How Graphite compares to Burkland on services, pricing, and team model
Graphite and Burkland both serve venture-backed startups—the difference is the model. Burkland Associates places fractional consultants into your workflow, scoped and billed by role. Graphite installs one scalable team that owns your entire back office—accounting, finance, tax, payroll, and HR—for a fixed monthly fee. Below is a full breakdown of services, pricing, and delivery so you can decide which model fits your stage.
A high-level look at how both teams manage your financial operations.
Growth is exciting for early-stage companies—until the finance side begins to slow things down. What starts as a simple bookkeeping setup can turn into a patchwork of spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and specialized providers that don't always work from the same playbook. As complexity rises, founders find themselves spending more time reconciling reports, chasing down answers, and coordinating financial decisions than focusing on the business itself. The challenge isn't only to keep the books clean, but to build a true finance function that links everyday operations with long-term strategy. Scaling companies need a unified financial partner that combines fintech with dedicated human expertise, delivering the clarity, consistency, and support that matters at every stage.
Who is Graphite?
Graphite is designed for companies that have surpassed manual processes and piecemeal financial support. Our experts help startups push the limits of what’s possible by taking ownership of day-to-day financial operations and unifying the finance function into a single system by giving leadership clarity and confidence to scale. We operate as an embedded financial partner running your entire back office, including bookkeeping, AP/AR, advisory-led accounting, year-round tax advisory, payroll, full HR lifecycle and compliance, and forward-looking financial forecasting.
By combining modern fintech with embedded accounting and finance expertise, we help companies run smarter by design—integrating operational expertise, modern systems, and disciplined execution. Rather than viewing financials as backward-looking reporting, we transform historical data into a strategic foundation for board reporting, fundraising, and investment decision-making.
Who is Burkland?
Burkland Associates is a professional services firm focused on fractional CFO strategy, startup accounting, and HR support. Their model relies on placing fractional consultants into your workflow, scoped and billed by role.
It’s designed for venture-backed startups that want executive capacity scoped by role, often around specific milestones. Founders usually go to Burkland for its experienced network of individual contractors, custom-scoped project billing, and strategic boardroom guidance. They’re reliable for helping growing companies bridge internal staffing gaps and manage corporate transitions smoothly. They're a strong fit for companies that want flexible, role-by-role support rather than a single integrated team.
Finding Your Ideal Fit
Match your current reality with the right financial framework.
Burkland Associates
Graphite Financial
Best For
Venture-backed startups looking for modular consulting or fractional executive support.
Venture-backed startups and growth-stage companies seeking an integrated, permanent team to completely own their back-office operations.
Financial solutions tailored to the way your business operates. Integrated GAAP accounting, strategic FP&A, proactive tax advisory, payroll, full-lifecycle HR support, and hands-on finance leadership—delivered as one back-office function.
Extensive FP&A support, including custom financial model ownership, monthly financial review packages, budget variance analysis, rolling reforecasts, and scenario modeling that translates financial data into strategic action.
Tax Support
Corporate tax return prep, R&D tax credit optimization, and management of multi-state tax "nexus" issues from remote teams.
Fully integrated tax function combining year-round compliance, strategic advisory, and R&D tax credit expertise. Senior tax professionals work as an extension of your accounting team to guarantee alignment across financial decisions.
Payroll / HR Support
People Operations managing HR compliance, talent acquisition frameworks, benefits setup, and Gusto/Rippling administration.
End-to-end payroll and HR operations backed by accurate payroll tax compliance, comprehensive employee lifecycle support, state-specific handbook development, and customized technology solutions built to scale.
Modern Capabilities
VC data room construction, due diligence preparation, fundraising term-sheet reviews, and expansion strategy.
Tech-agnostic architecture engineered for integrating across modern software stacks, multi-channel inventory systems, multi-entity (MSO/PC) structures, and advanced SaaS revenue cycles.
Pricing Model
Consulting model based on utilization and role seniority. Typically combines fixed monthly fees for baseline bookkeeping with variable hourly rates or monthly retainers for strategic fractional executive leadership.
