From day 1 to steady state. Here's the path.
Every Unify engagement follows the same five-phase arc — designed so you always know what's next, who's doing it, and what's expected of you. No guesswork, no scope creep, no surprises.
A method, not a marketing funnel.
Each phase has a clear scope, a clear timeline, and clear handoffs.
Discovery — a real conversation, no pitch
We listen, we ask hard questions, and we tell you straight whether we're a fit. You walk away better for having the conversation, regardless of the outcome.
- Listen to where you are and where you're stuck
- Share advice openly as it comes up — we don't hold back
- Tell you if we're not the right fit
- Last year's return (if convenient)
- A rough sense of revenue + headcount
- The questions you've been chewing on
- An honest fit assessment
- Generous, genuine business advice
- A tailored proposal within 48 hrs (if we're a good fit)
Engagement — onboarding without the friction
Engagement letter signed, tools connected, team assigned. We move fast on this phase deliberately — you should feel set up, not buried in paperwork. Most clients are fully onboarded inside 15 business days.
- Send engagement letter via Ignition
- Provision Client Center + Secure File Send
- Assign your dedicated team (manager + staff accountant)
- Schedule kickoff call with your team
- Access to your accounting system (QuickBooks or otherwise)
- Last 3 years of returns
- Read-only access to bank and credit-card accounts
- An hour for the kickoff call
- Your team's names, photos, direct emails
- An initial action plan, in writing
- A clear and budget-friendly payment cadence (generally, a flat weekly fee)
- Clear expectations and lines of responsibility
Foundation — get the books to truth
Before we can advise, we need a clean baseline. Month 1 is for setup and cleanup: reconciling, recategorizing, documenting. By the end of the month you have a chart of accounts that tells you what's actually happening — and a tax position you can trust.
- Full books cleanup & reconciliation
- Rebuild chart of accounts for your industry
- Document current processes & systems
- Tax position review (last 3 years)
- First monthly close
- Answers to questions we may have as we get to know your business
- 30-min mid-month working session
- Patience — cleanup takes a beat
- Books reconciled & recategorized
- Income-tax-ready financial statements and compliance assurance
- A list of issues we found and fixed with a plan to durably resolve them going forward
- Peace of mind, and better sleep
Strategy — the conversations the meter usually blocks
With a clean baseline, the strategic work begins: tax planning, cash flow forecast, KPI definitions and benchmarking, the annual cadence of meetings. This is the work most firms charge extra for. With us, it's part of the engagement.
- Initial strategy session — tax planning, profit improvement, value building
- Profitability and cash-flow projections
- Stand up your KPI dashboard
- Set quarterly meeting cadence
- Identify 3–5 margin levers to pull
- 1–2 hours of focused time and energy
- The metrics you actually care about
- Honest answers about goals and challenges
- An action plan
- Advice that gets results, customized for you
- A new way of thinking about your business — not just the how, the why
- Your next strategy session scheduled, with check-ins in between
Partnership — the steady-state that earns its keep
From month three forward, you're in the rhythm. Timely monthly closes. Quarterly reviews with your CPA/manager. Year-round tax planning. A team that picks up when you call. The flat fee that feels less and less like an expense with each passing month. The ROI on this spend can be quantified.
- Monthly close delivered by the 15th (ideally, subject to client cooperation)
- Quarterly strategy review and performance updates
- Proactive tax planning
- Year-end planning session in third quarter
- Always-on advisory — call or email us
- Your questions, and answers to ours
- A heads-up before big decisions
- Engagement on our regular communications and quarterly reviews
- Books on time, every month
- No-meter access to your CPA or staff accountant
- Meaningful communication and strategy, year-round
- A team that picks up when you call
- Tax returns filed on time, every year
The best decisions a business owner makes are the ones they make before they need to. Our process is structured so the strategy work happens on a predictable cadence — not crammed in at year-end when there's nothing left to change.
Andy Hairgrove
Partner, Unify CPA
What never changes across phases.
The phases shift, but the operating principles don't. These three are the firm's spine — and the things you can hold us to.
Proactive, not reactive
We come to you with ideas. Tax shifts, margin levers, deadline alerts — surfaced before they cost you, not after.
No meter on the relationship
Flat monthly fee. Calls, emails, mid-month questions are included. We never bill for picking up the phone.
The same team, every time
Your dedicated team — CPA + staff accountant — owns the relationship. No junior associate roulette, no blind handoffs.
What clients ask before they sign.
Six questions we answer most often during the discovery call. If yours isn't here, ask Andy on the call.
How long does onboarding actually take?
Most clients are fully onboarded in 10–15 business days. The full Foundation phase (clean books, baseline tax position, first monthly close) wraps inside 30 days. By day 60 the rhythm emerges and feels comfortable. By day 90 you're in steady state.
Do I have to switch accounting software?
Almost never. If you're on something we haven't seen, we'll tell you on the discovery call — and we won't force a migration that doesn't earn its keep.
What if my books are a mess?
Cleanup is built into the engagement. We've seen worse than yours; we promise.
Who actually does the work?
Your dedicated team: your CPA plus a staff accountant who specialize in your industry. Your CPA stays on every monthly close, every quarterly review, and every tax filing. There is no anonymous queue.
Can I leave if it's not working?
Yes. The engagement is 30-day notice. This rarely happens though — either you or we would have known we weren't a good fit before entering an engagement. Our average client tenure is over 10 years and attrition is largely due to business sales and retirements, not dissatisfaction.
What about my old CPA?
We handle the handoff. With your permission we'll request prior-year work papers, copies of returns, and depreciation schedules directly. Most transitions take one short email and we're off and running.
“We've used Unify as our accountant since we opened Mo Jeaux's in 2009, and I constantly tell people it's the best money I spend every month. Mike Mehle and the team keep my books clean, they're always ahead of tax law changes, and they explain things in a way that actually makes sense. They don't just manage the numbers — they help me grow.”
Ready to start at Phase 01?
Book the discovery call. Thirty minutes, no pitch, one tax-saving idea regardless of where it goes.