A shoe box of receipts and a bank statement don't make a financial record. Stout Tax Strategies provides flat-fee monthly bookkeeping for small businesses in St. Clair Shores and Macomb County — reconciled accounts, categorized transactions, and actual P&L statements you can read, every single month.
Price ranges reflect 2026 flat-fee averages for small businesses in Metro Detroit. Actual pricing depends on transaction volume, accounts, and payroll complexity — discussed during your free consultation.
"Bookkeeping" sounds like one task, but it's a recurring set of activities that keep your financial records accurate and usable. Here's what a complete monthly engagement looks like — and what you're missing if any piece is skipped:
| Task | What It Means | What Happens If You Skip It |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction categorization | Every bank and credit card transaction coded to the correct expense/income category (materials, labor, utilities, etc.) | Your P&L is useless — expenses are lumped under "uncategorized" and tax deductions get missed |
| Bank reconciliation | Matching your books to your actual bank statement, line by line, every month | Undetected duplicate charges, missing deposits, or fraud — average unreconciled discrepancy is $2,000–$5,000/year for small businesses |
| Accounts receivable tracking | Monitoring who owes you money, how much, and how long it's been outstanding | Cash flow blind spots — you think you're profitable on paper but can't make payroll |
| Accounts payable management | Tracking what you owe to vendors, contractors, and suppliers | Late payment fees, lost early-pay discounts, damaged vendor relationships |
| Financial statements (P&L, Balance Sheet) | Monthly reports showing profit/loss, assets, liabilities, and equity | You're running the business on gut feel instead of numbers — and your CPA spends 5× longer at tax time reconstructing the year |
| Sales tax tracking | Michigan's 6% sales tax requires organized records if you sell taxable goods or hit the $100K remote seller nexus | Sales tax audit liability — Michigan Treasury audits go back 4 years |
The real cost of skipping bookkeeping: CPAs routinely charge 3–5× more for tax prep when they have to reconstruct a full year of unreconciled books before they can even start on the return. A $400/month bookkeeping engagement prevents a $2,000–$4,000 year-end cleanup bill — every year.
Transaction categorization, bank and credit card reconciliation, and financial statement delivery — every month, on a predictable schedule. We use QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, depending on your existing setup. Books are closed by the 15th of the following month.
3 months behind? 18 months behind? We've seen both. We rebuild your chart of accounts, re-categorize transactions, reconcile every bank statement month by month, and deliver a clean starting point. Most cleanups take 2–4 weeks depending on volume — then we transition to ongoing monthly service.
Monthly Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement — delivered in a format you can actually read, not a 47-page QuickBooks PDF. We include a one-page summary highlighting revenue trends, expense spikes, and cash position changes.
Weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly payroll runs. Federal and Michigan 4.25% withholding calculated, quarterly Form 941 filed, annual W-2/W-3 prepared. If your employees work in a Michigan city with local income tax (Detroit at 2.4%, etc.), we handle the split withholding and separate city filings.
Michigan's 6% sales tax applies to tangible goods and some services. We track taxable vs. non-taxable revenue, reconcile against your POS or invoicing system, and file your Michigan sales tax return on schedule (monthly, quarterly, or annually — Treasury assigns the frequency based on volume).
By December 31, your books are closed, reconciled, and organized for tax prep — not scrambled together in January. We deliver a complete year-end package to your CPA (or our own tax team) with categorized P&L, balance sheet, depreciation schedules, and 1099 contractor reports.
We use flat monthly fees — no surprise hourly billing, no scope creep. Here's the general framework:
| Service Level | Monthly Fee | What's Included | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $200–$400 | Transaction categorization, bank reconciliation, monthly P&L | Sole proprietors, freelancers, low transaction volume (under 100/mo) |
| Standard | $400–$700 | Everything in Basic + accounts payable/receivable, balance sheet, cash flow statement | Small businesses with 100–300 monthly transactions, 1–2 bank accounts |
| Full-Service | $700–$1,200 | Everything in Standard + payroll, sales tax tracking, quarterly financial review | Businesses with employees, inventory, or multiple revenue streams |
| Cleanup (one-time) | $1,000–$3,000+ | Rebuild chart of accounts, re-categorize and reconcile all overdue months | Businesses 3–18+ months behind on bookkeeping |
Your exact price depends on transaction volume, number of bank/card accounts, payroll headcount, and whether sales tax filing is needed. We quote a fixed number during your free consultation — no hourly surprises.
We review your current setup: what software you use (or don't), how many bank/card accounts, monthly transaction volume, payroll needs, and how far behind you are. You get a fixed monthly quote before any work starts.
