Startup Accounting — NYC
What We Handle
- GAAP-Compliant Bookkeeping — Revenue recognition, deferred revenue, capitalized development costs, stock-based compensation expense — the accounting standards that investors and auditors expect, set up correctly from the start.
- Cap Table Management — Tracking equity ownership across founders and investors through SAFEs, convertible notes, and priced rounds. We keep your cap table accurate so you’re not scrambling to reconcile it before your next raise.
- 409A Valuations — You need a current 409A valuation before you issue stock options. We coordinate the valuation process and make sure your strike price is defensible if the IRS ever asks. Stale 409A reports create real problems for employees and founders alike.
- R&D Tax Credit — Startups spending money on software development, product engineering, or scientific research can claim the federal R&D credit. If you have under $5 million in gross receipts, you can apply it against payroll taxes — which matters when you don’t have taxable income yet.
- Investor Reporting — Monthly or quarterly financial packages with burn rate, runway, revenue metrics, and variance analysis. What your board and investors actually want to see, formatted the way they want to see it.
- Burn Rate & Runway Tracking — Real-time visibility into how fast you’re spending and how long your current cash lasts. We flag when runway drops below the threshold where you should be fundraising.
Startup Finance in New York City
NYC’s startup ecosystem is second only to the Bay Area, but the cost structure is different. Office space and the city’s own tax obligations (the Unincorporated Business Tax hits LLCs and partnerships at 4%) all eat into runway faster than founders expect. Getting the financial infrastructure right from day one saves time and headaches when you go to raise your Series A.
One thing we see constantly: founders who treat their books as an afterthought until an investor asks for audited or reviewed financials, and then spend weeks and thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess. The other common mistake is ignoring the R&D credit because “we don’t have any revenue yet.” That’s exactly when the payroll tax offset version of the credit is most valuable — it reduces the FICA taxes you’re already paying on your team’s salaries, putting real cash back in the business.