Service 02 of 04

Accounting
& Finance
Support.

Clean records, accurate workflows, and financial reporting that gives you genuine clarity every single month — so you can make confident decisions and stop guessing.

What We Do

Financial Clarity.
Every Month.

Unclear financials lead to poor decisions. When your accounting processes are disorganised, inconsistent, or simply outpaced by growth, you're essentially flying blind. You can't manage what you can't clearly see.

Hartley Michaels Consulting cleans up your financial workflows, builds reliable close processes, and creates reporting that gives you accurate, actionable insight — every month, without the scramble or the guesswork.

With a background in accounting, payroll, and business operations, Beth Hartley provides practical financial and operational support tailored to the needs of small businesses — delivered through flexible engagements that fit your workflow and budget.

Accounting
Accounting Experience & Business Support
100%
Custom — built for your business, not a template
Flex
Engagement — project-based or ongoing support
What's Included

Everything Your Accounting
Process Requires

📋
Employee Handbooks & Policy Development

Custom-written policies and handbooks that reflect your business, your culture, and your legal obligations — not a generic template with your logo dropped in.

Company policies tailored to your business
Employee expectations and code of conduct
Workplace safety and harassment policies
Leave, benefits, and compensation policies
🚪
Onboarding & Offboarding Processes

Consistent, professional employee experiences from the first day to the final day — protecting your business and setting the right tone at every transition.

New hire onboarding checklists and workflows
I-9 and documentation compliance
Structured offboarding and exit procedures
Knowledge transfer documentation
⚖️
Compliance Guidance & Documentation

Federal and state employment requirements translated into practical, actionable frameworks — so you're protected without needing a law degree to understand it.

Federal and state HR compliance review
Employee classification guidance
Required workplace postings and notices
Recordkeeping and documentation standards
📊
Performance Management Frameworks

Clear expectations, structured review processes, and the documentation framework that supports difficult decisions when they become necessary.

Job descriptions and role clarity documents
Performance review templates and processes
Progressive discipline documentation
Goal-setting and feedback frameworks
🔍
HR Process Audit & Improvement

A comprehensive review of your current HR practices — identifying gaps, risks, and opportunities to build systems that scale as your business grows.

Current HR practice assessment
Gap analysis and risk identification
Priority recommendations and action plan
Process redesign and implementation support
🤝
Ongoing HR Advisory Support

Ongoing access to senior HR expertise when you need it — guidance on specific situations, policy updates, compliance questions, or employee issues as they arise.

On-call HR guidance and advice
Policy updates and compliance monitoring
Situation-specific HR consultation
Annual HR practice review
Who This Is For

Accounting Support That Fits
Your Situation

📉
Messy or Unreliable Financials

Your month-end close is painful, your reports don't tell you what you need to know, or you're not confident your numbers are accurate. We fix the underlying process.

🚀
Growing Fast

Your accounting processes worked when you were smaller but aren't keeping pace with your growth. We build workflows and controls that scale with your business.

💡
Need Better Insight

Your books are technically maintained but you never have the financial clarity to make confident decisions. We improve reporting so your financials actually inform leadership.

How It Works

Your Accounting Engagement,
Step by Step

01
Financial Review

We assess your current accounting processes, close procedures, reporting, and system setup — identifying where accuracy is breaking down and what to fix first.

02
Priority Plan

We outline the specific accounting improvements your situation requires, sequenced by impact — so you get financial clarity as quickly as possible.

03
Build & Implement

We redesign workflows, rebuild processes, and implement controls directly alongside your team — changes that stick, not a report that sits on a shelf.

04
Reliable Monthly Close

You end up with a structured, documented close process that produces clean financials every month — and ongoing support available as your business evolves.

Why Choose Hartley Michaels for Accounting

CPA Certification — Earned 1993.
Genuinely Senior.

Beth Hartley holds the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) credential — the senior-level HR certification from the Society for Human Resource Management. This isn't generalist HR guidance. It's senior-level expertise without the senior-level full-time cost.

What makes the Hartley Michaels approach unique is the combination of experience across accounting, payroll, HR, and operations. Beth understands how workforce decisions connect with payroll processes, financial reporting, and day-to-day business operations — helping businesses stay organized, efficient, and aligned.

15+ Years — Experienced across accounting processes, payroll, and business operations
Process-focused — we fix the underlying workflows, not just the numbers on the page
Decision-useful reporting — financials built to inform leadership, not just satisfy compliance
Connected to HR & payroll — accounting changes that work with your full operational structure
Flexible engagement — defined project, ongoing support, or a targeted fix
Common Questions

Accounting Questions
Answered Honestly

We already have a bookkeeper — do we still need accounting support? +
It depends on what your bookkeeper is doing and at what level. Many businesses have someone handling data entry but no one truly owning the accounting processes, close procedures, and financial reporting quality. A CPA-level review will tell you honestly where the gaps are and what level of support would actually be useful.
Our books are maintained in QuickBooks — can you work with that? +
Yes. We work with QuickBooks and other common accounting platforms. We work within your existing system whenever possible and will only recommend a system change if it would genuinely serve your business better — not as a default recommendation.
How long does it take to clean up accounting processes? +
It depends on the current state. A targeted workflow improvement can be implemented in a few weeks. A more comprehensive process overhaul — including chart of accounts restructure, close process rebuild, and reporting redesign — typically takes 4–8 weeks. We'll scope it honestly after the initial assessment.
Do you do the bookkeeping / day-to-day accounting? +
Our focus is on process design, workflow improvement, and strategic accounting support — not ongoing day-to-day data entry. That said, we can provide close support, financial review, and advisory support on a recurring basis. If you need hands-on transactional support, we'll be honest about whether that's the right fit for our engagement model.
While You're Here

Related Services
Worth Knowing About

FINANCE
Free Consultation Available

Get Financial
Clarity Now.

One conversation is enough to know whether your accounting needs a full rebuild or just a targeted improvement. Beth will tell you honestly what your situation calls for.