Fondo Core Workflow A: Monthly Bookkeeping
Overview
The primary Fondo workflow: automated monthly bookkeeping close. Fondo's CPA team handles reconciliation, categorization, and financial statement preparation. Your role is to answer questions and review deliverables.
Prerequisites
- A designated finance owner, close calendar, approved source systems, access controls, and professional-review responsibility.
- Documented retention and correction process; use synthetic data for automation tests.
Instructions
- Confirm source completeness and reconciliation state before treating a close as ready for review.
- Respond to questions through the authorized finance workflow, preserving supporting evidence in approved systems.
- Review statements and exceptions with the responsible professional; correct discrepancies using the documented process.
- Publish only approved, access-controlled reports and record the review state.
Output
Create a close receipt with period, source-completeness result, reviewer, open exceptions, report approval state, and next action. Do not include ledger rows, accounts, payroll, tax data, or credentials.
Examples
Use a fictional month-end ledger summary to test the review workflow, create one deliberate reconciliation exception, and verify the close remains pending until the finance reviewer resolves it.
Monthly Close Timeline
| Day | Activity | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | Bank and payroll data syncs | Automated |
| 5-10 | Transaction categorization and reconciliation | Fondo CPA team |
| 10-15 | Review questions sent to you | Fondo CPA team |
| 15-20 | You answer categorization questions | You |
| 20-25 | Financial statements prepared | Fondo CPA team |
| 25-30 | Reports delivered to dashboard | Automated |
Deliverables
Financial Statements (Monthly)
| Report | Contents | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Income Statement (P&L) | Revenue, COGS, operating expenses, net income | Board meetings, fundraising |
| Balance Sheet | Assets, liabilities, equity | Financial health snapshot |
| Cash Flow Statement | Operating, investing, financing activities | Burn rate analysis |
| General Ledger | All transactions with GL codes | Audit trail |
| Accounts Payable Aging | Outstanding vendor bills | Cash management |
Key Metrics (Auto-Calculated)
Dashboard > Financial Overview
Monthly Burn Rate: $85,000
Runway (months): 14.2
MRR: $12,500
Gross Margin: 72%
R&D Spend: $62,000 (73% of opex)
Headcount Cost: $58,000
Answering Fondo Questions
Dashboard > Messages > Open Items
Common questions:
Q: "What is the $2,500 payment to Acme Corp?"
A: "Software license for our dev tooling" → Category: Software/R&D
Q: "Is the $15,000 transfer to savings an investment?"
A: "No, just parking cash" → Category: Transfer (non-taxable)
Q: "Should contractor payments to John Doe be R&D?"
A: "Yes, he writes code for our product" → R&D qualified
Error Handling
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Late close (past 25th) | Prioritize answering open questions |
| Unexpected expense spike | Review Dashboard > Transactions for anomalies |
| Revenue not matching Stripe | Check Stripe connection in Integrations |
| Missing payroll entry | Verify payroll provider sync status |
Resources
- Fondo Dashboard
- Understanding Financial Statements
Next Steps
For R&D tax credit workflow, see fondo-core-workflow-b.