely Delivery of Services: The primary issue seems to be the failure to deliver bookkeeping services within a reasonable timeframe. If BKE had met their obligations and provided monthly reports on time, much of the frustration and financial issues could have been avoided.
Clear and Consistent Communication: Communication from BKE was inconsistent and often unhelpful. Instead of repeatedly asking for login credentials without resolving the problem, they could have maintained open lines of communication, clearly explaining any technical difficulties and offering realistic timelines for resolution.
Proactive Client Support: If there were internal challenges or delays, BKE should have proactively reached out to inform you of the situation and suggest alternatives or interim solutions. This would have shown respect for your time and business needs.
Professionalism in Handling Complaints: The CEO’s response to your complaints was unprofessional and dismissive. Instead of shifting blame and accusing you of wasting their time, the CEO should have acknowledged the errors and demonstrated accountability by addressing the refund request and apologizing for the inconvenience caused.
Customer-Centric Resolution Approach: BKE missed several opportunities to resolve the issue early by offering phone calls, refunds, or better customer service. A more customer-focused approach, such as assigning a dedicated account manager or troubleshooting calls to resolve issues, would have improved the relationship and possibly prevented the escalation.
Refunding for Undelivered Services: Upon canceling services and with no deliverables provided, BKE should have refunded the charges for the months in question. Ignoring this simple request only escalated the issue further and reflected poorly on their customer service.
By improving on these fronts—timeliness, communication, customer support, professionalism, and fair resolution—BKE could have handled this situation far better. Their lack of accountability and support led to unnecessary frustration and costs.

They consistently failed to deliver on their promises and showed little accountability for their mistakes. The lack of timely responses, coupled with the CEO’s dismissive attitude, has left me with a terrible impression of the company. I would not recommend their services to anyone.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the franchise support coordinator of Kidokinetics, a wellness and fitness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BookKeeping Express?

We needed help with the general reconciling of our accounting books.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BookKeeping Express has been providing accounting services. They do a great job working with our proprietary platform, Stripe, Gusto, and QuickBooks; their team takes all of the information from those sources and makes sense for us. Their team also referred us to QuickBooks experts, which has been extremely helpful for our locations. Additionally, they just started working on the standard chart of accounts for us to make reconciling more feasible and easier across our sites.

What is the team composition?

We have two main points of contact from their team, including Wendy (Solutions Manager) and Phil (Partner Account Manager).

How did you come to work with BookKeeping Express?

They were already working with our company before I took my current position.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re delighted with their work because they help us with our workload without having to outsource our accounting tasks, so they save us a lot of time — they provide a nice internal solution. 

How did BookKeeping Express perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very efficient with their work. In terms of communication, we use email and Slack. They also provide great customer service if we run into an issue with any of the platforms we use.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve taken a real interest in our company, which is outstanding. They didn’t just commit to their portions; they genuinely partnered with us to understand our mission to help us accomplish our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have more regular check-ins with us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Build a solid relationship with them from the beginning so they can know your company and needs.

BACKGROUND

Briefly describe what your company does and your role there. 

We sell items to consumers I work with the accounting team

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your company's goals when you started looking for a partner?

We wanted to use a different and easier company

SOLUTION

Describe the scope of your partner's work with your company. Please include a summary of any key tasks or deliverables.

We use others to make up for what we don't have

How many people does your company work with?

2-5 people

How did you find this provider?

Online search

Why did you choose to work with them?

• Positive reviews and ratings
• Good value for cost

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results or deliverables of this partnership that demonstrate progress or success?

They are easy to use and deal with.

How does your team communicate with this service provider?

• Phone calls
• Email or Messaging App

Are there any areas for improvement or something this service provider could have done differently?

No