You became an entrepreneur because you had a dream; or invented a better way of doing things or simply wanted the independence of running your own business. But as you’ve realized, there is a sizeable financial learning curve, a curve that many business owners don’t understand until it’s too late.
Many small and medium sized businesses say “yes” to these
issues. Are you one of them?
• Are you tired of being cash-poor even when you show an
annual profit?
• Is your bookkeeping completed in one massive, stressful
end-of-year effort?
• Are you spending endless hours manually completing your
accounting and want a better way?
• Do you, for any reason, need a different financial outcome?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, Step By Step
Accounting is ready to help!
We are your financial guide who doesn’t just perform basic
accounting services but delivers dedicated teaching and
deep-dive financial support to small and medium businesses.
Variety of Services to Fit Your Needs
Your business structure, profit and loss, and payroll will
look different from other businesses.
Why, then, should your accounting be treated all the same?
By offering a diverse menu of accounting support, we allow
you to select the amount of service that is perfect for
you, your employees, and your overall business. You’ll be
able to choose the services to meet your needs, such as
Quickbooks Online bookkeeping and training, payroll
support, accounts payable and receivable, and even
Fractional CFO services.
An Approach Based on Empowering You
At Step By Step Accounting, we won’t just prepare your P&L
statements, complete balance sheets, and forecast
expenses; instead, we teach you how to utilize your
finances. This develops you into a more substantial,
confident business owner who fully understands the needs
of your business.
When you work with us, you’ll get financial coaching from
a CPA to take your understanding of your finances to an
executive level.
Proudly Serving Small to Medium Sized Businesses
While we are equipped to serve clients of virtually any
size and scope, we are especially adept at serving clients
who have fewer than 50 employees.
Step By Step is ideal for businesses operating in the
agricultural, veterinarian, hospitality, legal, retail,
salon/beauty, lawn care or professional services
industries, but we are able to serve nearly any company.
Our Services
Step By Step Accounting is more than your typical accounting
firm. We are dedicated to making
transformative changes by providing financial coaching to
enhance how your business operates and thrives.
To help you achieve your goals, we provide a variety of
services.
Comprehensive Set Up and Clean Up of QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online, commonly called “QBO,” is one of the most
important and widely used programs for small businesses and
organizations. Still, proper file set up, as well as clean
up and systems analysis, is essential. We work with
companies to provide effective QBO setup, integration of
apps and Chart of Accounts assistance.
When providing QBO clean up services, we can reclassify
transactions and categorize incomes, which is extremely
beneficial for maintaining properly organized information.
We can also help with your bank accounts by providing
complete account reconciliations.
You can count on us to clean up and organize your
profit-and-loss statement so you can see an accurate
financial bottom line.
QBO Training
Teaching is a fundamental part of Step By Step Accounting.
With this in mind, we provide training that makes you an
effective business owner. Our personalized one-on-one guided
training can be done virtually or at your office or worksite
which allows you to be in a comfortable, familiar setting as
you learn to use QBO to your maximum advantage.
Training includes written procedures for all the major
processes that we cover. In addition to this one-on-one
training, you’ll also receive 30 days of unlimited support,
which can be provided through email or phone at your
convenience.
Our training program is tailored to fit your specific needs.
Monthly QBO Bookkeeping
Another component of QBO that is essential to your
business’s success is ongoing bookkeeping. Not all companies
have the same needs, so we will offer three levels of
bookkeeping services so you can select the right one for
your operations.
Example bookkeeping services
• Reviewing monthly transactions
• Reconciliations for checking accounts
• P&L, balance sheet reporting (provided monthly)
• 30-minute review of finances (phone or video)
• Revenue and expenses annual forecasting
• Budget to actual reports
• Annual 1099 filings
Payroll Support
Through our payroll partner this includes payroll
processing, payroll withholding for state, and federal
taxes, reporting of new hires, report filing and annual W2s.
If you need human resourses and benefits programs we can
introduce you to our partner company.
We are here to support all your payroll needs.
Accounts Payable and Receivable
You will never have to pay a bill again if you select our
accounts payable services. We provide an “AP” email address
and upload site for all of your invoices and receipts. We
turn your documents into actionable data and import them
into QBO. We then can pay each invoice after your approval
and create audit-proof substantiation for each business
expense.
For accounts receivable, we can provide invoicing and
billing solutions, electronic receipt of payments, aging
reports, follow-up procedures for past-due invoices, and
dispute resolution. All this with the goal of improving your
cash flow!
Take these tedious and stressful tasks off your desk.
Fractional Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
As opposed to day-to-day accounting, our CFO service focuses
on key financial elements, taking a long-term, broad-vision
approach to your company’s finances. CFO services include
securing financing, planning, cash forecasting, and
budgeting. You can work with our team to plan and execute
growth strategies while receiving in-depth analysis of
targets and reports on the industry in which you operate.
You’ll get CFO services that include setting internal
controls, creating policies, and designing procedures for
your company.
Get Reliable, Success-Driven Accounting Services for Your
Business
If you want an accounting partner who takes a deeper
approach to your accounting, contact our staff today. You
deserve an accountant who is dedicated to your success, so
email our team and let us be your guide!
Our Step by Step Process
At Step By Step Accounting, we take an active, engaged role in
your business, allowing us to serve your needs and deliver
excellent results.
This level of engagement is not created instantly but requires
dedication and resilience not seen from typical accounting
firms.
That's why we break it down in an easy step-by-step process to
show you how we create a foundation of long-term success for
your business.