Modular, function-based service packages with transparent, fixed-fee pricing and embedded financial modeling as a core deliverable.
Onboarding
Structured transition built around a 30-day operational baseline review followed by a tailored 90-day financial roadmap.
Diagnostic and historical transaction deep dive, followed by a 30–45 day Customer Success–led integration phase covering operations, systems handoff, and historical cleanup.
Ongoing Support
Variable consultant model where hours and strategic involvement move up or down based on your immediate growth milestones.
Embedded boutique experience with an assigned Customer Success owner and ongoing strategic advisory, designed to give leadership greater visibility and support as the business scales.
Choose Graphite if you have:
NEED FOR UNIFIED BACK-OFFICE OPERATIONS You want your accounting, finance, tax, payroll, and HR functions centralized under one provider rather than managed by independent, fragmented consultants using disconnected data siloes and workflows.
REQUIREMENT FOR PREDICTABLE FINANCIAL FORECASTING You require continuous forecasting, rolling runway projections, and agile scenario planning built directly into your ongoing close data, avoiding the unpredictable monthly hourly rates or separate premium retainers.
FOCUS ON LONG-TERM TEAM CONTINUITY You want a permanent, dedicated pod of accounting and operational specialists who act as a true extension of your company, eliminating the re-explanation fatigue and rotating contract staff typical of traditional agency consulting models.
NEED FOR INVESTOR-GRADE REPORTING AND DECISION SUPPORT You expect your forward-looking financial models to be driven by an expert-led accrual ledger, ensuring your board reporting and due diligence metrics are perfectly accurate without requiring manual data stitching across separate software setups.
UNMANAGED PAYROLL AND HR EXECUTION You need comprehensive back-office execution—including accounts payable, accounts receivable, and routine payroll administration—delivered within a flat-fee modular scope rather than paying hourly consulting fees for routine administrative tasks.
Consider Burkland if you have:
NICHE STRATEGIC FINANCE OR CFO-LEVEL NEEDS You require high-level boardroom strategy, fundraising advice, or complex financial modeling from an experienced executive, and you already have an internal group or separate vendor handling day-to-day operational bookkeeping.
PREFERENCE FOR VARIABLE, HOURLY BILLING You prefer a traditional consulting setup where you pay strictly for the specific hours or custom-scoped projects utilized each month, rather than committing to a predictable monthly operational package.
ROLE-BY-ROLE STAFF AUGMENTATION You want to add capacity role by role—like extra executive support for a data room build or fundraise—rather than engaging one team across the full back office.
IN-HOUSE MANAGEMENT OF FINANCIAL SOFTWARE You want to maintain total internal ownership and setup of your accounting tech stack, preferring consultants who manually plug into your existing isolated apps over an integrated, fully managed back-office platform.
Why investing in professional accounting and bookkeeping early on matters
As companies grow, the books stop being a simple record of activity and become the foundation for how the business operates, reports, and makes decisions. When accounting isn’t consistent, close timelines slip, reconciliations lag, and confidence in the numbers starts to erode.
The real advantages of a fully managed, full-stack finance partner.
Financial visibility
Managing multiple fractional providers often means coordinating separate workflows, tools, and reporting processes. Graphite replaces that fragmented experience with an interwoven finance function that brings accounting, planning, and strategy together under one operating model. The result is consistent visibility into financial performance, cash flow, and future planning, giving leadership teams reliable insights to support fundraising, board reporting, and long-term decision-making.
Accounting complexity
Working with multiple hourly consultants can mean coordinating different workflows, reporting styles, and priorities. Graphite simplifies that experience with a squad that manages your accounting operations from the general ledger through month-end close. We support complex business models—including multi-channel inventory, COGS allocations, and multi-entity reporting—within one integrated system. That means fewer surprises, greater financial consistency, and reporting leadership can rely on as the company scales.
Finance and forecasting
Instead of relying on separate consulting engagements or standalone financial models, Graphite builds custom-engineered financial models directly into your ongoing finance function. Led by core finance specialists, we link your forecasting to your monthly close data to deliver continuous budget vs. actual tracking, rolling runway projections, and ongoing scenario planning all within a flat-fee model.
