The questions owners actually ask.
Collected from real conversations with real firm owners. If yours is not here, ask it, and the honest answer might end up on this page.
Do you do tax returns, bookkeeping, or audit work?
Never, at any price. Returns, books, attest, and advisory are your license, your liability, and your client relationships. Signal runs everything around that work: marketing, intake, billing follow-up, dashboards, tooling, recruiting operations. The boundary is structural, which is exactly why a CPA can trust us: we are incapable of competing with you.
What does it cost?
5% of collections up to your baseline (your trailing-12 collections at signing, adjusted for inflation each year) and 10% only on collections above it. Billed monthly on prior-month collections. No retainers, no hourly, no fixed fees, ever. For a typical $800k firm that is about $48,000 in year one, against $80,000 or more of displaced cost.
What happens if my collections shrink?
The fee shrinks automatically: the formula charges 5% of actual collections, so our downside protection is built into the math rather than negotiated. We are the only vendor you have whose invoice goes down when your revenue does.
How do you prove growth came from you?
We do not try, and that is the point. There is no attribution clause: growth is collections above the baseline regardless of source, and the bank account is the referee. Attribution arguments are how percentage deals usually die; we removed the argument. Some growth will be yours, some retention will be ours, and the simplicity is worth more than the precision to both sides.
Do I have to connect QuickBooks or my systems before signing?
No, and you should be suspicious of anyone who asks. The diagnostic runs on four typed numbers and a 15-minute conversation. Read-only, revocable system connections are the first month's deliverable inside the contract, never a condition of talking to us.
What do you do with documents I share during the diagnostic?
Document asks start small (a categories-only P&L export, no client names) and every document is exchanged for a specific finding. Exports are stored in our secured environment, visible only to the team working your diagnostic, and deleted on request or when the diagnostic closes without an engagement. We never see passwords and we never store credentials.
What is the contract, and how do I get out of it?
Three-year term with an annual termination right after month twelve on 90 days notice, with transition assistance. And the first 60 to 90 days carry a validation off-ramp: if your verified numbers do not support the diagnostic readout, either party can exit and fees are refunded. You do not have to believe us; the agreement makes disbelief cost you nothing.
Is my firm eligible?
Full service requires roughly $500k in trailing-12 collections; the model is built for owner-operated CPA and bookkeeping firms between $500k and $2M. Below the gate, the fee cannot be funded by displacement, so we do not offer a discounted version; a lighter platform tier is in the works, and if that is the honest answer for your firm, we will say so.
Will you replace my staff?
No. Nobody gets fired in this model. The displacement math works through attrition: when an admin seat turns over, you stop replacing it because intake, scheduling, billing follow-up, and inbox triage run on our systems. We also never staff humans into your firm; automation in, bodies out.
Who is Vertis Holdings, and what is the exit clause?
Vertis Holdings is our affiliated acquisition arm, under the same parent (Vertis Group Inc), disclosed up front. The agreement gives Vertis a right of first offer if you ever sell, then an exclusive sell-side mandate for Signal if Vertis passes, and a conflict handler: if Vertis is the buyer, the broker fee is waived and the price references a third-party valuation. The full plain-English version is on the exit-path page.
Why are you so much cheaper than dental and medical management companies?
Full-service management companies in those verticals charge 10 to 20 percent of collections. We are at 5 on the book you built and 10 only on growth we deliver because we are early in this vertical and pricing for references and long relationships. Cheap with no reason reads as bait; that is the reason, in writing.
What happens to my data if I leave?
It is your data throughout: the agreement states you retain ownership of all of it. Connections are read-only and revocable from your side at any time, and on exit we hand over everything we built (SOPs, the data room, reporting) as part of transition assistance.
Do you mark up ad spend or move my money?
Never. Ad spend is yours and passes through at cost; we are paid on outcomes, not media margin. On payroll, your provider of record (the Gusto/ADP class) moves the money and files the taxes; we orchestrate the system and you click approve on every run. We never move money.
Who is behind Signal?
Signal is the operating brand of SignalLab LLC, part of Vertis Group Inc, with the platform built by its software affiliate. The same group runs the acquisition arm (Vertis Holdings) disclosed on the exit-path page. One structure, disclosed once, used everywhere.
If the diagnostic doesn't find annual value exceeding our base fee, we'll tell you you're not a fit.
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