Accrual Bookkeeping for Payments Startups
Investor-grade books for companies processing payments, running transactions, and billing usage. Payments matched, accounts reconciled, and books closed by the 5th–10th business day, every month.
Financials that inform strategic decisions
Accurate to nearest $0.01
- Card fees, subscriptions, and usage revenue recognized correctly
- Stripe Connect, clearing, and merchant accounts reconciled
- ASC 606-compliant across contract and usage revenue
Always updated
- Billing, payroll, and spend tools integrated into your books
- Connected with your data warehouse for real-time analysis
- Live view of payments & revenue — not a monthly snapshot
Delivered by 10th
- Delivered by the 5th–10th business day, every month
- Standardized close checklist — consistent and auditable
- Documented process built for scale
From messy books to numbers you can trust — in 30 days
Every engagement starts with a cleanup. Then we own the process — reconciling weekly, closing monthly, delivering on time.
We rebuild your books to accrual standards, fix revenue recognition, and restructure your chart of accounts. Your accounting system gets connected to Stripe and the rest of your stack.
Deliverables
- Books converted to accrual basis
- Revenue recognition corrected across all streams
- Payments-specific chart of accounts configured
- Stripe and tools integrated into your accounting system
We reconcile bank accounts, cards, and Stripe on a weekly basis. We reach out proactively for business context so nothing surprises us at close.
Deliverables
- Weekly bank, card, and Stripe reconciliation
- Proactive management outreach for business context
- Discrepancies flagged and resolved before month-end
- Clean data ready for the close
A standardized close checklist covers every step. Your complete financial package lands by the 5th–10th business day, every month.
Deliverables
- P&L, Balance sheet, and Cash flow statement
- Month-over-month changes, anomalies flagged
- Gross and net revenue, runway and burn
- ARR waterfall, unit economics, sales efficiency
One-time cleanup from $4,750
Ongoing from $2,750 / month
Fixed pricing based on transaction volume and revenue complexity.
Accrual books — for making informed decisions
Cash books mean decisions based on your bank balance. Accrual shows true revenue, profitability, and cash conversion — so you can grow, spot issues, and fix them.
Integrated with your stack for real-time insights
We connect directly to the tools your business runs on — so your books reflect reality in real time.
Common Questions
Why should a payments company keep books on accrual basis?
Accrual is the only method that accurately reflects how a payments business performs — and the only one investors accept.
- Cash basis hides receivables, distorts revenue timing, and makes Stripe payouts look like revenue
- Annual contracts and subscriptions overstate month-one revenue on cash basis and hide deferred revenue
- Investors, auditors, and acquirers all require GAAP-compliant accrual financials
What makes accounting unique for payments companies?
Payments businesses have revenue and balance sheet complexity that generalist bookkeepers aren't built to handle.
- Card fees, subscription revenue, and usage-based billing each follow different recognition rules
- Stripe settlements, in-transit funds, and reserves need to be reconciled separately from operating cash
- Revenue that shows up in Stripe doesn't always equal revenue you've earned — the difference matters for your P&L
How much does payments bookkeeping cost?
Fixed pricing — no hourly billing, no surprise invoices.
- One-time cleanup: from $4,750 — accrual conversion, chart of accounts, Stripe and tool integration
- Ongoing monthly bookkeeping: from $2,750/month — weekly reconciliation, monthly close, full financial package
- Scoped to transaction volume, number of entities, and revenue complexity on your intro call
What do I receive each month and how long does onboarding take?
Onboarding takes 4–6 weeks. From month 2, your financial package arrives by the 5th–10th business day.
- P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement
- Flux analysis: month-over-month and year-over-year changes, anomalies flagged
- Payments metrics: ARR waterfall, unit economics, gross and net revenue margins
What tools does Bridges integrate with?
We connect directly to your existing stack.
- Accounting: QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Rillet, Campfire
- Billing: Stripe, Adyen, Maxio
- Payroll: Rippling, Gusto, Deel
- Spend: Brex, Ramp, Bill
- Data & BI: Snowflake, Metabase, Tableau
- CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce
and more
Get books your investors can trust
Start with a 15-minute call. We'll review your setup, identify what needs to change, and tell you exactly what onboarding looks like.