Step 1: Initial Meeting
First, we want to get to know you! We offer personalized,
in-depth accounting services. Our first step is to meet with
you and, if needed, some of your key employees.
This meeting will help us understand your business model,
strengths, weaknesses, accounting challenges, and sources of
income.
While the exact time can vary, this initial meeting
generally takes about an hour. We look forward to meeting
you! If we both decide that we would be a good fit, then we
will move forward together to Step 2, the Discovery Phase.
Step 2: Discovery
During this phase, we will look through your important
financial documents, including accounting records, bank
statements, business reports, loan contracts, and any other
information that is directly tied to the finances of your
business.
This allows us to establish a firm understanding of your
business's overall financial picture by learning where your
revenue comes from, what creates the largest expenses, how
losses are impacting operations, and much more.
This Discovery phase usually takes about two weeks.
Step 3: Report Preparation
Next, we prepare a report based on the gathered information.
This step usually takes one to two days and requires less
participation on your part.
We would contact you with any additional questions, but you
can sit back and wait for Step 3 to be completed.
Step 4: Presentation
Our team will provide you a presentation based on the
results of your report that outlines detailed steps on what
changes you can make to improve your financial success.
We will present recommended services, such as cash flow
forecasting, balance sheet reporting, and QuickBooks Online
Training. You’ll be able to choose the services to meet your
needs, such as Quickbooks Online bookkeeping and training,
payroll support, accounts payable and receivable, and even
Fractional CFO services.
Step 5: Getting Started
We are ready to start making improvements! Now, you can enjoy all the benefits of working with Step By Step Accounting.
Our goal is to make you a more prosperous, prepared, and
knowledgeable business owner. By working with us, you
will have the tools to create a solid financial foundation that,
with wise management, will last well into the future!
About Step by Step Accounting
At Step By Step Accounting, our focus is based on helping
clients achieve their financial and professional goals. Through
guidance, support, and consistent teaching,
we not only deliver thorough accounting services, but we also
advise clients to become more confident with their finances.
By combining accounting and teaching, we can help numerous
businesses across North Dakota and the United States.
In-Depth Services Rooted in Teaching
We are not your typical accounting firm. Melissa L. Miranda, the
owner and creator of Step By Step Accounting, strongly believes
in the value of educating clients on their finances.
Through monthly financial review meetings, one-on-one
conversations, and comprehensive support, Step By Step
Accounting makes business owners more knowledgeable and
confident with their finances. Weaving together both
transformative accounting services and financial coaching helps
clients achieve their financial goals and establish a solid
foothold in their industries.
We take a deep-dive approach to a business's finances. Before we
take on any client, we guide them through our new client step by
step process. The first step is getting to know them and what
their wants and needs are.
Check out our Step by Step process.
While we can take on virtually any client, we enjoy serving
solo-entrepreneurs, partnerships, and small businesses with
fewer than 50 employees.
Meet Melissa L. Miranda, CPA
Growing up on a dairy farm, Step By Step Accounting
owner Melissa L. Miranda learned the principles of hard
work, persistence, and planning. Before even attending
college, she saw first hand the importance of cash-flow
planning and organized record-keeping on the farm with
her own dairy animals in 4-H and FFA.
She is a proud graduate of North Dakota State University
in Fargo, North Dakota, where she completed a double
major, studying both accounting and business
administration. Graduating magna cum laude in 2012, she
quickly applied her knowledge and experience to both the
public and private sectors.
While providing basic bookkeeping services for a family
friend, Melissa realized her love of working directly
with small business owners. Having nearly a decade of
experience with QuickBooks Desktop, Melissa started
learning the cloud-based version of the program and
converted her first client to QuickBooks Online (QBO).
It turned out to be a breakthrough, as she realized the
immense value of secure accounting records that can be
accessed and utilized in real-time.
Melissa saw the need for service-oriented,
teaching-based accounting and advisory services,
primarily geared towards small businesses and eventually
brought these principles into her own business, which
she named Step By Step Accounting.
Melissa's mission is to help small business owners
understand their finances and achieve their goals as she
knows the impact that strong businesses have on
communities and families.
In her personal time, Melissa enjoys spending time with
her family and reading a good book. She also loves
visiting family in Brazil, where she lived for two
years.
You deserve an accountant who shares your passion and
commitment, so let us help you right away!
Janell Harlow, CPA, Senior Accountant
Janell Harlow is a Senior Accountant for Step By Step Accounting. Janell grew up in the Red River Valley, and attended
Concordia College where she earned her Bachelor's Degree.
She then went on to take accounting classes at the University of North Dakota to become a CPA. Over the past 20 years,
Janell has served as a CPA for a wide range of businesses through public and private accounting firms.
Her career came full circle when she joined Step By Step Accounting, using the same client-centered, coaching-based
approach as the first firm she ever worked for.
She brings strong organizational skills to our team, as well as a passion for working with entrepreneurs to bring their
business to the next level.
Vicki Schlenker, CPA, Senior Accountant
Vicki joined Step By Step Accounting in the fall of 2022 as a Senior Accountant. Vicki attended NDSU where she earned a degree in accounting with a minor in computer science.
After receiving her CPA license, she quickly dove into work as an accountant and brought to Step By Step 25 years of experience in accounting within nonprofit organizations.
Vicki also has experience in HR, including the revamping of employee handbooks, and assisting in the creation of various policies and procedures.
With her wide array of skills and great attention to detail, Vicki is an excellent asset to our team and our clients at Step By Step.