CPA advisory for owner-led businesses

Your numbers, current every month, and a CPA who knows what they mean.

I work with owner-led businesses month to month, so the numbers are current and decisions get made with actionable information. Fifteen years in public accounting, and three more as a CFO.

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15+ years across assurance, tax, consulting, and client accounting.

CPA-led guidance with direct access to the person doing the thinking.

Practical recommendations aimed at the decision in front of you.

Working relationship

Most clients work with me monthly.

You work directly with the same person who knows your books, your tax picture, and the decisions in front of you.

Main engagement

Monthly advisory partnership

This is the main way I work. Each month I close and reconcile your accounting, and then we develop and review the key performance indicators that matter, and work out which parts of the business are earning their keep.

The accounting is the input, not the service. What you gain is someone reading it every month who can tell you what it means and what to do next.

Most owners can’t justify a full-time CFO. This is the part of the job they actually need.

Monthly

  • Analyze what changed and what it means, in a working session
  • Report on the few numbers that move your business
  • Evaluate revenue by service line, so you can see what earns and what does not
  • Reconcile every account, so the numbers are verified before you need them

Through the year

  • Build a plan around your goals, whether that is expanding, hiring, or an eventual exit
  • Plan the tax position before year end, while there is still time to act
  • Track shareholder basis before a sale or a loss makes it matter
  • File the business and personal returns from books I already know

Cleanup and setup

When the ledger needs rebuilding. A chart of accounts that matches how you operate, reconciliations caught up, and a month-end routine you can keep.

Annual tax returns

Individual and small-business filing. I take a limited number of tax-only clients, though the work is stronger when I’ve seen the year as it happened.

Projects and diligence

For when something specific is happening: a sale, a purchase, a lender asking for numbers, or an investor asking questions the current books can’t answer. Scoped as a project with a clear end.

Not sure which engagement fits best? Start a conversation and I’ll help scope the next step.

Industry focus

Most of my clients make something, build something, or bill for time.

My background is assurance leadership, due diligence, and finance leadership across owner-led businesses with project, inventory, labor, revenue recognition, and reporting complexity.

Construction

Project-based accounting, job cost visibility, WIP considerations, contractor reporting, and cleaner systems for owners who need to understand margin by job.

Manufacturing

Inventory, production costs, margin analysis, internal controls, and reporting support for teams that need better numbers behind pricing and operating decisions.

Service organizations

Professional services, SaaS and technology, nonprofit, and recurring-service models where revenue recognition, cash flow, clean accounting, timely reporting, and practical advisory support matter.

About Craig

Meet Craig Bennison, CPA

Craig Bennison, CPA, founder of Bennison CPA and Consultants

I’m a CPA licensed in Florida and Ohio. Most of my career was assurance work at RSM and HBK. Separately, until late 2025, I was CFO of a technology company. I work directly with business owners, combining technical accounting expertise with hands-on operational insight.

Those years as a CFO are where I learned how often an accounting problem is really a systems problem. Most messy books I see are not an accounting failure. They are software that was set up wrong and left that way, and I have built my own tools for QuickBooks when it would not do what a cleanup needed.

Before that I held assurance leadership roles at RSM and HBK, working with manufacturing, construction, SaaS and technology, distribution, nonprofit, and service organizations. I earned a Master of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Kent State University.

I work best with owners who want clear explanations and follow-through they do not have to chase.

How it works

A straightforward first conversation.

  1. 1

    Tell me what changed

    Something usually prompts the call. An accountant retired, the business grew, a life event, or you want an accountant who gets ahead of things.

  2. 2

    We develop a plan

    We scope what needs doing and what it costs together, and you choose where to start.

  3. 3

    You get actionable information

    Current numbers, a clear view of what is earning, and a tax position planned around where the business is going.

FAQs

Common questions before reaching out.

Do you work with clients outside Central Florida?

Yes. I am based in Mount Dora and work throughout Central Florida, and I have a long-standing client and referral base in Sarasota and Southwest Florida. I am also licensed in Ohio and work with clients near Cleveland. Most engagements run virtually.

My books are a mess. Is that a problem?

No. Books stop getting done for ordinary reasons: someone left, a system changed, time got away. Whatever state yours are in, it can be fixed.

Do you work with my systems?

Yes. QuickBooks Online, Xero, or whatever you are running now. Throughout my career I have seen them all, and when a system or process is holding you back I can recommend a better path forward.

Do you handle tax-only work?

Yes, on a selective basis. Most of my work is a monthly advisory partnership, and tax work is stronger when I have seen the year as it happened, so I take a limited number of tax-only clients.

What happens after I send the form?

Your message comes straight to me, and I’ll follow up personally with next steps.

Contact

Start the conversation

If we just met, include where we connected and the financial question on your mind. A few sentences are enough to start.

Phone: (614) 769-7521

I’ll follow up personally. Your message is sent securely and never shared. See the privacy policy.