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Botkeeper’s Rapid Write-Up service provides your firm with a secure location for your clients to automatically pull from or manually upload financial statements to the platform. We offer both a quarterly (QRWU), and annual (ARWU) option.
Botkeeper analyzes and codes the client’s financial institution statements producing a Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statement, Trial Balance, Retained Earnings Report, and potentially an uncategorized Transaction Report.
Who is Rapid Write-Up suited to?
Tax write-up clients who need financial statements as a prerequisite for completing a business tax return.
Please note, this service is for business accounts and Schedule C Sole Proprietor clients only. It does not include generating financials for personal accounts for the output of a personal tax return.
The Annual Rapid Write-Up package includes:
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Invite Botkeeper into firm owned QBO/Xero subscription*
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Cash Basis accounting
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A QBB Fresh Start Conversion Conversion‡ (excluding QBW files)
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Unlimited Bank & Credit Card Account Reconciliations
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Trial Balance
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Balance Sheet
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Profit & Loss Statement
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Retained Earnings Report
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Uncategorized Transaction Report
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Book Review For Discrepancies
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Botkeeper & Xero Quick Reference Guide
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Does not auto renew — in order for Botkeeper to complete a subsequent year's annual Rapid Write-up, follow the steps in this walk through.
The Annual Rapid Write-Up package does not include:
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Xero Hands-on Training
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General Ledger access for your clients
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Matching
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Journal Entries
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Class & Department Tracking
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3rd Party Data
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Payroll Journal
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Collaborative Botkeeper Team Approach
Your firm will receive a request to upload your client’s previous full year bank and credit card statements to their respective client bank statement folder(s) in the Botkeeper platform. Botkeeper will only accept PDF or CSV files that are not marked up. If you are unable to submit unmarked up PDF or CSV files for a particular client, please seek approval before attempting to onboard this client to the Botkeeper platform. Failing to adhere to this guideline will cause a delay in the completion of your client’s ARWU.
Once Botkeeper has completed the ARWU, your firm’s point of contact will receive a [Client Name] - [Annual RWU Update - Project Completion] task in the Botkeeper platform alerting them that their client files are complete and ready for their review. These files will include the following:
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Trial Balance - CSV format
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Balance Sheet - CSV format
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Profit & Loss Statement - CSV format
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Retained Earnings - CSV format
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Uncategorized Transaction Report - CSV format
When your firm has received a copy of the finalized trial balance in CSV format, you can upload it to whichever tax software you are using to manage your clients’ tax return.
* Botkeeper’s ARWU includes a 12 month Xero general ledger subscription. Your firm will be granted access to the Xero general ledger to allow your firm resources to post any year-end adjustments, categorize any uncategorized transactions** or run additional reports. Your client will not have access to this general ledger. If you choose to transition the client to Botkeeper’s Monthly Bookkeeping package, Botkeeper can transition the Xero subscription over to your firm to manage. If your client is already on an existing QBO or Xero GL you may allow Botkeeper access to manage your clients’ books on a quarterly basis.
** Uncategorized Transactions include, but are not limited to: illegible check details, or no historical record or consistency of transactions for Botkeeper to reference for categorization purposes
‡This includes vendors, customers and beginning balances based on prior year ending balances. It does not include transactional details.
The Quarterly Rapid Write-Up package includes:
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Invite Botkeeper into firm-owned QBO/Xero subscription
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Cash Basis accounting
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QBB Fresh Start Conversion (excluding QBW files)
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GL access for your clients (firm-owned GL only)
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Unlimited Bank & Credit Card Account Reconciliations
-
Trial Balance
-
Balance Sheet
-
Profit & Loss Statement
-
Retained Earnings Report
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Uncategorized Transaction Report
-
Book Review For Discrepancies
- Botkeeper & Xero Quick Reference Guide
The Quarterly Rapid Write-Up package does not include:
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Xero Hands-on Training
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Class & Department Tracking
- Journal Entries
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3rd Party Data
- Payroll Journal
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Collaborative Botkeeper Team Approach
Your firm will receive a request to upload your client’s quarterly bank and credit card statements to their respective client financial institution folder(s) in the Botkeeper platform. Botkeeper will only accept PDF or CSV files that are not marked up. If you are unable to submit unmarked-up PDF or CSV files for a particular client, then please seek approval before attempting to onboard this client to the Botkeeper platform. Failing to adhere to this guideline will cause a delay in the completion of your client’s QRWU.
