Better questions.
Better accounting.

Hear how an accounting engagement works, practice what to ask, and take a tool into your next meeting.

Start with the interview ↘ Read Wise Rules to Account By

Hear it in practice.

A short conversation about what an outside accounting firm should deliver every month.

What should arrive after month-end?

Listen to a browser-narrated example or read the transcript. The speakers are fictional.

Read transcript

Host Two firms both promise monthly reporting. What should I ask to tell them apart?

Guest Start with the date. Ask when the package arrives and what your team must send before the firm can close the month.

Host What should be in that package?

Guest Ask for a sample with sensitive details removed. Look for a profit and loss statement, a balance sheet, and a short explanation of the biggest changes. Find out who will walk you through it.

Host How do I put that into the agreement?

Guest Write down the deliverables, the due date, who owns each input, and when you will meet to review the results. If the close slips, agree who will tell you and when.

Practice what you heard ↘

Put it in writing.

Turn a vague promise into a commitment you can ask a firm to include in its proposal.

Write a reporting commitment

Step 1 of 3

What a useful package includes

A reporting package is useful when you know what it includes, when it arrives, and who will answer your questions.

Deliverable Financial statements with explanations of major changes.
Timing A date tied to the close and a deadline for your inputs.
Review A named person and time to discuss the results.

This demo records sample completion in this session. It carries no CPA continuing education credit.

Take it to the meeting.

Use the free checklist to ask better questions. Preview how a paid set of tools could extend the same lesson.

Browse free resources

Monthly reporting checklist

Prompts for defining deliverables, deadlines, review calls, and what happens if the close slips.

Download checklist ↓

Accounting engagement toolkit

See how a proposal comparison, onboarding agenda, and monthly check-in sheet could be bundled. Example price: $29.

Five things to get right.

Audit readiness: Organize evidence before the requests arrive.
Month-end close: Set a repeatable close schedule with clear owners.
Management reporting: Try the sample learning path ↗
Process and internal controls: Document who approves, reviews, and reconciles.
Accounting policy documentation: Turn recurring decisions into guidance a team can use.

Wise Rules to Account By

From the desk of Mia Spencer

“From ten-key to AI, using the most robust standards and tools to deliver financial transparency.”

Mia Spencer

Audit readiness

“Every number should have a trail someone else can follow.”
Leave a trailMia Spencer
“Integrity means giving the difficult numbers the same care as the easy ones.”
Give every number equal careMia Spencer

Month-end close

“Accuracy is built one reconciliation at a time.”
Reconcile one account at a timeMia Spencer
“A clean close starts with naming what’s still open.”
Name what’s still openMia Spencer

Management reporting

“Show the numbers. Explain what moved. Say what you still need to find out.”
Show your work and your uncertaintiesMia Spencer
“The most useful report tells you what changed and why it matters.”
Explain what changedMia Spencer

Process and internal controls

“Good controls make it easy to do the right thing twice.”
Make good controls repeatableMia Spencer
“Trust grows when the person who approves can see what the person who prepared saw.”
Give reviewers the full pictureMia Spencer

Accounting policy documentation

“Write the rule clearly enough that two people reach the same answer.”
Write rules people can applyMia Spencer
“From the ledger to the model, every assumption deserves a place on the record.”
Put assumptions on the recordMia Spencer

Better questions.Better accounting.