Startup accounting
Accounting for venture-backed startups.
AG Accounting is a boutique firm built for funded founders. We run your bookkeeping, payroll, reporting, and fractional CFO on one team, so your financials are investor-ready and closed by the 5th, every month. Based in San Francisco, serving startups nationwide.
What accounting for venture-backed startups actually involves
A funded startup has financial needs a general small-business bookkeeper is not built for. You have investors who expect monthly reporting, a cap table that has to stay reconciled, equity events that carry real tax consequences, and a burn rate that decides how long you have to hit your next milestone. Accounting for venture-backed startups is the discipline of handling all of that correctly and on a predictable cadence: the day-to-day books, the payroll, the investor-facing reporting, the tax groundwork, and the strategic finance that kicks in around a raise.
We built AG Accounting specifically for this. One team keeps your books current, runs payroll, produces the reporting your board expects, coordinates the tax data your CPA needs, and steps up to fractional CFO work when the stakes rise, all from financials closed by the fifth business day of each month.
What we handle
The full finance stack a venture-backed startup runs on, from first books through diligence. See how it works →
Bookkeeping & monthly close
QuickBooks setup, categorization, reconciliations, and books closed by the 5th every month, so your financials are always current and investor-ready.
Investor-ready reporting
GAAP-based financial statements, burn and runway, and the reporting package your board and investors expect at every stage.
Payroll & benefits
Payroll, contractor payments, and benefits administered from day one, with the tax filings that come with them handled across states.
Tax coordination
We keep the books and data your CPA needs for the annual return clean and organized, and flag the credits and elections worth a conversation (QSBS, R&D, 83(b)).
Fractional CFO
Operating models, fundraise and board prep, and scenario planning when the stakes get high, working from books our team keeps clean.
Multi-jurisdiction compliance
Delaware franchise tax, state payroll registrations, sales tax nexus, and local obligations, tracked so nothing surfaces as a surprise in diligence.
Who it's for
We work with venture-backed and angel-backed founders from pre-seed through Series C, concentrated in software, AI, and healthcare. Typically that means a Delaware C-corp that has raised on SAFEs or a priced round, is running payroll, and needs its financials to hold up in front of investors. If you have institutional capital on the cap table (or are about to), you are who this is built for.
Who it's not for: pre-incorporation founders who do not yet have an entity or any transactions to account for; solo consultants and lifestyle businesses that are not on a venture track; and large, complex organizations that need a full in-house finance department rather than an outsourced team. If you are one of those, we will say so on the call and point you somewhere better.
How it works
Onboarding starts with a review of your current books, your stage, and what you need handled. We get your accounting onto a clean monthly close, connect payroll and your bank and card feeds, and set the reporting cadence your board expects. From there it runs monthly: we close the books, deliver the reporting, and flag anything that needs a decision. The full walkthrough is on our how it works page.
What does startup accounting cost?
Transparent, headcount-based tiers. Every plan includes a dedicated bookkeeper and a monthly close. Full detail on plans & pricing.
Silver, $500/mo
For teams of 1 to 10. The core back office: QuickBooks, AR/AP, payroll, and quarterly reporting.
Gold, $1,500/mo
For teams of 11 to 25. Adds cash management, monthly audits, tax consultation, budgeting, a 13-week cash flow forecast, revenue recognition, and monthly reporting.
Platinum, custom
For teams of 25+. Layers on fractional CFO, board and fundraise support, and bespoke reporting.
How we compare to the alternatives
The honest tradeoffs against the other ways founders handle this.
A solo or generalist bookkeeper
Keeps the books but rarely knows startup-specific issues: SAFEs, priced rounds, QSBS, R&D credits, deferred revenue, or what an investor actually wants to see.
A full-time in-house hire
A controller runs well into six figures fully loaded, and a full-time CFO far more, before you have the volume to justify either.
DIY in spreadsheets or QuickBooks
Works until a raise, an audit, or diligence, at which point untangling a year of self-kept books costs more time and money than doing it right from the start.
AG Accounting
One boutique team covering the full stack, bookkeeping through fractional CFO, that has done this for 1,500+ venture-backed startups and closes your books by the 5th.
Why venture-backed founders trust us
AG Accounting has closed the books for more than 1,500 angel and venture-backed companies and manages over $2B in client funding. The firm is led by founder Anelya Grant, who has spent over a decade keeping the books for early-stage technology and healthcare companies. We are not a volume outsourcer: it is boutique service, the same at every tier, with a dedicated bookkeeper who knows your business.
"I've trusted AG Accounting with the books at every company I've built since 2011. They know how I think, not just what I spend, so our financials are always investor-ready and diligence is never a fire drill. That kind of continuity across three companies is worth more than I can overstate."
Oliver Cameron, Co-Founder & CEO, Odyssey (Series B, $1.45B valuation)
More in our case studies.
Written and reviewed by Anelya Grant, Founder & CEO of AG Accounting
A decade-plus keeping the books for early-stage technology and healthcare startups, across 1,500+ venture-backed companies and $2B+ in client funding. Also co-founder of Loopfour.ai.
Where we work
We work with venture-backed founders across the United States, with our office in San Francisco's Financial District. If you want the local angle, see our San Francisco startup accountant page.
AG Accounting353 Sacramento Street, Suite 1900
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 935-0378
contact@anelya.net
Get started
Talk to a startup accountant
A 30-minute call to walk through your books, your stage, and what you need handled.
Related reading
Deeper on the topics that come up most for funded founders.
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Startup accounting FAQ
Straight answers on scope, timing, and cost.
What does accounting for venture-backed startups involve?
Accounting for venture-backed startups is the full financial back office a funded company needs: bookkeeping and a monthly close, payroll and benefits, GAAP-based investor reporting, burn and runway tracking, tax data preparation and coordination with your CPA, and Delaware and multi-state compliance. As you scale it extends into fractional CFO work: financial models, board and fundraise prep, and revenue recognition. The goal is financials an investor trusts, produced on a reliable monthly cadence.
When should a venture-backed startup outsource its accounting?
Most founders outsource at or just after their first priced round, when clean books stop being optional and investors expect monthly reporting. Doing it earlier is cheaper than fixing it later: reconstructing a year of self-kept books before diligence costs far more than keeping them right from the start. If you have raised, or are about to, that is the moment.
How much does startup accounting cost?
Our plans start at $500/month for Silver (teams of 1 to 10), $1,500/month for Gold (teams of 11 to 25), and custom pricing for Platinum (teams of 25+, including fractional CFO). Every tier includes a dedicated bookkeeper and a monthly close. That is a fraction of a full-time hire, which runs well into six figures before benefits.
Do you work with startups outside San Francisco?
Yes. We are based in San Francisco but work with venture-backed founders across the United States. Everything runs on cloud accounting and secure document sharing, so your location does not change how we work with you.
What accounting do investors expect from a startup?
Investors expect a clean cap table, GAAP-based financial statements, and a defensible burn and runway figure, with books that reconcile without surprises in diligence. Getting these right on a monthly cadence, rather than scrambling before a raise, is exactly what a startup accounting firm is for.
Can you handle our books if they are behind or messy?
Yes. Catch-up and cleanup work is common, especially before a raise. We reconstruct and reconcile prior periods, fix the chart of accounts, and get you onto a clean monthly close, so the CFO-level work sits on a foundation you can trust.
Last reviewed: August 2026