Job costs are wrong
When the same expense lands in three different accounts, no report can tell you what a job actually cost. Materials, subs, labor — all blurred.
For owner-led service businesses
Will you make payroll next week?
You had a good month on paper. But the gap between finishing work and collecting payment is invisible without real-time financial data. Cash flow uncertainty is a management information problem — and Clear Pilot solves it with managerial accounting that used to cost too much to get.
- Read-only QuickBooks connection
- Human-validated findings
- No automatic changes to your books
For service businesses
on QuickBooks Online
Read-only connection
Your books are never auto-changed
Human-reviewed findings
Software finds patterns; people decide
Fictional examples throughout
Until you connect your own data
How it works
From messy books to operating confidence
Four stages that turn QuickBooks from a backward-looking filing cabinet into a forward-looking operating tool. Each stage builds on the one before it.
1
Cleanup roadmap
Scan
Available nowThe Financial Health Scan scores your bookkeeping structure, classification quality, and reporting readiness. You get a prioritized cleanup roadmap — not a vague list of problems, but a scoped list a bookkeeper can act on.
2
Professional cleanup
Clean
Partner-deliveredA qualified bookkeeper or accountant fixes the flagged issues. Clear Pilot observes and reports; it does not perform the cleanup. Partners can provide fixed-fee quotes from the scoped finding list.
3
Books stay clean
Reconcile
Early accessAn automated assistant watches for new uncategorized transactions, suggests the right category for each one, and learns from your corrections. By month six, the approval list is nearly empty because it knows how your business classifies things. Nothing is applied without your approval.
4
Operating intelligence
Operate
Product directionDaily cash position, job profitability, margin trends, and forecast confidence — all built on the clean data foundation the first three stages established. Managerial accounting that used to require a CFO, now accessible because AI collapsed the cost of doing it.
The root cause
Why cash flow breaks down even when you're busy
A polished report is still wrong when the books underneath it are weak. These four problems are what stand between you and knowing whether the money will be there.
You don't know what you're owed
Unreconciled payments and aging receivables mean the number on the screen doesn't match the cash that's actually coming. You can't forecast from fiction.
Can't see which jobs make money
Without consistent job tracking — items, classes, or sub-customers tied to costs and revenue — profitability by job is invisible, even if you're busy.
Pretty dashboard, dirty data
QuickBooks reports will happily generate charts from bad data. A margin trend line means nothing when 47 transactions are still in "Ask My Accountant."
Stage 1 — Available now
The Financial Health Scan
A structured diagnostic that scores your QuickBooks file and produces a cleanup roadmap a bookkeeper can act on — not a vague list of problems.
Structural, classification, aging, and reconciliation conditions. 4 items flagged for immediate review.
Whether records support job-cost, margin, and cash-flow reporting. 7 items to monitor over time.
Based on connected-data completeness and classification consistency. Not a cash guarantee — an assessment of what the data can support.
Review now
Uncategorized transactions are eroding margin visibility
- Observed
- 47 transactions ($23,400) posted to "Ask My Accountant" in the last 12 months. 31 of these are from vendors with a history of consistent categorization.
- Why it matters
- These transactions bypass job-cost and margin reporting entirely. If even half are job-related costs, your per-job margin numbers are materially incomplete.
- Confidence
- High for completeness. No conclusion about the correct assignment — that requires owner or bookkeeper review.
- Recommended review
- Bookkeeper or accountant. A partner can categorize these from the scoped list without needing full book access.
Methodology
How the scan works
Four steps. No changes to your books. Every finding includes what was observed, why it matters, how confident we are, and who should review it.
01
Structure
Chart of accounts hierarchy, duplicate detection, active-vs-inactive usage, class and item setup for job tracking.
Foundation check
02
Classification
Uncategorized transactions, vague account usage, vendor-to-account consistency, split-transaction coverage.
Accuracy check
03
Completeness
AR/AP aging, reconciliation status, stale balances, missing customer or vendor details that block reporting.
Coverage check
04
Operating signals
Can the data support the reports you want? Job profitability, cash forecasting, margin by service line — assessed against what's actually in the file.
Readiness checkStage 2 — Partner-delivered
Professional cleanup
Clear Pilot observes and reports. The cleanup is done by a qualified bookkeeper or accountant — not by software, and not by us.
- The scan produces a scoped, prioritized finding list — not a vague "clean up your books" suggestion
- Partners can quote a fixed fee from the finding list because the scope is explicit
- You choose the partner; we can connect you with one if you don't have a relationship
- Clear Pilot verifies that flagged items were addressed — it does not re-audit the books
- Clear Pilot is not an accounting firm and does not provide bookkeeping, tax, or attestation services
Partner-delivered
Become a review partner
If you're a bookkeeper or accountant who works with service businesses on QuickBooks Online, a scoped finding list can make client engagements faster and quoting more predictable.
Stage 3 — Early access
Reconcile: keep the books clean with almost no ongoing effort
A quiet helper that watches for new uncategorized transactions, suggests the right home for each one, and learns from your corrections. Nothing is applied without your approval.
Early access
Reconcile is in early access with select customers. Classification suggestions are generated but all require human approval. The learning loop — where corrections become automatic rules — is active for pilot users.
Stage 4 — Product direction
Operating intelligence, built on a foundation you can trust
The first three stages create clean, classified, dependable data. Stage 4 turns that data into the daily operating view a busy owner needs.
Product direction
The operating views below represent the product direction. A daily briefing and cash summary are available to early-access customers with a completed scan and cleanup. Full job profitability and scenario modeling are in development.
Cash position
$47,200
Fictional
6.3 weeks of runway at current burn
Outstanding AR$31,400
Due this week$12,800
Overdue >30d$8,600
Operating queue
This week
2 invoices overdue >60d — $14,200
3 estimates cold >30d — $22,100
Payroll covered through Jul 15 at current cash
Managerial accounting
Know what a job actually costs
This is the end state: per-job profitability with direct-cost completeness and clear confidence labels. Built on the clean data foundation from stages 1–3.
This is a fictional example. All numbers, job names, and margin figures are illustrative. Managerial accounting views are in product direction and not currently available.
Fictional example
Product direction
Greenfield Commerce Center — HVAC rough-in
Estimated margin
22%
Direct-cost completeness
78%
- Revenue
- $48,500
- Direct labor
- $19,200
- Materials & subs
- $14,300
Estimate assumes labor burden at 28% and allocates overhead proportionally. 22% of costs are not yet assigned to this job — the margin estimate will shift as those costs are classified.
How we work
Evidence, not alarm bells
Every finding answers four questions so you can act on it — or decide not to — with your eyes open.
Specific counts, amounts, and patterns — not generalizations.
Tied to a specific report or decision it undermines.
High, moderate, or limited — so you know what's firm and what needs interpretation.
Owner, bookkeeper, or accountant — based on the type of finding.
Next step
Is this a good fit?
The Financial Health Scan works best when five things are true. If this sounds like you, the assessment is the place to start.
- You run a service business on QuickBooks Online
- You want job-cost visibility, margin insight, or cash clarity
- You suspect your QuickBooks data has gaps that undermine those reports
- You work with a bookkeeper or accountant — or are open to one
- You want operating insight without building an internal BI team
Request a Financial Health Scan
We do not collect QuickBooks credentials through this form. After you submit, we'll follow up to discuss timing, scope, and pricing.
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