Wave
Wave Accounting Support and Transition Planning
Wave does what a brand-new business needs: record income and expenses without a monthly subscription decision on day one.
We are not going to pretend it is a growth platform. Most of our Wave work is either keeping a genuinely small business tidy, or planning a clean exit to a fuller system once the business has outgrown it.
Good fit
When Wave is the right choice
- The business is new and transaction volume is genuinely low
- There is no payroll, no debt and no inventory
- Nobody outside the business is reading your financial statements yet
Honest limits
When it is the wrong choice
- You are applying for financing
- You have employees or contractors at any scale
- You need reliable prior-period comparatives
- An investor, auditor or serious tax position depends on the records
What goes wrong
How Wave files usually break
These are the patterns we find most often, not hypotheticals. Each one is fixable, and each one distorts reporting until it is fixed.
Records that cannot survive scrutiny
The audit trail is thin. When a lender or tax authority asks how a number was produced, the answer needs to be reconstructable, and often it is not.
Growth outrunning the tool quietly
There is no alert when a business outgrows its accounting system. The signal is usually a missed deadline, a declined loan, or a tax bill nobody saw coming.
Migration attempted without a cut-off
Exports moved mid-year, with no reconciled closing balances, produce a new system that cannot be tied back to anything.
Reference
What the work looks like
- 01
Close the old file
Reconcile and close the final period before anything moves.
- 02
Set the cutover date
A period end, never mid-month. Both systems agree on one date.
- 03
Rebuild the structure
Chart of accounts, items, classes and tracking rebuilt deliberately.
- 04
Move balances
Opening trial balance, open invoices and open bills entered and agreed.
- 05
Prove it tied out
New-system trial balance reconciled to the old one, line by line.
- 06
Run parallel once
One month closed in the new system before the old file is retired.
What we do
Our work inside Wave
01
Stabilize what exists
Reconcile what can be reconciled, document what cannot, and give you an honest statement of what the records currently support.
02
Reconstruct where needed
Catch-up work from bank statements and source records to build a period that stands on its own.
03
Plan a real cutover
A period-end cut-off, reconciled closing balances, and a new-system opening trial balance that agrees to the old one.
04
Set up the new system properly
Chart of accounts, coding standard and close routine built deliberately, so the next system does not repeat the last one.
Deliverables
What you receive
- An honest assessment of what the current records support
- Reconciled or reconstructed closing balances at a chosen cut-off date
- A new-system opening trial balance agreed to the old one
- Chart of accounts and coding standard for the new system
- One parallel month closed before the old system is retired
Independence
We hold no partnership, reseller agreement or referral arrangement with any software vendor. Our recommendation on whether to stay or move carries no commission either way.
FAQ
Wave questions we get asked
Related
Where clients usually go next
Cleanup
Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services
Catch-up bookkeeping for small businesses that are months or years behind. We rebuild the record, reconcile every account, and get you current.
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping Services for Small Businesses
Online bookkeeping services for U.S. small businesses. Accurate coding, monthly reconciliations, and books that stay current instead of falling behind.
Comparing platforms? FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Zoho Books.
Product names are the trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the accounting work we perform in each system. Small Business Accounting USA is independent and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or certified by any software vendor named on this site.
Next step
Get a straight assessment of your Wave file
Send over what you run and what is going wrong. We will tell you what is fixable, what it takes, and whether changing systems is even necessary.