We connect to your QuickBooks file (or set one up) and get read-only bank feeds. If you're behind, cleanup starts here — re-categorizing, reconciling, and rebuilding the chart of accounts. Most cleanups finish in 2–4 weeks.
Every month: transactions categorized, banks reconciled, P&L and balance sheet delivered by the 15th. Payroll clients get runs on their chosen schedule. You'll know exactly where your business stands financially — every month, not just at year-end.
By December, your books are closed and organized for tax season. We prepare a year-end package — complete P&L, balance sheet, 1099 contractor reports, depreciation schedules — and hand it off to your CPA or our in-house tax team. Zero January scramble.
Our office is at 32008 Harper Ave — between Masonic Blvd and 13 Mile, minutes from the Nautical Mile. We work with small businesses across:
A bookkeeping detail specific to this area: St. Clair Shores has no city income tax, so payroll withholding calculations are simpler than for businesses operating in Detroit (2.4% resident / 1.2% nonresident) or Michigan's other 23 cities with local levies. If your business has employees splitting time between St. Clair Shores and a taxing city, we handle the jurisdiction split in payroll automatically.
Michigan also requires businesses collecting sales tax to track the 6% rate uniformly statewide — no local add-ons like other states — but Treasury assigns your filing frequency (monthly, quarterly, or annual) based on volume, and we make sure you're filing on the right schedule.
| Need | Bookkeeper | Accountant / CPA | DIY (QuickBooks alone) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly transaction categorization | ✓ Core service | Usually delegates to bookkeeper | Possible, if you do it consistently |
| Bank reconciliation | ✓ Every month | Checks at year-end | Bank feeds help, but errors slip through |
| Payroll processing | ✓ If included in scope | ✓ If offered | Intuit Payroll addon ($50–$130/mo extra) |
| Tax return preparation | ✗ Prepares books, not returns | ✓ Core service | TurboTax / self-file |
| Tax planning & strategy | ✗ Not in scope | ✓ FTE election, entity review, estimated payments | Not available |
| IRS representation | ✗ Cannot represent you | ✓ CPA or EA can represent | You're on your own |
| Typical monthly cost | $200–$800 | $500–$2,000+ (for ongoing engagement) | $30–$200 (software only) |
Most small businesses in St. Clair Shores need both: a bookkeeper for monthly financial maintenance and an accountant for tax filing, compliance, and strategy. At Stout Tax Strategies, we provide both under one roof — your books feed directly into your tax return without a separate provider, separate login, or January catch-up project.
Monthly bookkeeping typically ranges from $200 to $800 for small businesses in Metro Detroit, depending on transaction volume, number of bank and credit card accounts, and whether payroll is included. Full-service engagements with payroll and sales tax tracking can run $700–$1,200/month. Cleanup bookkeeping for businesses that are several months behind usually costs $1,000–$3,000+ as a one-time project.
We regularly clean up books that are 6–18 months behind. The record we've handled is longer. As long as bank statements exist (or can be downloaded), we can reconstruct and reconcile the records. Most cleanups take 2–4 weeks, after which we transition to monthly ongoing service.
QuickBooks is a tool, not a service. It can import bank transactions automatically, but someone still needs to categorize them correctly, reconcile against statements, catch errors, and generate accurate reports. About 60% of our new clients come to us with a QuickBooks file that has months of uncategorized transactions and unreconciled accounts — the software was running, but nobody was managing it.
Bookkeeping is the ongoing recording and organization of financial transactions — income, expenses, reconciliations, payroll. Accounting is the interpretation of those records: tax return preparation, financial analysis, entity structure decisions, tax planning, and IRS representation. You need clean bookkeeping before meaningful accounting can happen.
Yes. We process payroll on your chosen schedule (weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly), calculate federal and Michigan 4.25% withholding, file quarterly Form 941, prepare annual W-2s and W-3s, and handle Michigan unemployment insurance reporting. If any employees work in a Michigan city with local income tax, we manage the separate withholding and filing.
Both. Our bookkeeping clients' year-end books feed directly into tax preparation — same team, same system, no file transfers or duplicate data entry. This is the main advantage of having bookkeeping and tax under one roof: your CPA isn't rebuilding your records from scratch every January.
Yes. Bookkeeping fees are generally deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense under IRS guidelines. The deduction applies whether you're a sole proprietor (Schedule C), S-corp, partnership, or C-corp.
Most cleanup projects are completed in 2–4 weeks for businesses that are 3–12 months behind. Longer backlogs (12–18+ months) may take 4–6 weeks. We prioritize getting you to a clean, reconciled baseline as fast as possible so monthly service can begin.
Tell us how far behind you are, how many accounts you have, and whether you need payroll. We'll give you a flat monthly number on the call — no surprises, no hourly billing.
Schedule a Free Consultation Call 586-757-6116