Brainy Advisors, an online bookkeeping service led by CPAs with Big Four and Fortune 500 international bank experience, offers a competitive bookkeeping solution tailored for modern businesses. In addition to its bookkeeping services that include categorizing transactions, reconciling bank accounts, and providing you with monthly financial reports, Brainy Advisors will also serve as a liaison with your tax advisor, providing them with the necessary information to file your taxes and answering any questions that may come up along the way.
It also offers custom add-on services like A/R and A/P management. Pricing starts at $229 a month on a monthly contract, and there are no onboarding or signup fees. In our Brainy Advisors review, we analyze the provider’s bookkeeping service. We also evaluate its accuracy, efficiency, and ability to provide actionable insights that drive business growth and financial stability.
Pros
- Every Brainy Advisor is a licensed CPA
- Accounting team can accommodate time zones from the US, Europe, and Asia
- QuickBooks, Xero, or any preferred accounting platform can be used
- Add-on services like A/R and A/P management are available at an hourly rate
- No charge for bookkeeping inquiries and financial-related questions
Cons
- No year-end tax filing services
- Catch-up bookkeeping is available only to new clients who sign a one-year bookkeeping contract
- Accrual-based businesses require a customized plan
- Nonprofits and businesses involving international arrangements can’t be accommodated
- No payroll services
- Businesses needing catch-up bookkeeping services: If you are behind on your company’s finances, Brainy Advisors offers catch-up services that can get you back on track, and it can do so on average within three to four weeks for a year’s worth of bookkeeping. It can reconcile your bank statements, categorize transactions, and generate accurate financial reports.
- New business owners: When you’re starting out, it’s important to have a solid understanding of your finances. Brainy Advisors can help you set up a bookkeeping system from scratch and ensure you’re tracking your income and expenses accurately.
- Business owners who are unfamiliar with accounting software: Brainy Advisors can help you learn how to use popular accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero—or it can handle your bookkeeping for you entirely.
- Businesses looking for a variety of add-on services: If you’re looking for additional services like A/R and A/P management or advanced reporting like ad platform ROI reports and pro forma P&L projections, Brainy Advisors offers this at a rate of $49 per hour.
Brainy Advisors Alternatives & Comparison
Unsure whether assisted bookkeeping is right for you? Check out our guide to the best small business accounting software for our top DIY accounting platforms.
No customer has left a Brainy Advisors review on third-party review platforms as of this writing. If you check back later in the year, we may have user insights to share.
Brainy Advisors’ bookkeeping plans are based on a company’s business expenses, complexity, number of transactions, and needs. There are no onboarding or signup fees, and you can cancel your subscription anytime.
Here’s a breakdown of the four plans:
- Startups & Small Businesses: $229 per month (monthly contract) or $195 per month (annual contract) for businesses with less than $30,000 per month in cost of goods sold (COGS) and expenses
- Medium-sized Businesses: $379 per month (monthly contract) or $325 per month (annual contract) for businesses with $30,000 to $80,000 in COGS and expenses
- Large-sized Businesses: $699 per month (monthly contract) or $595 per month (annual contract) for businesses with $80,000 to $150,000 in COGS and expenses
- Enterprise Solutions: Custom quote for businesses with over $150,000 in COGS and expenses
Catch-up bookkeeping is offered at 20% off the standard monthly rate but is only available to new clients who sign a one-year bookkeeping services contract.
Also, Brainy Advisors offers add-on services at a rate that starts at $49 per hour. Here’s a sample of the add-on services it provides:
- Inventory and COGS tracking
- A/R and A/P management
- Budgeting
- Mergers and acquisition preparation and support (both buy and sell side)
- Demand tracking (including Amazon)
- Cohort reporting
- Google Ads search term report cleanup
When you sign up for Brainy Advisors, you’ll be assigned a dedicated bookkeeper who specializes in your field or industry. Every Brainy Advisors accountant is a licensed CPA, and they will be able to accommodate your schedule.
The dedicated bookkeeper will meet with you for a one-on-one meeting to learn the ins and outs of your business. Once they get all the information needed, they’ll start delivering your monthly bookkeeping needs.
Brainy Advisors’ bookkeeping services typically encompass a range of features designed to streamline financial processes and provide valuable insights for business decision-making. Following are some common features and services that it offers.
Bookkeeping Services
Brainy Advisors will organize your business transactions into relevant categories for accurate financial reporting. It will also reconcile bank and credit card statements with financial records to identify discrepancies and ensure all transactions are accounted for correctly. This process helps detect errors or fraud and maintains the integrity of financial data.
Additionally, Brainy Advisors will generate essential financial reports like profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and expense reports. It can help with customizing your chart of accounts as well.
Bookkeeping Catch-up
If you have fallen behind on your books, Brainy Advisors will help you—regardless of whether you have several months or years to catch up on. A free, no-obligation assessment is available, and while the time involved depends on the volume and complexity of your business, Brainy Advisors is extremely quick with this service.