Once Botkeeper has completed the QRWU, your firm’s point of contact will receive a [Client Name] - [Quarterly RWU Update - Project Completion] task in the Botkeeper platform alerting them their client files are complete and ready for their review. These files will include the following:
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Trial Balance - CSV format
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Balance Sheet - CSV format
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Profit & Loss Statement - CSV format
-
Retained Earnings - CSV format
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Uncategorized Transaction Report - CSV format
When your firm has received a copy of the finalized trial balance in CSV format, you can upload it to whichever tax software you are using to manage your clients’ tax return.
* Botkeeper’s QRWU includes a Xero general ledger subscription. Your firm will be granted access to the Xero general ledger to allow your firm resources to post any year-end adjustments, categorize any uncategorized transactions** or run additional reports. Your client will not have access to this general ledger. If you choose to transition the client to Botkeeper’s Monthly Bookkeeping package, Botkeeper can transition the Xero subscription over to your firm to manage. If your client is already on an existing QBO or Xero GL you may allow Botkeeper access to manage your clients’ books on a quarterly basis.
** Example Uncategorized Transactions include, but are not limited to: illegible check details or no historical record or consistency of transactions for Botkeeper to reference
Rapid Write-Up Deployment Process
Rapid-Write-Up Turnaround Times
Turnaround times for RWU vary depending on whether the package is Annual or Quarterly, the number of bank accounts, and whether your client requires a QBB migration. Please refer to the following table for more information.
Annual Rapid Write-Up
Note:
- Turnaround times based on receipt & approval of all required documentation for the tax year. The partner must complete the bank statement task assigned in the Botkeeper platform to properly notify the Botkeeper Accounting team once all information is submitted.
- One additional day will be added to the Total Turnaround Time for clients with 200+ plus checks annually.
- Firms presenting photocopies/scanned images can be reviewed for exception approval, but may delay the Total Turnaround Time - time will be provided after review & approval has been completed.
Quarterly Rapid Write-Up
First Month Quarterly Rapid write-up Turnaround Time
On-going Quarterly Rapid Write-up Turnaround Time
Note:
- Turnaround times based on receipt & approval of all required documentation for the quarter. The partner must complete the bank statement task assigned in the Botkeeper platform to properly notify the Botkeeper Accounting team once all information is submitted.
- One additional day will be added to the Total Turnaround Time for clients with 50+ plus checks a quarter.
- Firms presenting photocopies/scanned images can be reviewed for exception approval, but may delay the Total Turnaround Time - time will be provided after review & approval has been completed.
FAQs
Jump to a question:
- How long will the firm have access to the Rapid Write-Up general ledger?
- How do I know when my quarterly Rapid Write-Up client has a quarter completed, and a subsequent quarter is in-progress?
- Does the Rapid Write-Up service offering include our clients’ personal books?
- Is Xero training included in the Rapid Write-Up service offering?
- How will the initial balances for my client accounts be set up to ensure the production of accurate financials?
- What happens if I already have a client on a general ledger system with existing data; are they eligible for either of the Rapid Write-Up service offerings?
- If my client has loans, will you split the interest & principle and then reconcile back to the loan statement / amortization table?
- If my client hand-writes checks, and the check images are not included on the bank statement, may we provide you with the check images and or remittance details to complete the Rapid Write-Up service?
- Will you perform matching in the Rapid Write-Up service?
- What happens if I only have access to photocopies or scanned images of my client’s bank and credit card statements?
- Why am I receiving an uncategorized transaction report, but not receiving details as to why the transactions on the report were not categorized?
How long will the firm have access to the Rapid Write-Up general ledger?
Both Annual Rapid Write-Up and Quarterly Rapid Write-Up include a 12 month subscription to Xero. Alternatively, the firm can choose to invite us into a firm-owned QBO/Xero subscription.
How do I know when my quarterly Rapid Write-Up client has a quarter completed, and a subsequent quarter is in-progress?
You can see the status of any client you have access to from Client & User Management. Select the Clients tab within Client & User Management, and review the Status column for the client in question.
When your accountant completes a quarter end close for a quarterly rapid write-up client the Status will display: RWU Completed. Within 48 hours of your firm providing all the statements for the subsequent quarter your accountant will update the Status for this rapid write-up client to display: In-Progress.
