about the firm · burlington, iowa

straight columns, kept honestly.a Burlington bookkeeping practice run to a fixed calendar.

Willow Ledger is a small, deliberate firm on Mount Pleasant Street. We do one thing with discipline — keep the books and run the payroll for Burlington's small businesses and solo practitioners — and we do it the same, careful way every month.

An open ledger and brass adding machine on an oak desk under a banker's lamp on mount pleasant st

the story

a practice built around the close.

Willow Ledger opened its door on Mount Pleasant Street to answer a complaint we heard from Burlington owners again and again: the books were a black box. Statements arrived late, entries went unexplained, and the bill was never the number they expected. Larger firms kept their most methodical work for their largest clients.

We built the practice the other way around. Every client gets the same disciplined monthly close — a fixed checklist, reconciliations to the penny, and a reviewed set of books within five business days of month-end. Payroll runs and filings are held to the statutory calendar, not to whenever the queue clears.

And every engagement is priced before it begins. You agree a scope — your transaction volume, your accounts, your payroll headcount — and a fixed monthly figure. No metered hours, no invoice you can't predict. The file and the logins stay in your name; if you ever leave, you take a clean, closed set of books with you.

a set of books should answer any question the day it is asked — not the week after.
— the standard we hold every engagement to

how we work

four principles we don't bend.

These aren't values on a wall — they're the terms written into how the firm runs day to day.

fixed fee
01

a figure, agreed first.

One fixed monthly fee for a written scope. If the scope grows, we re-quote in writing before the work starts. You never open an invoice that surprises you.

02

reconciled to the penny.

Double-entry, always. Every bank and card account is tied out at month-end and checkpointed each Friday — no plug entries, no rounding, no “close enough.”

on the calendar
03

filed to the deadline.

Payroll deposits, quarterly returns, sales tax, W-2s and 1099s are all held to the statutory calendar. The filing schedule runs the work — not the other way around.

04

the file is yours.

We work inside your QuickBooks Online or Xero subscription, under your logins. Nothing is locked in a system you can't open, and nothing leaves with us.

the monthly close

what one month looks like.

The same rhythm runs behind every engagement — from a standing Friday checkpoint to a reviewed set of books in your hands within five business days.

The Willow Ledger close cadence — the same steps, in the same order, every month.
whenwhat happens on your books
Every Fri

weekly reconciliation checkpoint

Bank and card feeds are matched and coded while the details are fresh, so nothing piles up for the month-end scramble.

Day 1

month-end cutoff & requests

The prior month is closed to new entries. We flag any missing statements, receipts, or approvals and send you one short request list.

Day 2–3

full reconciliation & adjustments

Every account is reconciled to the penny, accruals and corrections are posted, and the trial balance is tied out against source documents.

By Day 5

reviewed books & statements delivered

A second review, then a closed set of books — profit & loss, balance sheet, and any cash-flow reporting in your engagement — sent to you.

Payday

payroll run & filings

You approve the run; we calculate, remit the federal and Iowa deposits, and keep the year-end W-2 and 1099 obligations on schedule behind it.

A bookkeeper reviewing a printed trial balance at a tidy office desk one named bookkeeper

who keeps your books

one desk, one file, one set of eyes.

When you engage Willow Ledger, one bookkeeper is assigned to your file and stays with it — through onboarding, the monthly close, and every payroll run. You aren't handed off around a rotating pool, and you never re-explain your business to a new voice.

That continuity is the whole point of a small practice. The person reconciling your accounts is the person who answers when you call — and they already know why last quarter looked the way it did.

  • Books kept in QuickBooks Online & Xero, under your ownership
  • Full-service payroll — calculated, run, remitted, and filed
  • Catch-up bookkeeping for backlogged prior periods, quoted separately
  • Serving Burlington & the greater Des Moines County area

the first step

start with a thirty-minute review.

Bring your current books and payroll and we'll tell you plainly what an engagement would cover and what it would cost — no charge, no obligation, before you commit to anything.

book the introductory call (319) 750-3055
book a call