If you have already partnered with Brainy Advisors for a minimum one-year plan subscription, you’ll receive a discount of 20% off the standard monthly rate for every month you are behind.
Brainy Advisors Other Features & Services
Brainy Advisors understands that each business may have unique requirements, so it offers customized solutions tailored to the company’s industry, size, and specific needs, ensuring a comprehensive and efficient service.
Going beyond basic reports, Brainy Advisors offers in-depth analysis of your financial data, identifying trends and providing insights for better decision-making. This includes interpreting financial data, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), and generating customized reports like margin calculation by product or channel.
Brainy Advisors offers specialized services for managing A/R and A/P. This includes invoicing, payments from customers, bills, and payments to vendors.
This could involve analyzing customer groups based on specific characteristics like acquisition date or purchase history to understand their behavior and optimize marketing strategies. Brainy Advisors can prepare a granular breakdown of business performance by segments, time, or future projects. This includes lifetime value (LTV) and client/SaaS retention rates.
Brainy Advisors can help businesses streamline inventory and COGS management processes, including tracking inventory levels, optimizing stock levels, implementing inventory costing methods, and analyzing inventory turnover ratios.
Brainy Advisors utilizes data collection tools and methods to gather information on consumer demand, including for Amazon. This includes analyzing sales data, customer feedback, market trends, and external factors impacting demand such as economic conditions or industry trends.
Based on historical data and market analysis, Brainy Advisors can forecast future demand for products or services. It may also segment customers based on demand patterns, preferences, demographics, or purchasing behaviors, which allows businesses to tailor marketing strategies, pricing models, and product offerings to different customer segments effectively.
If you’re considering a merger or acquisition (on either the buy or sell side), Brainy Advisors can help prepare adjusted financial statements tailored to these specific situations. It also has experience with responding to buyer diligence requests, and if you’re under contract to acquire a business, it can assist with evaluating the financials of the target.
Brainy Advisors can help you with creating budgets, forecasting financial performance, and monitoring actual financial results against projections. This proactive approach helps in managing cash flow, setting financial goals, and making informed financial decisions. This includes producing reports such as advertising analytics or ROI by channel.
Brainy Advisors Customer Support
Brainy Advisors provides an open line of communication with its clients, with monthly contact via monthly reports that can be customized to your needs. You can also contact them anytime with questions or to request a meeting. If something comes up while categorizing your account transactions or reconciling bank statements, Brainy Advisors will reach out to you as well.
Although Brainy Advisors doesn’t provide tax preparation and filing services, it will supply your tax preparer with everything needed to file your tax return at rates that start at $49 an hour. This includes generating a complete tax package and collaborating with your tax preparer regarding your annual filings. Brainy Advisors will also close your year-end books, reconcile them with the tax filings, and make the adjustments so that you’re ready to start fresh on the next taxable year.
How We Evaluated Brainy Advisors
We evaluated Brainy Advisors based on user reviews, pricing, personal bookkeeper, bookkeeping services, and tax and consulting services.
35% of Overall Score
Because each plan depends on many factors, we looked at the value provided in terms of the time and potential money that you’re saving by using the service.
20% of Overall Score
You should be able to access a dedicated bookkeeper for any questions or advice and one-on-one assistance.
15% of Overall Score
The best online bookkeeping service should offer a wide range of bookkeeping solutions, including catch-up bookkeeping, invoicing, bill pay, bank reconciliation, payroll, and tax filing.
10% of Overall Score
We evaluated whether the online bookkeeping service offered tax and consulting, and the scope of those services.
20% of Overall Score
We consider the opinions of users and the service’s ratings on various review sites. These criteria were disregarded for providers where no reviews were found.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Brainy Advisors will categorize your transactions, reconcile your bank accounts, and generate monthly financial reports. It also offers catch-up and clean-up bookkeeping and tax support services, although it doesn’t provide tax preparation and filing services.
Brainy Advisors’ add-on services are additional features that are excluded from its standard bookkeeping package. This includes specific areas such as A/R and A/P management, cohort analysis, and preparation of adjusted financials for mergers and acquisitions. These add-ons are priced at the hourly rate of $49.
Brainy Advisors will cover as far back as a few months or several years—as long as the essential documents are available for reconciliation. This includes bank statements, credit card statements, receipts, invoices, purchase orders, payroll records, and other relevant documents.
Brainy Advisors uses QuickBooks Online, but if you’re using other platforms, then it can assist you with moving it over to QuickBooks and setting it up.
Bottom Line
Brainy Advisors offers a suite of affordable bookkeeping services that can streamline financial management for your business. Its core bookkeeping functions—like transaction categorization, bank reconciliation, and report generation—can free up valuable time and ensure accuracy. In addition, its scalable services and potential add-ons like catch-up bookkeeping cater to businesses at various stages of growth. Ultimately, the decision to use Brainy Advisors depends on your specific needs and the complexity of your business.
