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Questions we hear before people book - and honest answers to all of them
No runaround. No corporate non-answers. If you are sitting on a question that is keeping you from reaching out, there is a good chance it is on this page.
About CSG
Q: Do you work with businesses other than law firms?
No. Law firms are the only businesses we serve, and that is intentional. Trust accounting, IOLTA compliance, realization rates, contingency fee structures, legal billing cycles - these are not concepts a generalist accounting firm navigates every day. We do. Limiting our practice to law firms is exactly what makes us useful to law firms. If you are not a law firm, we will tell you that directly and point you somewhere better suited to your situation.
Q: Why do you only focus on attorneys?
Because attorneys have unique financial requirements that most accounting firms do not understand - and the cost of that misunderstanding is not just messy books. It is bar compliance exposure, misdirected trust funds, and financial statements that actively mislead the owner reading them.
Chelsea made the decision to specialize in law firms after watching a brilliant attorney tell her he would "die at his desk" - three decades in, no financial exit, no plan, no way out. That moment crystallized what she was actually building: not a bookkeeping firm, but a firm that helps attorneys build something worth keeping.
That focus has not changed since 2017.
Q: Do you prepare tax returns?
No. This is one of the most important things to be clear about upfront.
We create tax-ready books. That means your financial records are accurate, organized, and delivered to your CPA in a format that makes their job straightforward. We coordinate with your tax professional and can provide whatever report format they prefer. But the tax return itself is theirs, not ours.
Think of it this way: your CPA is the surgeon. We make sure the patient is healthy before they walk in. If you do not have a CPA, we can help you find one. If you have one who is asking for things you cannot produce, that is usually a bookkeeping problem - which is exactly what we fix.
Q: How long has CSG been doing this?
Since August 2017. Eight-plus years specializing exclusively in law firm finances. Chelsea started the firm and has grown it into a team with a structured pod system, documented processes for every client, and a service ladder from foundational bookkeeping all the way to fractional CFO strategy.
Working Together
Q: My books are a mess. I am embarrassed to let anyone see them.
We hear this constantly. And we mean it when we say: the state of your books when you come to us is the starting point, not a verdict.
The attorneys who are most embarrassed about their finances are often the ones who need this most - and who make the best clients. Why? Because they are ready to do something about it. They have hit the point where the discomfort of avoidance is worse than the discomfort of looking.
We have seen books that have not been touched in three years. Trust accounts that have never been formally reconciled. Records where the bookkeeper had been categorizing everything to "miscellaneous" for eighteen months. There is no mess too far gone to fix. There is just a starting point and a plan.
Q: I already have a bookkeeper. Do I have to switch?
Not necessarily. This depends on what you actually need.
If your current bookkeeper is doing good work and you just want strategic CFO-level support on top of that, we can work alongside them. We have done this with many clients.
If your bookkeeper is struggling with law-firm-specific requirements - especially trust accounting, IOLTA reconciliation, or legal billing structures - that is a more significant conversation. Most general bookkeepers were not trained in these areas and do not know what they do not know. We will tell you plainly what we find and what the options are.
The honest version: if your books are accurate, your trust account is compliant, and your financial reports are useful for making decisions, you may not need to change anything. If they are not, that is the conversation to have.
Q: I have had the same in-house bookkeeper for 20 years. Do you replace her?
We are not here to replace someone who is doing good work. If your long-term bookkeeper handles the day-to-day accurately and you want a second layer of financial strategy, oversight, or CFO-level thinking on top of that, we can provide it without disrupting what is already working.
If after working together we find that the current setup has gaps - especially around compliance or law-firm-specific processes - we will have that conversation with you directly. It happens. But our first move is never to push someone out.
Q: How do you handle the transition if I switch from my current bookkeeper?
We document everything. Before, during, and after.
When you come on as a CSG client, we create a backend manual for your firm - a written record of how your books are managed, your chart of accounts structure, your reconciliation process, your recurring workflows. It belongs to you, not us. If you ever move on from CSG, you take it with you and hand it to whoever is next. No institutional knowledge is lost in the transition.
If you are coming from a previous bookkeeper, we start with a review of where things stand, identify what needs to be corrected, and take it from there. We have done hundreds of these transitions.
Q: What software do you use? Do I need to switch?
We work primarily with Xero and integrate it with Clio for law-firm-specific reconciliation. If you are currently using QuickBooks or another platform, the first conversation will include an honest assessment of whether migration makes sense for your situation and what that would involve.
We will not push you to migrate for the sake of it. We will tell you what we use, why we use it, and what the tradeoff is so you can make an informed decision.
