How On Track Accounting Solutions Heads Off 1099 Headaches with Month-End Close in Financial Cents
Firm Name
On Track Accounting Solutions
Services
Accounting, Bookkeeping, Payroll, and Tax Services for Adult Foster Care Homes and Nonprofits
Staff Members
2
Year Founded
2016
Location
Michigan
Working Style
Remote
Financial Cents never ceases to impress me! Their continued commitment to helping firms with their workflows shows by creating a month-end close process. The month-end close process is extremely easy to use and creates a smooth close by enhancing my client communications regarding questions on transactions. Plus, the integration into our workflows templates created even more efficiencies for a quicker, accurate month-end close."
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting SolutionsGreg Scholten founded On Track Accounting Solutions with a mission to deliver specialized accounting, bookkeeping, and tax services to underserved niches. The firm focuses primarily on adult foster care (AFC) homes and nonprofits—client types that demand careful, compliant, detail-oriented financial management.
Greg runs On Track as a fully virtual practice, working alongside two part-time contractors. Recently, the firm has intentionally leaned more into the bookkeeping side of the business—prompting the need for more reliable, repeatable monthly workflows.
The Problem: Scrambling through 1099 Season
Before On Track started using the Month-End Close feature in Financial Cents, Greg ran the firm’s month-end process using a basic checklist in Excel. While this system did an okay job of organizing the team’s most critical month-end to-dos, it didn’t provide the kind of proactive workflow management Greg ultimately wanted to establish.
The most pressing area of opportunity: keeping up with 1099s.
Every January, Greg and his team found themselves in the same time crunch to nail down:
- Which clients needed to issue 1099s?
- Did they have the right W-9s on file?
- Which vendors and contractors had exceeded the reporting threshold?
Our biggest struggle was identifying which clients needed to get 1099s out to people who had W-9s. That’s what really prompted me to look for a month-end close system."
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting SolutionsThe January 31 IRS filing deadline for 1099 forms leaves little room for error. For firms like On Track that serve multiple clients simultaneously, a disorganized approach to W-9 collection and contractor payment tracking can quickly turn into a compliance risk—or a stressful last-minute scramble. Greg knew there had to be a better way.
The Solution: Adopting Month-End Close in Financial Cents
Greg had already been using Financial Cents to manage client requests before the Month-End Close module launched. His goal from the beginning was simple: one portal for everything.
When Month-End Close became available, Greg immediately jumped on the opportunity to not only streamline On Track’s recurring bookkeeping work, but also further reduce the firm’s tech spend.
My whole direction was that I wanted one portal that clients always log into at all times, not 20 different portals. When Month-End Close came out, I was excited because it gave us the features we needed in one platform. So we could streamline our systems and also cut down costs as much as possible. "
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting SolutionsWhy On Track Accounting Solutions Loves the Month-End Close Feature in Financial Cents
1. Stress-Free 1099 Tracking All Year Long
The biggest win for Greg has been Financial Cents’ 1099 and W-9 Preparation Report—a dedicated tracker built directly into the Month-End Close workflow. Instead of rushing in December to figure out which vendors crossed the annual IRS reporting threshold, Greg now monitors threshold progress throughout the year as part of his regular month-end close process for each client.
The report lets him flag 1099-eligible vendors on an ongoing basis, confirm that the correct W-9s are on file, and even request W-9s or email addresses directly through the platform. When January arrives, the data is already organized and ready to export to his 1099 filing software.
The 1099 process this year was so smooth. I already had all the W-9s there. I just took the data, put it into our 1099 software, and it was done. I had no issues, no questions about it."
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting Solutions2. Everything in One Place, Organized by Client
Beyond 1099 tracking, Greg loves how Financial Cents gives his team a clear, centralized view of what needs to happen for each client at the end of every month. Rather than hunting through emails or spreadsheets to determine what has and hasn’t been done, the team can easily see the status of every single client at a glance.
It gets all your work into one location, so you’re not all over the place trying to figure out what you’ve got to do. Everything is there—transparent by client."
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting Solutions3. Streamlined Team Communication and Client Collaboration
In a fully remote firm, effective collaboration hinges on clear communication. Financial Cents has reduced On Track’s internal email traffic significantly: Greg and his team now use the built-in chat functionality to coordinate their efforts on each project. That way, everyone always knows exactly where things stand without having to dig through dozens of messages across platforms.
On the client side, the Client Tasks feature has become the go-to tool for recurring document collection. In most cases, clients respond to document requests without the need for multiple follow-ups—which has been a huge relief for the team.
I have a couple of bookkeeping clients who need to send me their monthly statements every single month. They just upload it automatically when the task goes out on the first of the month. It’s great—I don’t have to worry about it."
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting SolutionsResults Round-up: On Track’s Achievements with Financial Cents
Since adopting the Month-End Close feature in Financial Cents, On Track Accounting Solutions has:
- Conquered the chaos of 1099 season with proactive monthly management of required forms.
- Reduced internal emails and messages through in-platform team communication.
- Automated recurring client tasks and document requests, eliminating the need for manual follow-ups.
- Consolidated multiple tools into one centralized platform.
What Financial Cents Does for Small Bookkeeping and Accounting Firms (According to Greg)
Financial Cents helps streamline communications and workflows in general. If I’m gone, my staff can kick in for me and take over if necessary. And as a team, across all the different projects, we know exactly what we’re supposed to do without figuring out where this email is, where that email is. It’s helped tremendously. "
Greg Scholten, President & Owner, On Track Accounting Solutions
