Outsourced bookkeeping sits a distinct step below CPA tax and audit work. The job is monthly transaction categorization, bank and credit card reconciliation, accounts payable and accounts receivable management, payroll coordination, sales tax filings, and a clean trial balance handed off to the tax preparer in January. The three Nashville firms below specialize in that monthly close cycle for small and mid-sized businesses, and each one has been verified against the firm’s own website and against the relevant certification directories.
For readers benchmarking bookkeeping credentials, the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers issues the Certified Bookkeeper (CB) designation after a 3,000-hour experience requirement and a four-part exam, the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers issues the Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB) credential, and Intuit’s QuickBooks ProAdvisor program runs the Core, Advanced, and Elite certification tiers that bookkeepers earn directly through Intuit. Tennessee carries no state income tax on wage income, the Hall income tax was fully repealed in 2021, and business owners filing in Nashville still need to register and remit the Tennessee Business Tax through the Department of Revenue.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Fit Bookkeeping & Tax, LLC | Founded 2005, more than three decades of combined bookkeeping and tax experience across the partners, Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor designation on the lead. | Monthly bookkeeping with transaction coding, bank and credit card reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable workflow, profit and loss preparation, Tennessee sales tax filings via TNTAP, Business Tax Form BUS-415, tax preparation and planning, payroll, QuickBooks training and setup. |
| Evan Hutcheson, CPA, LLC | Tennessee CPA license, Tennessee Society of CPAs and AICPA membership, Construction Financial Management Association affiliation, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, FUTRLI Certified Advisor. | Monthly bookkeeping, bookkeeping consulting, QuickBooks training, ledger maintenance, bank and credit card reconciliation, financial statement preparation, quarterly or monthly state sales tax filings, virtual CFO advisory with FUTRLI cash-flow forecasting. |
| The Nashville Bookkeeper | Bookkeeping-focused operation with published three-tier monthly pricing, partner CPA referral relationship for year-end tax work. | Income and expense categorization, bank reconciliations, profit and loss statements, payroll assistance, sales tax service through TNTAP, annual 1099-NEC filings under the IRS January 31 deadline, business property tax filings, annual financial presentation. |
1. Custom Fit Bookkeeping & Tax, LLC #
Custom Fit Bookkeeping & Tax, LLC is the longest-running of the three names on this list. Denise opened the practice in the mid-2000s and continues to lead it alongside co-owner Rebecca Anderson, with the two partners carrying more than three decades of bookkeeping and tax experience between them. The office is at 7982-A Coley Davis Road, Nashville, TN 37221, and the main line is (615) 646-3100.
Service catalog #
The firm runs four service lines: monthly bookkeeping, tax preparation and planning, payroll, and QuickBooks training and setup. The monthly bookkeeping engagement covers transaction coding, bank and credit card reconciliation, accounts payable and accounts receivable workflow, monthly profit and loss statements, balance sheet preparation, and the year-end clean trial balance handed to the tax preparer. The team files Tennessee state sales tax returns through the Department of Revenue’s TNTAP portal and handles the annual Business Tax Form BUS-415 for clients holding a Davidson County business tax license.
Software stack #
The practice is built around QuickBooks. Denise holds the Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor designation, which Intuit awards only after a multi-module certification path beyond the standard Core ProAdvisor exam. The team works in both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, supports the QuickBooks Enterprise platform for inventory-heavy clients, and trains client staff on the software when an in-house bookkeeper takes over the daily entry.
Industry mix #
Custom Fit serves construction trades, professional service offices, retail and inventory businesses, and personal tax clients in the Bellevue and West Nashville corridor. The mix tilts toward closely held small businesses that need both a monthly bookkeeper and an annual tax preparer under one roof, which is the operation’s positioning relative to the larger CPA firms that focus on assurance and advisory work.
http://www.customfitbookkeeping.com/
2. Evan Hutcheson, CPA, LLC #
Evan Hutcheson, CPA, LLC is a Nashville solo CPA practice that has been running monthly bookkeeping engagements alongside tax work since 2012. Founder Evan Hutcheson holds a Tennessee CPA license, sits on the rolls of the Tennessee Society of CPAs, and is a member of the AICPA, the Construction Financial Management Association, and the Thriveal CPA Network. The Nashville office is at 1621 5th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37208, with the main line at (615) 727-2295.
Bookkeeping engagement scope #
The practice handles monthly bookkeeping, bookkeeping consulting, and QuickBooks training. A standard engagement covers transaction entry, ledger maintenance, accounts payable and accounts receivable tracking, bank and credit card reconciliation, monthly financial statement preparation, and quarterly or monthly state sales tax filings. Because the office is a licensed CPA firm rather than a bookkeeping-only operation, clients can step up to tax preparation, payroll, and virtual CFO work without switching providers at year-end.