Connected back-office support
Most agency models involve a rotating group of part-time consultants, each billing by the hour. That leaves you playing project manager between your outsourced HR person, your bookkeeper, and your fractional CFO. Graphite fixes this by putting your ledger, strategy, tax, payroll, and HR into one single source of truth. Because everything is handled by a single, permanent team, any shift in your business like hiring new employees or changing a vendor contract instantly updates your tax strategy and financial models. Your back office actually talks to itself without the communication lags or surprise hourly bills.
Modern finance capabilities
When accounting is built around spreadsheets, scaling typically means adding more contractor hours, and without a modern platform to support it, manual data work can begin to slow operations and introduce errors as volume grows. Graphite blends automation with a structured human review layer built for today’s business models. We automate data ingestion, while keeping experienced specialists involved in critical workflows like multi-state tax, revenue tracking, and payroll checks. This creates a system that works with your business without the friction of hourly billing.
Customer experience
It’s common to experience “re-explanation fatigue” when you’re working with rotating part-time consultants who bill for every quick call or status update. Graphite takes a different approach with a devoted, long-term pod that acts as an extension of your team. We begin with a 30–45 day onboarding transition led by a Customer Success owner who coordinates directly with your existing provider. After that, you get consistent communication and alignment across your back office, so you can focus on growth instead of tracking every interaction.
Pricing clarity
In many consulting setups, monthly costs fluctuate based on contractor hours, retainers, and project-based work, which makes it hard to know what you’ll actually spend over time. Costs can vary depending on seniority, time spent, and the nature of the work, and important milestones like fundraising or audits often end up driving unexpected increases. Graphite takes a different approach with transparently priced services. We embed finance and accounting expertise into your monthly run rate so you always know what to expect without monitoring hours or second guessing pricing certainty.
Designed for the Next Stage
Business complexity doesn't have to mean operational complexity. Graphite provides an integrated finance team across accounting, tax, payroll, HR, and strategic finance, helping leaders simplify operations, strengthen reporting, and build a foundation that supports sustainable growth.
The Delivery Model
A straightforward view of how both teams handle your core back-office functions.
Core accounting
Graphite replaces manual data entry with a fully managed back-office function that owns your general ledger and month-end close processes end to end. Instead of focusing on transaction logging or hourly support, our embedded teams set up and run workflows meant for operational intricacy, covering AP/AR, collections support, multi-channel inventory tracking, and multi-entity consolidations. Because everything runs within a fixed monthly fee modular structure, your daily accounting data flows directly into your reporting and planning, giving you consistent, reliable financial visibility.
Burkland provides consultant-led support for bookkeeping, accrual accounting, and month-end close processes. Their part-time accountants work within your existing systems to handle accounts payable, accounts receivable, and routine billing tasks, typically on an hourly or project-based basis. They can also support GAAP reporting and historical cleanups when needed. For more complex needs like higher transaction volumes, multi-entity reporting, or inventory tracking, work is usually managed across multiple specialists and coordinated alongside ongoing contractor hours.
Finance and forecasting
Graphite weaves custom 3-statement financial modeling and continuous forecasting right into your ongoing finance scope. Finance specialists and accounting teams operating under one integrated structure allow budget tracking, cash planning, and runway projections to stay aligned with month-end close data in real time. Leadership receives investor-grade oversight and agile decision support for board meetings and fundraising cycles.
Burkland offers fractional CFO services focused on strategic support for areas such as fundraising, pitch decks, and board preparation. Their part-time executives provide financial modeling, budgeting, and scenario planning. Since their advisory work is separate from accounting, updating forecasts and analyses requires pulling data from various sources and engaging additional consulting hours or ongoing CFO support.
Year-round tax strategy
Graphite ties tax strategy with your financials by rooting a continuous, year-round tax element into your core operations. Instead of waiting until the end of the year to clean up your ledger, our accounting and tax specialists work hand-in-hand under one roof. This means multi-state payroll nexus, ongoing R&D credit optimization, and changing tax liabilities are proactively monitored during your standard monthly close cycle. Everything is covered under a structured price, steadying you for any state notice resolutions or standalone studies while keeping your business audit-ready.
