DArnTech / Bookings / for bookkeepers + fractional CFOs
Booking for the bookkeeper or fractional CFO who's outgrowing Calendly but doesn't need Karbon.
$49/month for solo, $79 for bookkeeper + assistant. Recurring monthly-review scheduling, secure document portal, engagement-letter e-sign, hourly-billing tracker. Beats Karbon and Jetpack Workflow on focus for the indie practitioner.
Who this is for
- Solo bookkeepers with 8–25 active clients on monthly retainers · currently on Calendly + DocuSign + email (DIY) or paying $30+/user/mo for Jetpack
- Fractional CFOs doing quarterly board-prep + monthly-review work with 3–10 retainer clients
- Indie CPAs doing bookkeeping alongside tax-season returns (overlap with Tax Preparers vertical)
Honest scope: this is BOOKING + intake + engagement layer. You keep QuickBooks Online or Xero or whatever you actually do bookkeeping in. We're not building accounting software.
Features built for the indie-bookkeeper shape
Recurring monthly-review scheduling
"Third Tuesday at 10am for the monthly-close review." Auto-rebooks, client can reschedule with policy, no per-month coordination email.
Engagement-letter e-sign at intake
Per-tier engagement letter (basic bookkeeping · full-service · fractional-CFO retainer) signed before work begins. Saved to client profile.
Secure document portal
Client uploads receipts, statements, bills via secure link. SOC2-ish-ish footprint. Not a HIPAA-grade portal (different product entirely).
Hourly-billing tracker
Per-client time logging integrated with booked sessions. Auto-roll up to monthly invoice. Stripe invoicing optional.
Tier menus (retainer / hourly / per-project)
$300/mo basic bookkeeping, $750/mo full-service, $2500/mo fractional-CFO retainer, $150/hr ad-hoc. Tier picklist at intake.
Quarterly-touchpoint reminders
Q-end check-in reminders auto-fired. CFOs working with multiple boards see "quarterly prep due" rollup.
Honest comparison
| Tool | Monthly | Honest take |
|---|---|---|
| DArnTech Bookings | $49 (solo) · $79 (with assistant) | Booking + intake + engagement + time-tracking. Self-hosted. |
| Karbon | $59–89/user | Practice-management for accounting firms. Built for 3-15 person teams. |
| Practice Ignition | $75–149 | Engagement-letter + payment-collection focused. Heavier on the legal-doc side. |
| Jetpack Workflow | $30/user | Task-management for accounting practice. Per-user pricing adds up. |
| HubDoc + Xero + QBO | Various | Accounting/bookkeeping engines, not booking tools. Different category. |
| Calendly + DocuSign + email | ~$15-40 combined | DIY stack. Works for very small practice. No integration. |
This vertical is queued · expansion vertical
Bookkeepers / fractional CFOs are an expansion-vertical beyond the thesis-3. Real Indy density (NAEA chapter + Indiana CPA Society indie-practitioner directory). Sequenced ~Q3-Q4 2026. Reach out — early conversations especially valuable in this vertical because customer-pricing-elasticity varies a lot (full-service ARPU is $300+/client, justifies higher tier). Email d.arney@darrenarney.com.