Experience Cultivated Accounting

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

  • We work best with mission-driven nonprofits and small businesses who are ready for a true financial partner, whether that means handing off day-to-day bookkeeping, getting board-ready reporting, or preparing for growth. During an initial conversation, we'll talk through your current financial systems, your goals, and where you need support, so both sides can determine fit before moving forward.

  • Onboarding typically takes about 6 to 8 weeks from start to finish, and it looks like this:

    • We schedule an initial meeting to get to know you and your organization, and understand your financial goals.

    • We gain access to your accounting and financial systems (such as your bank and payment processing platforms).

    • We invite you to join our client portal to keep everything organized and easy to find.

    • We establish a shared drive for financial documentation that both your team and ours can access.

    • We ask a lot of questions and take notes. The more we understand about how your organization works, the better we can support it.

    What we’ll need from you: Access to your accounting systems, timely responses to our questions and requests, and a heads-up on any upcoming deadlines or timing constraints on your end.

    What you can expect from us: We move quickly to learn your organization and its key stakeholders, and we’ll keep you in the loop with updates every one to two weeks throughout the onboarding process.

  • We encourage you to complete our questionnaire first. You may also send an inquiry to info@cultivatedaccounting.com.

Trust, Vetting & Community

  • Yes. We can partner with organizations referred by funders, grant managers, and other intermediaries, and we're happy to talk directly with a funder about how we can support their grantees' financial capacity building.

  • Yes! Cultivated Accounting is proud to be certified as both a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) in the State of Massachusetts and the City of Boston. Our MBE and WBE certifications not only open doors for Cultivated Accounting, but also benefit our clients by helping them achieve their supplier diversity goals. We're proud to be part of a movement that fosters inclusivity and economic empowerment.

Compliance & Risk

  • While we don't file your 990 or conduct your audit directly, we prepare and organize your financial records so your financial auditor, and/or tax preparer has what they need, reducing scramble and risk at filing time. We can also help your organization prepare for and file the 990-EZ for qualifying clients.

  • Our team handles communications and file exchanges through an encrypted client portal, and connects to your existing financial platforms using authenticated, role-restricted access. With multi-factor authentication, encrypted credential management, and active monitoring on every device, we keep your information secure so you can focus on leading your mission.

Working Together

  • We can do either! We design our partnerships around your current team's capacity. For organizations with existing staff, we serve as an elevated layer of review, compliance, and financial leadership—freeing up your internal team to focus on daily operations while we handle high-level reporting. For organizations without dedicated accounting staff, we provide full-service fractional management to handle your ledgers, reconciliations, and reporting end-to-end.

  • Depending on your engagement level, we connect on a bi-weekly or monthly cadence through scheduled virtual video calls. Day-to-day, our team is accessible via email and our secure client portal, with responses delivered within 1 to 2 business days. We also provide regular written progress updates so you always feel supported and informed.

  • We use a variety of methods to ensure consistent and transparent communication with our clients:

    • Virtual Google Meetings: Facilitating live communication and collaboration with clients, team members, and partners.

    • Google Email and Workspace: Primary email and communication platform enabling the exchange of messages, documents, and other relevant information.

    • Recorded Videos: Sharing information that can be referenced as needed.

    • Dedicated Client Portal: When applicable, secure and dedicated platform for clients to exchange information, access important documents, and other account-related information.

  • Cultivated Accounting uses a variety of accounting software and systems to meet our partners’ needs:

    • QuickBooks Online: A core accounting platform we use with many of our clients to manage their financial data.

    • Sage Intacct: An advanced financial management system used for complex accounting and reporting needs.

    • Aplos: A cloud-based fund accounting and donor management platform purpose-built for nonprofits and faith-based organizations to track restricted funds, manage donations, and maintain compliance.

    • Ambrook: An all-in-one financial management platform designed specifically for agricultural businesses, combining bookkeeping, bill pay, and enterprise-level profitability tracking with built-in Schedule F tax alignment.

    • Fathom HQ: An application for financial analysis and reporting, helping us provide deep insights to our clients.

    • Ramp and BILL: Financial platforms used for corporate cards and expense management, and Bill Pay.

  • Our normal business hours are from Monday through Thursday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in the Eastern Standard Time zone. We also observe two yearly breaks during which our office remains closed. The first break is the first week of July, while the second break occurs around the last week of December and the first week of January.

Pricing & Structure

  • We tailor our fees to the scope of work and your organization’s specific needs. We believe in providing transparent and fair pricing that aligns with the value we deliver. To give you a general idea, here are our median monthly rates (USD) for different types of engagements:

    • Project-Based: $2,500

    • Fractional: $4,000

    It's important to note that these are just medians. Your actual fee may vary depending on the project’s complexity, the level of expertise required, and the duration of our engagement, among other factors. We'll work closely with you to understand your specific needs and provide a customized quote.

  • An organization may need to partner with us on a Fractional basis if they need ongoing, comprehensive support. Conversely, an organization may need to partner with us on a Project-to-project basis if all they need is a trusted partner who can effectively clean and prepare their existing accounting tools and practices. Visit our Services page or complete our questionnaire for more details.

  • Tax Preparation and Filing: while Cultivated Accounting does not prepare or file state or federal tax returns (with the exception of 990-N and 990-EZ), we can collaborate with your preferred tax professional to ensure a cohesive financial strategy

    Payroll Administration: while we don't handle the administrative aspects of payroll, Cultivated Accounting can leverage our financial expertise to analyze your payroll data, identify trends, and offer strategic guidance to optimize your payroll costs.

Our Internship Program

  • Bringing on interns provides exposure and experience to client-based accounting services, and helps us with junior-level work. We can also keep costs affordable for you by hiring interns. Having interns also keeps our team tapped into fresh perspectives in the accounting industry. Hiring interns also serves as a trusted staffing pipeline for the future. Our interns help strengthen Cultivated Accounting’s leadership capacity via management and mentorship.

  • Interns at Cultivated Accounting work under the direct supervision of our experienced accounting team. They are assigned aspects of the full accounting cycle, while all financial analysis, reporting, and strategic guidance remain led by our senior staff. You'll always have an experienced point of contact overseeing your account.

  • Yvette directly supervises and reviews the work of all Cultivated Accounting interns.

  • Yes. All Cultivated Accounting interns are bound to nondisclosure agreements and data privacy expectations like all of our organization’s staff members. Your financial information is treated with the same care and discretion regardless of who on our team is supporting your account.

  • No. Hiring interns allows us to keep costs affordable for you, and allows us to be more flexible with our services. For example, we can take on additional one-off projects as they come up with the help of our intern staff members.

  • Our team structure is designed so no single engagement depends on one person. The departure of an intern will not have any major disruption in service. Any assigned tasks will be absorbed by the team or a new intern.

  • Currently, we operate as an integrated team to ensure consistent service. Interns are integral members of our team, and our oversight processes are the same, regardless of staff tenure. We will introduce our interns to our partners as we would any other staff member.

Still have questions? Complete our questionnaire to schedule an alignment call with us. We look forward to learning more about your organization and how we can support your financial goals.

Access Questionnaire