Waterford Business Solutions

At Waterford, we like to take the time to sit down with our clients and ensure that they understand what their numbers are saying and how they can enhance and grow their business through proper finances. For example, our bookkeeping clients are met at least quarterly to discuss margins, KPIs, pricing, and metrics they wish to focus on. We don’t just meet with our clients, but we partner with them to set goals and milestones to hit those goals so that we can work with the client to follow up and make sure they are physically and financially obtaining what they have set out to do. In contrast to other accounting firms that focus on ensuring their clients are prepared for taxes, we strive to provide our clients with the ability to pull essential information from their finances at least monthly and act accordingly to ensure their company remains financially healthy. As part of this planning process, we do address not only business growth but also taxes for our clients, where we meet with them quarterly to ensure that we are optimizing their tax outlooks not only for this year but also for future years to create a financial plan for them as they grow up and into retirement. This requires working with the client and helping them set up a good financial outlook with a financial planner for investment advice and growth in long-term assets.

Waterford provides services exclusively to contractors, tradesmen, and home service professionals. This small area of expertise allows our bookkeepers’ knowledge of everyday expenses and our advisors to work with clients to implement best practices from other businesses and provide industry insights. Many of our clients are assisted outside of the financial aspect of their interaction with HR situations, insurances, and minor legal phrasing that we can pass on from working with other clients in the same trade or similar trades to assist in our client’s growth. Furthermore, Waterford focuses on client interaction. While much of this is completed by our advisors working with clients monthly or quarterly, our bookkeepers are just as involved with clients. Every client is assigned a primary bookkeeper aware of their day-to-day operations. Still, that bookkeeper is supported by another bookkeeper who cross-checks work and is there to help the client if the primary bookkeeper is out sick or on vacation. In addition to a double check between bookkeepers, every client is reviewed by their advisor so that there are three sets of eyes to catch any mistakes and verify accuracy for our clients. This provides highly accurate numbers and actionable steps for all clients, along with three different people to talk to with any questions or concerns, no matter how small they may be.
A concern many of our clients have brought to us before signing is that their previous accountants never understood the software they used. Since we specialize in the trades, we take the time to learn many standard software that our clients use to help advise clients and manage integrations for a client simplifying their workload and providing more accuracy for them. We work with many programs Housecall Pro, Servicetitan, Jobber, Knowify, Buildertrend, QuickBooks, Gusto, Live Plan, Hubdoc, Melio, Bill.com, and many more. Most staff members are cross-trained on multiple platforms, and a lead staff member is dedicated to each to be the expert and provide advice for other staff members and clients if needed. We also like to work with our clients to ensure stability, and while much of this is completed through finances, we further this support by providing a flat monthly price to our clients for all services they may want. We sit down with clients, discuss their needs, and develop a specialized package just for them for a fixed monthly fee that does not change if you call or email in. While many people are scared to call their accountant due to the costs they will get just for being on the phone; we prefer to encourage our clients to reach out and talk to us and not be scared to ask questions or get the advice that they need or want.

Waterford does not just serve contractors; the founder grew up in the trades working with his family in landscaping, pressure washing, and HVAC work from a young age. James, our founder, would spend summers working in the field on projects and assisting in running the business. By the age of 12, he was in the back office after school and started assisting in the company’s financial management. Soon he was helping to run the back office and started taking over the accounting and bookkeeping for family friends, helping them modernize their systems and gain a better understanding of their business position than they ever had before. This allowed one to sell his business for twice as much as he planned, another to double the size of his business three times in five years, and another to finally start saving for retirement while sending four kids to college.

Ultimately Waterford Business Solutions was born of a passion for providing superior service and understanding to our clients, going above and beyond what the typical accountant would do by partnering with our clients and becoming an extension of their office and business. Every staff member is thoroughly vetted to ensure they share the same passion and then trained on our standards and policies, no matter the experience or certifications that they bring to the table. This allows for a consistent experience for all clients and ensures the company’s backbone and guiding desire of passion for helping clients and seeing them grow.