Burkland offers corporate tax services as a separate module, including multi-state nexus tracking, R&D tax credit studies, annual filings, and tax notice resolution. Their tax team typically works on a project or engagement basis. Tax is managed separately from ongoing accounting workflows, so updates such as changes in remote workforce distribution or R&D eligibility are coordinated between bookkeeping and tax teams, often through periodic review cycles and scoped engagements.
Payroll and HR
Graphite puts your payroll, HR, and accounting under one single team. Rather than treat HR as a separate project, we just bake it into your flat monthly fee. This means when you do things like onboard a new employee or adjust someone's salary, that data naturally flows right into your tax strategy and runway models. You don't have to spend time passing updates back and forth between different vendors, and you won't get hit with a bill for asking your team a basic payroll question.
Burkland provides payroll processing, benefits administration, HR compliance, and talent acquisition support through its fractional People Operations team. Their consultants manage areas such as multi-state registrations, onboarding, and offboarding on a project or hourly basis. HR and payroll services are delivered as a separate entity from core accounting, so updates like headcount changes or compensation adjustments are coordinated between teams through workflows and routine reviews.
Built for Modern Finance
Compare how each provider handles complexity, tech, and scale.
Business models supported
Graphite assigns you a consistent team that already works with SaaS companies, CPG brands, and multi-entity businesses like MSO/PCs, bringing in experience with things like inventory tracking, multi-channel revenue recognition, and other operational details that come with more multifaceted setups. There’s no need for separate onboarding cycles or additional hourly support just to get someone up to speed since the industry context is already built into our expertise.
Burkland supports venture-backed companies across models such as SaaS, tech-enabled services, and standard multi-entity structures. For more specialized or inventory-heavy businesses, they draw on consultants with relevant experience within their broader network. Their work is typically delivered through existing client systems and coordinated across consultants, with engagement scope and cost varying based on the complexity of the operating model.
Breaking down the data
Graphite handles the heavy lifting when your numbers move past basic tracking into layered, multi-dimensional data. We can start with a deep historical cleanup, then take full ownership of daily tasks like AP/AR and payroll. Our team has the technical depth to natively manage more complex workflows like ASC 606 revenue recognition, precise COGS allocations, and physical inventory tracking. As you move across multi-location operations or multi-entity structures, we handle those consolidations together so everything flows cleanly into crisp reporting.
Burkland handles technical accounting like ASC 606 revenue recognition, multi-entity setups, and inventory tracking through an hourly or project-based consulting model. Because they function as staff augmentation, their part-time contractors plug into your existing apps to manage workflows manually. They handle bookkeeping cleanups and department-level reporting as project-based engagements, with scope and support typically scaling alongside transaction volume.
Powering your tech stack
Graphite deploys a customized, cloud-based software stack that connects accounting, payroll, CRM, and banking systems to match your operating model. Automation supports core transactional workflows, including bill pay routing, electronic invoicing, and centralized data flows, helping streamline processing and reduce manual entry errors. Our integrated setup feeds into a secure, real-time reporting layer that gives leadership teams and board members access to current financial metrics and models tied to your financial data.
Burkland works inside your existing software stack, like QBO or NetSuite. They operate as a traditional consulting firm without a proprietary software platform, meaning their contractors manually manage your data entry, reconciliations, and reporting within your tools. This setup delivers standard, accurate financials, with the overall speed of your monthly close depending on the hours logged by your team.
Human review and judgement
Graphite brings together a permanent group of senior controllers, specialized CPAs, and fractional finance directors to provide full coverage across your entire business. Rather than centralizing financial judgment with a part-time contractor, you work with an integrated group operating together under one roof. We take over the heavier things like detailed ledger cleanups, transaction treatment, and historical accounting refinements and tie them directly to your priorities. That means the same experts managing your daily books are also supporting your scenario analysis, forecasting, and board reporting. It’s a collaborative setup that gives you senior-level guardrails and proactive guidance at every step.