Software and certifications #
Evan Hutcheson is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and a FUTRLI Certified Advisor. The FUTRLI platform sits on top of the QuickBooks data file and produces forward-looking cash-flow forecasts, three-way budgets, and KPI dashboards, which lets the office push past standard monthly statements into advisory reporting for owners who want a rolling 12-month outlook.
Client mix #
The book of business leans toward construction and trade contractors, professional service offices, and creative-industry clients in the Germantown and downtown Nashville area, which is consistent with the office’s CFMA membership and its Nashville-MSA solo-CPA positioning. The single-owner structure means the same CPA who signs the tax return is the one reviewing the monthly close, which suits owners who prefer a direct relationship rather than the tiered staff model that larger offices use.
3. The Nashville Bookkeeper #
The Nashville Bookkeeper is a bookkeeping-focused operation led by owner Megan that runs monthly engagements for Nashville-area small businesses. The contact number is (615) 861-1251. The practice operates as a virtual, owner-led bookkeeping shop serving clients remotely rather than from a public storefront, with intake and consultation handled through phone and the firm’s website. The team takes the bookkeeping work off the owner’s desk so the CPA at year-end receives a clean set of books rather than a year of unreconciled bank feeds.
Tiered monthly engagement model #
The operation runs three published monthly tiers rather than the bespoke quote model that most competitors use. The Essentials tier starts at $300 per month and covers income and expense categorization, bank reconciliations, and monthly profit and loss statements. The Advanced tier starts at $600 per month and adds payroll assistance, sales tax service, and annual 1099 filings. The VIP tier starts at $1,100 per month and adds business property tax filings and an annual financial presentation reviewing the year’s results with the owner. The published-tier model gives prospects a price anchor before the discovery call.
Monthly close workflow #
A standard month covers transaction categorization, bank and credit card reconciliation, profit and loss statement preparation, and a monthly debrief explaining what the numbers mean to the owner. Payroll assistance runs alongside the books on the Advanced and VIP tiers, and the sales tax filing handles the Tennessee Department of Revenue’s monthly or quarterly remittance through the TNTAP portal. Annual 1099 filings are issued under the IRS January 31 deadline for Form 1099-NEC for nonemployee compensation.
Positioning #
The team positions itself for owners who want monthly visibility into their numbers rather than a once-a-year tax-time scramble. Because the operation focuses on bookkeeping rather than tax, the team partners with a separate CPA at year-end on the federal and state returns. That bookkeeper-plus-outside-CPA structure works well for owners who already have a tax preparer they trust and need a dedicated monthly bookkeeper rather than a full-service firm.
https://thenashvillebookkeeper.com/
Selection Methodology #
The three practices above were selected from the broader Nashville bookkeeping field using these filters: minimum tenure on Nashville-area work, verifiable Tennessee CPA license on file where the practice holds a CPA designation, verifiable AIPB, NACPB, or Intuit ProAdvisor credential where applicable, brand-name anchor with verifiable address visible on the firm’s own website, and a published practice scope that maps to client need without overreach. Out-of-state firms without a verifiable Tennessee presence, mass-marketing intake mills, and offices without a verifiable street address were excluded. No firm sponsored placement; all selection sources are publicly verifiable.
How to pick between them #
The three names above cover the practical range a Nashville business owner is likely to consider when shopping the monthly bookkeeping engagement on its own. Custom Fit Bookkeeping & Tax offers the longest local tenure of the three, an Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor credential, and the option to roll tax preparation into the same engagement. Evan Hutcheson, CPA brings a licensed CPA on the bookkeeping side and FUTRLI advisory reporting for owners who want a forward-looking dashboard on top of standard monthly statements. The Nashville Bookkeeper carries a published three-tier price model that lets prospects benchmark monthly cost before the consultation call.
For independent verification of bookkeeper credentials before engagement, the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper directory, the NACPB Certified Public Bookkeeper directory, and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Find-a-ProAdvisor search all let a prospective client confirm an individual practitioner’s active credential status before signing a monthly engagement letter.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How does the bookkeeping firm structure fees: hourly, monthly retainer, or per-transaction?
A: Bookkeeping fees most often quote as a flat monthly retainer scaled to transaction volume, statement count, and the depth of monthly reporting deliverables. Some firms add hourly catch-up rates for clean-up engagements where prior-year books need to be reconciled before the monthly cadence begins. Ask for the full written fee structure, the catch-up rate, the cap on scope creep, and the renewal terms before signing.
Q: What is the typical project or engagement timeline?
A: Timelines vary by scope. Ask the firm for a written project plan with phases, milestones, and a stated start and substantial-completion date. For ongoing services, ask for the standard reporting cadence (monthly, quarterly) and how the engagement is reviewed at renewal.
Q: Are any of the three firms paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: Who at the firm will be my day-to-day point of contact?
A: Some firms assign a senior partner as the relationship lead with associates and analysts executing day-to-day; others keep the named principal as the primary contact throughout. Confirm in writing who returns calls and emails, the standard response window, and the escalation path for unresolved issues.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.