Solutions

Start from your situation, not from a feature list

Three ways in. What size and shape the business is, what role you hold, or what you run today — because the useful answer differs enormously depending on which of those is the binding constraint.

Not sure where you fit?

Three questions about size, stack, and what you would fix first. We will point you at the right page.

1 / 3
By size, role, or current systemWritten from engagementsIncludes when to change nothing

By size & structure

What shape is the business?

Outgrowing QuickBooks

Read →

Multi-entity

Read →

PE-backed portfolios

Read →

Post-acquisition

Read →

$5–25M revenue

In progress

$25–100M revenue

In progress

$100M+ revenue

In progress

Multi-location

In progress

By role

What do you actually own?

CFO

Read →

Controller

Read →

Accounting manager

In progress

AP & AR teams

In progress

VP Operations

In progress

Fractional CFO

In progress

CPA & accounting firms

In progress

PE operating partner

In progress

By current system

What are you running today?

The most useful entry point, and the one most vendor sites omit — because it is the one where the honest answer is frequently that you should keep what you have.

QuickBooks Online

Read →

NetSuite

Read →

Spreadsheets

Read →

QuickBooks Desktop

In progress

Sage Intacct

In progress

Acumatica

In progress

Dynamics 365

In progress

Odoo

In progress

Why the same company gets three different answers

A $40M agency with three entities, a controller who is the single point of failure, and QuickBooks Online has three legitimate framings, and they lead to different first moves.

  • By structure, the binding constraint is consolidation, and the answer is a reporting layer that eliminates intercompany properly.
  • By role, the constraint is that one person holds the close, and the answer is documenting and automating the mechanical parts so it survives a holiday.
  • By system, the constraint is what QuickBooks structurally cannot do, and the answer is a short list of three things — only one of which they probably have.

All three are correct and they sequence differently. Which one you start from usually depends on who is asking, which is why the pages are organised this way rather than as one generic solutions page with a feature grid.

The same business gets a different first move depending on whether the CFO, the controller, or the board asked the question.

What is consistent across all of them

Three things, regardless of entry point. The engagement starts read-only. A shadow ledger begins reconciling against your existing books from week one. And roughly a third of assessments conclude you should change less than you expected — which is either reassuring or annoying depending on how much you have already decided.

Pages in progress

Thirteen of these are written and live. The rest are being drafted rather than stubbed with generic copy — if the one you need is not up yet, the assessment covers the same ground and a person answers it.

Questions

Common follow-ups.

Which page should I start from?
Whichever framing matches how you are already thinking about the problem. If the board asked, start from structure. If you are the controller, start from role. If you are unhappy with a specific product, start from system.
Does the answer differ much by industry?
Yes, and the industry guides cover that separately. Industry determines which lines sit between revenue and margin; these pages cover shape, role, and current constraints.
What if none of these fit?
The assessment covers the same ground and a person reads it. We would rather answer a specific situation than have you approximate yourself into the nearest page.
Do you work with companies under $5M?
Occasionally, and usually we advise waiting. Below that size QuickBooks or Xero with good process is genuinely adequate, and we will say so rather than sell you something.

Start from where you actually are.

Three questions about size, stack, and what you would fix first, and a written answer within a business day.