Family office accounting without a family office
By Chris Greco, Founder and President.
A family with two operating companies, some real estate and a few trusts does not need a family office. It needs one set of books per entity, closed on one calendar, consolidated monthly, with bills paid through a single approval flow. That is an accounting function, and it can be outsourced.
The usual state: four bookkeepers, four methods, intercompany loans nobody documented, K-1s in March because the entity books close in March, and a CPA who is the only person with the whole picture.
Twelve weeks in, a family like that has one monthly package covering every entity, a family balance sheet, bill pay with written approvals, and a quarterly meeting with numbers that non-accountants can read.

Chris Greco
Founder and President, CFO Anywhere. CFO for owner-led companies since 2002. Executive MBA, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois.
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