Burkland takes an expert-led approach where your oversight comes straight from the individual bookkeepers, tax specialists, and fractional CFOs assigned to your business. Since the work is human-driven, things like data cleanups, one-off transactions, and reporting decisions are reviewed and resolved manually by these professionals. You get access to senior financial judgment for your complex questions, with their day-to-day direction organized around your custom project scope or hourly retainer.
Built to scale with your business
When your business grows beyond basic bookkeeping, you don't have to worry about switching providers or managing a patchwork of new contractors. Instead, Graphite brings in senior controllers and fractional finance directors to build out your three-statement models, set up board-level reporting, and handle regular forecasting cycles. As your operations get more advanced, that same team can step in to manage multi-state tax planning, multi-entity consolidations, and HR advisory. With everything housed in one place, your financial models, tax strategies, and historical data remain synced as your business matures.
Burkland scales by adding specialized professionals to your account from their network as your needs evolve. When you expand from basic accounting into advanced operations like FP&A, tax planning, or board reporting, they bring in additional fractional CFOs or tax experts. These services are integrated into your scope through separate project agreements or hourly retainers.
Build a Finance Function That Keeps Pace
When spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and standard accounting packages start creating friction, it's time for a stronger foundation. We unify your financial operations and deliver reporting built around how your business actually runs.
Graphite takes a personalized, consultative approach to the evaluation and buying process so you don't have to piece together separate service scopes or navigate hourly structures. On our initial call, our experts take a look at your accounting, tax, payroll, and FP&A functions all at once to get a complete picture of your current financial health and future goals to put together a customized proposal with fixed monthly pricing to cover your entire back office function as a whole. From there, a dedicated team of CPAs, senior controllers, and fractional finance directors takes over the onboarding process, managing your account transition and historical data migration with hands-on oversight. Once you're set up, your dedicated Customer Success owner ensures continuous alignment and proactive communication, keeping your financial operations perfectly coordinated.
Burkland begins with a discovery call to evaluate your company's stage, current financials, and compliance needs. They scope the work based on the specific services you need—such as bookkeeping, strategic finance, tax, or HR—and provide a proposal featuring a choice between fixed or hourly pricing. Once an agreement is signed, their team handles the system handoff to transition your data and stand up your financial infrastructure within a few weeks.
Getting up and running
Graphite handles onboarding with the same team that will support your business long term, helping preserve context from day one and ensuring a smooth transition. While traditional consulting models often treat books, tax, and forecasting as separate projects handled by different contractors, our CPAs manually clean your historical transactions to build a correct, GAAP-compliant foundation in QBO from the start. At the same time, we build a custom 3-statement financial model tailored to your business, giving you forecasting and planning capabilities from the outset without the need for a separate FP&A scope.
Burkland kicks off with a meeting to introduce your assigned team and establish communication channels. From there, they gather access to your accounting systems, banking portals, and payroll platforms to review your existing setup. The team evaluates historical data, makes any needed accounting updates, aligns on reporting preferences, and configures your chart of accounts. Initial deliverables typically include your first monthly close and updated financial reports based on the engagement timeline.
Long-term partnership
With Graphite, you continue working with the same account team and Customer Success manager who have been involved from day one. That continuity carries into ongoing accounting, payroll, tax oversight, forecasting, and strategic finance support. Rather than simply delivering reports, your team remains actively involved in helping leadership monitor performance, evaluate opportunities, and plan for future growth.
Burkland transitions clients into a regular cadence of emails and meetings based on their engagement scope. You work directly with your assigned team members for daily accounting, tax, and HR support. As your needs evolve, they can adjust the scope of work or bring in additional specialists from their network. General questions and escalations are handled through your primary account contact or account director.
Cost, Coverage, and Value
Burkland Associates
Graphite Financial
Pricing Model
Offers a mix of tiered monthly pricing and hourly billing depending on the service line and company stage.
