Who We Support
Our experienced team of accounting professionals specializes in providing accounting and compliance support for government contractors, professional services firms, and growing businesses across a range of industries.
Accounting Services FIt for your Needs
Whether you’re building a startup, managing a federal contract, or scaling a high-growth team, our CPA-led services are tailored to help you meet your goals and stay on top of your financial requirements.
Government Contractors
- Federal Contracts (all professional services)
- Cybersecurity
- Defense Contracts
- Aerospace
- Civilian Agencies
Professional Services
- Engineering
- Information Technology
- Graphic Design and Web Development
- Architecture
- Interior Design
- Biotechnology
Client Size
- Businesses with 2 – 50 employees
- Businesses with up to $50 million revenue
- Entrepreneurs
- Consultants
- Professionals
- New Businesses & Startups
Onboarding Process
In our effort to provide EXTRAordinary Client Service to extraordinary clients, we make sure that your expectations of our services are discussed, hashed out, agreed upon, and everyone is happy with the decision to make CJA, your CPA firm. This requires a bit of communication and discussion, so here’s our onboarding process:
Step 1
Prospective clients will fill out all required information via the Consult Link.
Step 2
You will receive confirmation and instructions for your FREE 15-minute consultation on your selected date and time; you will also be sent an email from CJA with a list of documents to review prior to the consultation.
Step 3
Consultation is conducted
Step 4
Post consult, if you would like to move forward, you will receive an email requesting specific documents for the services being sought. If the service requires a secondary meeting, we will send a scheduling link and request your documents 2 days prior to the meeting. We take understanding your needs very seriously and that takes time. If documents are not provided 2 days prior, we will reschedule so you have more time to prepare yourself.
Step 5
(Only if a secondary meeting is required for service) During the secondary meeting, we will discuss your needs, your expectations, your critical items, and our concerns relative to our potential working relationship. At the conclusion, we may request additional documents in order to prepare a realistic quote.
Step 6
After receiving all the documentation, we will prepare a quote that covers all the services and outcomes discussed in your consultation/secondary meeting, and the level of service that you expect.
Step 7
We will send a proposal which includes service descriptions, terms, conditions and prices for electronic signature and payment details. We are happy to discuss the quote to ensure we have interpreted your needs correctly and to make sure you are aware of and understand the terms and conditions of the quote. This helps to ensure that neither of us has mismatched expectations in the future.
Step 8
Upon receipt of the executed proposal, we will begin Implementation.
The Client Interaction Program
Cheryl Jefferson & Associates (CJA) takes pride in providing a higher level of service to quarterly recurring clients called the Client Interaction Program (CIP). As a member of the CIP, we communicate with you on a continuous basis.
Upon Acceptance
Once you are accepted as a client, we will send an email, which includes an explanation of scheduling, and a tutorial on portal usage within 24 hours of proposoal acceptance and send an “initial request” for the initial engagement. You will receive a request for documents required for permanent files, contracts and tax files to be sent within one (1) week.
By Project
You will be informed of the scheduled start and estimated completion dates of your projects via email. If 3 days prior to completion day, we determine that the project will not be completed on time (including Technical/Quality Control Review), we will notify you of the delays and inform you of the revised completion date.
Daily
Emails and phone calls will be reciprocated within 24-72 hours depending on your client tier. Document checks will be performed within 48 hours of receiving notification that your data is available, in order to confirm receipt of all requested information.
Monthly
You will receive emailed information, news articles, etc. relevant to your business. We will also email or call you concerning the status of implementing recommendations for improvement (if outstanding).
Quarterly
We will email or call you to discuss status, problems or concerns, and any client recommendations. We will also inquire about new contracts to update Contract Lists and Contract Briefs if you have an incurred cost submission requirement.
Semi-Annually
We will send your fixed asset list in order for you to review for disposals and inventory purposes (Nov & May).
Annually
Once a year, the Principal will schedule a conference call with the company’s owner(s). If you are a new client and did not have a training session, then we will schedule a meeting/call 2 weeks after the initial engagement has been completed. Typically, in August, we will follow up to determine the type of year-end financials that you require based on size, bank requirements, or SBA requirements. We contact our business tax clients for estimated calculations of tax liability at the beginning of the fourth quarter. During December, we will call to discuss year-end requirements, explain the importance of year-end email notifications and identify necessary paperwork to start compilations of financial statements.
How do we measure our client service?
We send out Client Interaction polling questions once a month to all clients. It is important that you respond promptly to the polls in order for us to take corrective action. We will follow-up on missing responses to ensure at least 50% feedback.
Changes in Scope or Reconciliation
When we encounter changes in scope or reconciliation problems – Occasionally, we encounter problems or requests that were not contemplated in the original price for services. While we attempt to explain in our proposal those services that would be considered out of scope, we cannot predict them all. In this case, we will offer you the opportunity to correct if we expect to spend 2 or more hours researching, troubleshooting or attempting to reconcile the problem.
When Delays Occur
Our responsiveness depends heavily on scheduling and being provided with all the information necessary to do what you hired us to do. If we haven’t heard from you after 2 business days, we will reach out to inquire about the status and your estimated date of response. After one week of delays, we will send you a reminder that the project has been removed from the schedule. After a month of no response, our Principal will notify you that the project has been postponed, and all work up to that point will be billed as hourly.
What happens when my Associate goes on vacation?
One way we keep qualified staff is to balance work and personal, so we provide lots of paid time off. However, our Associates are mindful of client needs so if they will be on vacation for longer than 3 days, they will notify you as to the status of open projects at least one week prior. They will also inquire about upcoming priorities that may occur during leave.