Does the Rapid Write-Up service offering include our clients’ personal books?
No, the Rapid Write-up service offering is for business accounts and Schedule C Sole Proprietor clients only. This service does not include generating financials for personal accounts for the output of a personal tax return.
Is Xero training included in the Rapid Write-Up service offering?
Hands-on training of the Xero system is not included with the Rapid Write-Up offering.
Once contracted for a Rapid Write-Up, we will provide your firm with a Botkeeper & Xero Quick Reference Guide for RWU* to help provide your team with a basic understanding of Xero. This includes areas such as, but not limited to:
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Navigation
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How to re-code transactions
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Find and match transactions
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Where to go for official Xero training
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How to become Xero certified
* The Botkeeper & Xero Quick Reference Guide for RWU will be provided if/and when your firm has contracted Botkeeper for a Xero RWU service offering.
How will the initial balances for my client accounts be set up to ensure the production of accurate financials?
Initial balances are pulled directly from the statements provided. For example, if we receive statements for January through December, then the January balance will be the beginning balance for Rapid Write-Up purposes. The initial month’s statement is our source of truth.
If there is a discrepancy in the beginning balance, the firm should make an adjusting entry to account for the variance. For example, if we are contracted to provide an Annual Rapid Write-Up where the opening balances from the bank statement have not accounted for outstanding checks, then the firm should make an adjustment to ensure they are included in the beginning balance.
What happens if I already have a client on a general ledger system with existing data; are they eligible for either of the Rapid Write-Up service offerings?
- Annual Rapid Write-Up includes a Xero subscription that will be owned by us and therefore the firm will not need to provide a general ledger system for this client. If the firm opts to invite Botkeeper into an existing QBO or Xero GL - We will overwrite all existing data in the period we are contracted to service. If the firm requires us to work with the existing data in the GL, then this client will not qualify for the QRWU service. They would instead be eligible for our ongoing Monthly bookkeeping service, which they can then contract for clean-up services.
- Quarterly Rapid Write-Up (QRWU) clients on a QBO or Xero GL owned by the firm - We will overwrite all existing data in the period we are contracted to service. If the firm requires us to work with the existing data in the GL, then this client will not qualify for the QRWU service. They would instead be eligible for our ongoing Monthly bookkeeping service, which they can then contract for clean-up services.
If my client has loans, will you split the interest & principle and then reconcile back to the loan statement / amortization table?
If my client hand-writes checks, and the check images are not included on the bank statement, may we provide you with the check images and or remittance details to complete the Rapid Write-Up service?
Yes, we will accept check images or remittance details to complete the Rapid Write-Up service. Note, these need to be supplied to us in the Deployment phase (i.e.,before the service begins). If they are not supplied during that time, then we will mark unidentifiable transactions as uncategorized and they will be surfaced to you via the uncategorized transaction report upon our completion of the Rapid Write-Up service.
For clients with handwritten checks we will follow this process:
- If the firm provides bank statements or legible check remittance details, We will categorize these transactions with respect to the details provided.
- If we receive illegible details regarding handwritten checks, these transactions will be categorized to the uncategorized account and the firm will receive a copy of the Uncategorized Transaction Report as part of the RWU output documents.
Will you perform matching in the Rapid Write-Up service?
Matching is not included in the scope of service for either the Annual Rapid Write-Up or the Quarterly Rapid Write-Up service offerings. Matching is offered in our monthly bookkeeping service.
What happens if I only have access to photocopies or scanned images of my client’s bank and credit card statements?
Firms that only have access to an entity's photocopies/scanned financial institution statements should speak with us in advance of scoping to be considered for approval via exception.
Why am I receiving an uncategorized transaction report, but not receiving details as to why the transactions on the report were not categorized?
Our Rapid Write-Up service is a limited service. Therefore it may not include some of the services you have become accustomed to with our monthly bookkeeping service. For example, the Collaborative Team Approach is not included in the Annual Rapid Write-Up or the Quarterly Rapid Write-Up service offering.
In lieu of this approach, we provide (where applicable) an Uncategorized Transaction Report. If your client has received this report as part of the output documents, it could be due to one or more of the following reasons:
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Illegible check details
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No historical record or consistency of transactions for Botkeeper to reference
Any adjustments required for the transactions listed in the Uncategorized Transaction Report will be the firm’s responsibility to action.