Flexible pricing based on the functions you need. Accounting starts at $1,500/mo; Finance/FP&A at $2,000/mo; Tax at $400/mo; HR at $700/mo; Payroll at $500/mo.
What's Included
Standard financial foundations (like bookkeeping, basic accounting, or tax prep) explicitly outlined within your custom project scope.
VC-ready accrual accounting, an assigned accounting and finance team, ongoing startup compliance, and investor-ready reporting supported by custom-built financial models.
What May Cost Extra
Tasks that fall outside the initial statement of work or extra consultant hours required to handle unexpected operational issues.
Optional modules you haven't scoped yet—corporate tax, payroll and HR, or strategic FP&A can be added anytime at fixed monthly rates.
Setup Fees
Varies by company stage; onboarding and financial stack infrastructure setup are scoped out individually or billed hourly.
An initial onboarding fee that covers setting up integrations, migrating your historical data, and mapping your new reporting workflows. Firm quote finalized during your initial assessment call.
Hourly Work
Frequently utilized for specialized advisory, technical cleanups, or ad-hoc projects where operational needs shift month to month.
Not used. All communication, daily ledger tasks, and general advisory questions are folded directly into your transparent monthly fee.
Tax Add-ons
Tax compliance, state nexus monitoring, and R&D credits are priced as separate, standalone engagements or project add-ons.
Continuous tax management (starting at $400/mo), including year-round compliance filings, R&D credit tracking, and support for IRS and state notices.
CFO/Advisory Access
Structured around fractional CFO retainers or hourly allocations for specific milestones like fundraising or financial modeling.
Handled through a dedicated Finance module (starting at $2,000/mo) that embeds regular forecasting, 3-statement modeling, and board prep into your routine.
Payroll/HR Coverage
Administered through a separate People Operations service line, billed via fixed project scopes or hourly consulting rates.
Managed via integrated Payroll (starting at $500/mo) and HR (starting at $700/mo) modules run by specialists inside your assigned team. Standalone or bundled to cover full payroll runs, HRIS compliance updates, and automated employee benefits synchronization.
What To Clarify Before Comparing
Is this proposal a strict flat rate or an hourly estimate? If it's an estimate, what happens if tasks take longer than expected, and what are the blended hourly rates for senior staff?
Does your flat monthly rate truly cover a permanent, dedicated team for our everyday work, without hitting us with extra bills for quick email questions or sudden transaction spikes?
The Pre-contract Checklist
Work through these essential questions to ensure your financial partner is equipped for your next stage of growth.
Will I be working with one coordinated team, or will I need to manage multiple independent contractors?
Is the monthly fee fully predictable for day-to-day work, or can costs vary depending on scope and hourly rates?
During onboarding, is historical cleanup a part of the process, or is that typically handled as a separate project?
Are financial models and forecasting included in the core engagement, or do they usually sit in a different CFO or advisory scope?
If I have a quick question or need support, what does the communication process look like, and how is it handled in terms of billing?
Are tax and payroll managed together as part of one setup, or are they done through separate services or contracts?
A Seamless Migration
Moving away from a fragmented consulting setup where you have to be project manager between different contractors doesn't have to mean a painful transition. Graphite guides every step of the onboarding process, taking the operational burden of data cleanup and systems migration entirely off your plate. Instead of forcing you to coordinate between separate accounting, tax, and CFO contacts, a dedicated Customer Success Manager serves as your single point of contact to run the transition from end to end. This allows our CPAs and finance specialists to stay completely focused on your financial data, turning what is usually a disjointed handoff into a smooth onboarding experience that is fully completed within 30 to 45 days.
We structure the transition timeline around your key milestones and current systems:
PHASE 1: Review & systems handoff We launch with an initial alignment call to map out your current operational workflows and top priorities. From there, we use a secure onboarding checklist to gather system permissions and manage the entire technical handoff behind the scenes without disrupting your routine operations.
PHASE 2: Cleanup plan execution Your dedicated account squad steps in to execute a thorough ledger review and cleanup plan. Our experts dive into your books to untangle historical manual tracking errors, reconcile disjointed accounts, and complete all necessary catch-up work to establish a completely accurate, compliant foundation.
