An Enrolled Agent and a small team.
Here’s who’d be in your books every month.
Core Accounting & Consulting Group is an outsourced finance department and outsourced CFO firm for service businesses doing $3M-$50M, led by Barry Roach Jr., EA. One small in-house team does all of it.
One month in, a client asked me, “Who are you?”
I’d owned the firm for a month. I was on the phone with a client for the first time. She’d done her own books and payroll for over twenty years. Sharp woman.
Reviewing her setup before the call, I’d found something. Her health insurance premiums had never gone on the W-2s, hers or her husband’s. Twenty years of payroll, never once done the way the IRS requires for shareholder-employees.
So I told her.
“Not one person has ever told me this. Not my last accountant. Not the one before that. And honestly... who are you?”
Fair question. It was our first conversation. I didn’t have a clever answer, just the truth: “I can’t tell you why nobody told you this over the last twenty years. I can only tell you the correct way it’s supposed to be done.”
She wasn’t careless. Accountants came and went, and returns got filed every year. Nobody took the few minutes to explain it, because it was nobody’s job.
That’s why Core is built the way it is. The people keeping your books are the people doing your taxes and sitting in your monthly review. When something’s off, you hear it from us... even when it’s awkward on the first call.
One kind of client, on purpose
Service businesses doing $3M-$50M: agencies, IT and MSPs, consulting, insurance agencies, recurring home and commercial services, coaching and education, and recruiting firms.
The same rhythm every month
Fully virtual, all 50 states. QuickBooks Online and a secure client portal. Books closed by the 15th, a monthly CFO call, and email answers within 24 hours.
Every job done by our own team
Bookkeeping, controller review, business and personal tax and CFO advisory, all by our own team. Nothing gets handed to an outside firm.
A price anyone can look up
$5,000 a month for companies doing $3M-$10M, published for anyone to see. No onboarding fee. See all pricing →
Barry Roach Jr., EA
Enrolled Agent · Founder, Core Accounting Group“I’d rather you understand your numbers than just trust that someone’s handling them.”
My mom ran an accounting firm, and I was doing tax returns next to her by age 12. That turned into an accounting degree from Susquehanna University and 10 years running her firm. In 2022 I bought Core Accounting to build something of my own.
I also run my own companies alongside Core. So “can we afford this hire?” and “why is cash tight in a good month?” are questions I’ve had to answer with my own money.
And I’ve paid for doing it myself. I once skipped a $400 pool closing to save money. The pipes froze, and it cost me about $1,400 and a holiday weekend. An accountant doing plumbing is about as efficient as it sounds.
So ask the “dumb question.” You’ll get a straight answer in plain English, with the math behind it.
When I’m not in a QuickBooks file or a cash forecast, you’ll find me coaching little league or at my son’s games.
The people in your books. You’ll know each of us by name.
Small team, same faces every month. Your account doesn’t get handed to new staff each year, and it never goes to a firm you’ve never met.
Enrolled Agent and business owner. He built Core so the books, the taxes and the big decisions sit in one place. In your month, Barry leads tax planning and owner pay, and runs your monthly review call.
In your month, Jim does the monthly accounting work and prepares your tax returns. He’s good at easing a worried client, and he’d rather do the work than talk about it. Originally from near Punxsutawney, now in Jefferson, PA. Usually in the garden, on the road, or listening to music.
In your month, Morgan keeps your QuickBooks bookkeeping moving and handles return prep. Call the office and it’s usually Morgan who answers. From Delta, lives in Stewartstown. Always on the go with her son Colton, a beach person and a country music fan.
Four things you’ll hear from us on the first call
If you disagree with any of these, we’re probably not the right fit... and that’s worth knowing before you sign anything.
- Every decision has a tax answer.You should hear it before you sign, not next April.
- Profit on paper isn’t cash in the bank.We reconcile to what actually hit the account, so when the P&L says you made money, you can find it.
- Growth beats one-time tax tricks.A lot of classic tax savings is a timing difference that comes back later. Growing profit compounds and raises what your company is worth.
- You should understand your own numbers.A short list you can run the business on, explained in plain English. Nobody needs a 40-page report.
What’s the difference between an Enrolled Agent and a CPA?
Who licenses them, and what the license covers. A CPA is licensed by a state board, and the license covers accounting broadly, including audits of financial statements. An Enrolled Agent is licensed by the IRS itself, and the license is all about tax.
Both can prepare your returns and represent you before the IRS. Good ones of each are worth keeping. To become an EA, Barry passed the IRS Special Enrollment Examination, a three-part test on individual tax, business tax and representation.
What it means for you: the person planning your taxes can also answer the IRS if it writes. And because that person sits on the same team that keeps your books, the tax answer shows up while the decision is still open.
Earned by exam, granted by the IRS
The IRS, after the three-part Special Enrollment Examination. It’s the highest credential the IRS awards.
Federal practice rights
Unlimited representation before any IRS office, on any tax matter, in any state. No geographic or matter-type limits.
Renewed with continuing education
Ongoing continuing education is required to keep the license. It doesn’t stop at passing the exam.
Virtual · All 50 States
We work virtually, in all 50 states. Barry’s EA license lets him represent you before the IRS wherever you are.
Want to know how Barry thinks before you talk to him? He wrote it down.
The S-Corp Tax Savings Guide
How S-Corps actually work, without the hype. What to pay yourself and why the IRS cares, how distributions work, and when the election helps or hurts. If you own an S-Corp, start here. Get the book →
He also wrote Side Hustle Taxes 2025, a plain-English guide to 1099 income. See it on Amazon →
Ask Barry your own “who are you?” question.
Thirty minutes on a call with Barry. You’ll know whether we fit. If we don’t, he’ll tell you so, and who might.
See if we’re a fit →2 minutes. If it’s a fit, you pick a time with Barry. No obligation.