Pricing
Q: What does this cost?
The honest answer is: it depends on your firm's size, complexity, and which services you need.
As a general industry benchmark, accounting fees typically run 2%-3% of gross revenue. Whether you land above or below that depends on factors like your billing structure (high-volume versus low-volume cases), whether you want administrative functions like accounts payable and receivable included, and the current state of your books.
We do not believe in obscuring pricing until a sales call. Pricing is discussed transparently on the discovery call.
What we can tell you plainly: we are not the cheapest option. We know that. We are specialized, we are thorough, and our clients tend to stay for years because what we build holds up. If price is the primary driver and you are not yet at a place where the investment makes sense for your firm, we will tell you that and point you toward options that fit where you are right now.
Q: I am not sure my firm can afford this right now.
We hear this, and we take it seriously.
The first thing to do is talk to us. You may be further along than you think, or there may be a specific service that is the right starting point without the full commitment of ongoing monthly bookkeeping.
The second thing to understand: the cost of not having clean financial systems is also real. Incorrect books mean incorrect tax returns. Unreconciled trust accounts mean compliance exposure. Cash flow problems that could be prevented compound into bigger cash flow problems. The investment in financial management tends to pay for itself - but we know it has to make sense first.
If after talking to us it is genuinely not the right time financially, we will tell you honestly and direct you to the resources - free tools, the Profit Ready program, the CFO AI bot - that can help you build the foundation until you are ready.
Services
Q: What is the difference between bookkeeping and CFO services? Do I need both?
Bookkeeping is the foundation. It is accurate, organized, current financial records - what happened, categorized correctly, reconciled, and reported. You need this no matter what.
CFO services are what you build on top of that foundation. It is using your financial data to make forward-looking decisions: forecasting cash flow, analyzing whether a hire is affordable, identifying where profit is leaking, building a cash management system, reviewing KPIs that tell you where the firm is headed. A bookkeeper keeps score. A CFO coaches the game.
Whether you need both depends on where you are. Some firms need the foundation first, full stop. Others are ready for strategic guidance alongside it. The free financial assessment is designed to help clarify exactly this.
Q: What is IOLTA and why does my trust account matter so much?
IOLTA stands for Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts. When a client gives you money before you have earned it - a retainer, a settlement that is not yet disbursed - that money belongs to the client, not the firm, until you earn it. It must be held in a separate trust account and tracked at the individual client level.
Bar associations audit trust accounts. They are one of the leading sources of bar complaints and disciplinary proceedings. A trust accounting error - even an unintentional one - can result in consequences that affect your license.
Most general bookkeepers do not know how to handle trust accounting correctly. They do not know what a 3-way reconciliation is or why it is required. That is why trust accounting is one of the services where law-firm-specific expertise is not optional.
Q: What is the Profit Ready program, and how is it different from the Fractional CFO program?
The Profit Ready program is for law firm owners who are not yet at the stage where full fractional CFO services make sense financially, but who want to understand and build their own financial systems.
It is an 8-week structured program that teaches you to run your firm's finances as the CFO, using Chelsea's framework. You build the systems yourself with her guidance.
The Fractional CFO program is done for you - by the CSG team. You get a strategic financial partnership rather than education and implementation guidance.
The ladder is intentional: Profit Ready builds your foundation, and Fractional CFO services build on it. Some clients do one and grow into the other. Some start directly with CFO services because they are at a stage where delegation makes more sense than learning.
Getting Started
Q: What happens on the first call?
It is a conversation, not a pitch. Someone from our team will ask about your firm - size, revenue range, what is going on with your books, what brought you to us. We listen more than we talk.
If it sounds like a fit, we schedule a follow-up with Chelsea or a senior team member to get into specifics. If we are not the right fit for where you are, we will tell you that and point you toward something that is. You will leave the call knowing more about your situation than when you started - and with a clear sense of what the right next step is, whether that involves CSG or not.
Q: How long does it take to get started?
That depends on which service you are starting with and the current state of your books. A backwork project takes longer to scope and begin than a forward-looking monthly bookkeeping engagement. Trust account cleanup has its own timeline based on how far back the records go.
What we commit to: we will give you a clear timeline on the discovery call. We do not start work without a clear scope, and we do not disappear after onboarding. You will know what to expect at each stage.
Q: What if I have a question that is not on this page?
Ask it shamelessly. That is the whole culture here.
Email Hello@YourCoreSolution.com or book a call and bring whatever you have. There are no questions too basic, too embarrassing, or too "I should already know this." If you are a law firm owner with a financial question, it belongs here.