PHASE 3: Reporting rebuild & cadence setup We build out your new, integrated financial structure and roll out custom 3-statement forecasting models tailored around your specific goals. Once your new data pipelines are validated, we kick off your ongoing strategic advisory calls and transition you into a smooth, routine monthly close loop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about working with Graphite.
At first glance, paying for a basic bookkeeping tier or a set number of hours can seem cost-effective. In practice, services are often handled separately, so things like tax compliance, R&D credits, and financial modeling are billed as additional work. Over time, that can make monthly costs harder to predict. Graphite brings core accounting, tax, and forward-looking planning together into a single, predictable monthly fee so your back office stays covered without surprise spikes in billing.
When major milestones come up, contractor-based setups can sometimes slow things down since specialists are often balancing multiple clients and scoped engagements. That can mean waiting for availability or setting up a separate project for urgent work. Graphite builds your financials to institutional standards from the start. When it’s time to raise a round or go through an audit, your team can immediately step in to support reporting, respond to requests, and work through the details alongside you.
Bookkeeping and strategic finance are often treated as two separate functions. That typically means businesses rely on a fractional CFO for forecasting and runway modeling, separate from their accounting team. Graphite consolidates these into one scope, with your core team maintaining both your books and your financial models so everything stays connected.
Graphite is designed to make scaling more straightforward by keeping you with the same finance team that already knows your business. As your needs expand, we add the relevant capabilities within the same engagement, so your financial operations stay connected as you grow. This avoids the common situation where scaling requires bringing in separate specialists across different projects and contracts.
Burkland Associates prices engagements through a mix of tiered monthly fees and hourly billing, depending on service line and company stage. Fractional CFO and advisory work is typically billed hourly or through retainers, so total cost varies with usage.
Burkland places fractional consultants—CFO, accountant, tax, HR—into your workflow, with scope and cost set role by role. Graphite operates as one team that owns the full back office for a fixed monthly fee.
The models differ more than the numbers. Graphite publishes fixed monthly pricing by function—accounting from $1,500/mo, finance from $2,000/mo, tax from $400/mo—so costs stay predictable. Consulting models that bill by hour or retainer vary with usage, so ask any provider what happens to your bill when needs spike.
When you have internal accounting covered and need one specific capability—like executive support for a fundraise. If you're outsourcing the full back office, coordinating separate consultants usually costs more in time and fees than one integrated team.
Graphite's Accounting & Bookkeeping Services
Core Accounting Operations
Keep your books clean, current, and controlled with steady day-to-day accounting, reconciliations, and general ledger support.
Month-End Close
Run a more disciplined month-end close with fewer loose ends, clearer timelines, and financials delivered when they should be.
Financial Reporting
Get financial reporting that gives you better visibility into performance, trends, and what needs attention.
Accounting Cleanup and Catch-Up
Clean up messy books, fix what’s off, and build a stronger accounting foundation for smoother reporting going forward.
Revenue Recognition Support
Handle revenue recognition with the structure and accounting support needed to keep reporting accurate as complexity grows.
Audit Support
Be better prepared for audits and reviews with cleaner documentation, stronger reconciliations, and books that hold up under scrutiny.
OUR DIFFERENCE
Our work is a fusion of people, processes, and pioneering technology
We equip our team of experts with industry-leading software, tools, and data intelligence to optimize their output.
There are many basic bookkeeping firms out there, but very few operationally-focused startup accounting firms like us. Our business model focuses around high-touch and long-term engagements, where we take our clients from seed all the way through exit. Our mission to keep people first sits at the intersection of our core values—the drivers behind everything we do.
Accounting with a backbone
We run your books with precision—tight close cycles, clean data, and reporting you can rely on. You see where the business stands and what needs attention, without digging.
Clarity in your numbers, every month
From daily transactions through close, we deliver accurate financials on a consistent cadence—so you can manage cash, track performance, and make decisions without hesitation.
Control over every close
We support the accounting work that gets more complex with growth, from reconciliations and reporting to revenue recognition and inventory.
