One person. Your whole back office.
I’m Jack Lahl, a CPA licensed in Minnesota. I keep the books for small businesses across Minnesota, from Waconia, and I do the work myself.
Every month your accounts get reconciled, every transaction gets categorized, and clean statements land in your inbox within 20 days of month-end. At year end your tax preparer gets books they can file from. That is the whole job, done on a day you can count on.
Big‑firm training, one‑person size.
I studied accounting at the University of St. Thomas and spent three years in audit at CliftonLarsonAllen, one of the largest accounting firms in the country. Audit teaches you to trust nothing until it ties out, and I still work that way.
Since 2023 I have been the controller for a company with more than forty entities. Forty sets of books, one close every month, and a leadership team that needs the numbers to be right before they make a decision with them.
Northward Ledger is that same work at a size where you get me. Small businesses usually end up with one of two things: a rotating team at a firm where nobody knows the account, or a shoebox and a stressful April. I started this to be the third option. One person who knows your business, closes your month on a day you can count on, and picks up when you call.
Based in Waconia. Based in Waconia. Serving the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota.
Four things you can hold me to.
These are in every engagement, at every tier. If one of them slips, you will hear it from me first.
- 01
One person, start to finish
You talk to the person doing the work. Same name, every month.
- 02
A day you can count on
Statements within 20 days of month-end, 15 on the second tier, 10 on the third. Not when I get to it.
- 03
A price you saw before you called
Three tiers with numbers on them. Nothing hidden inside a consultation.
- 04
Books your preparer can file from
Year end is already done when they ask for it.
Three steps, and the first one is a phone call.
Fifteen minutes
You tell me about the business. I tell you which tier it is and what it costs.
Accounts and access
Bank feeds, cards and whatever you already use. If the books are behind, we catch them up first.
A day you can count on
Reconciled, categorized, and clean statements in your inbox within 20 days of month-end. Faster on the higher tiers.
What people ask about me.
If yours is not here, the 15-minute call is where it gets answered.
Yes. I am a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Minnesota. Northward Ledger is a bookkeeping practice, not a CPA firm, so the license is mine and the work is the books.
Waconia. Based in Waconia. Serving the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota. The work is monthly and most of it happens in QuickBooks, so a client an hour away gets the same service as one down the street.
I get the books to the point where your tax preparer can file from them without a cleanup project first. I do not prepare the return. If you do not have a preparer, I can point you to one.
That is most new clients. Catch-up is quoted separately by how far behind things are, then the monthly work starts from a clean line. Do not tidy anything before we talk.
Yes. You get one person who knows the whole picture, answers the phone, and does the work himself. That is the point of the practice, and it is also why I keep the client list small.
Fifteen minutes to see if it fits.
No forms first if you would rather talk. Tell me about the business and I will tell you which tier it is.