Platforms · Helm

Every number, computed live from one ledger.

Helm computes every financial figure from one reconciled ledger and foots to the filed tax return to the cent. Recategorize a transaction and the entire picture updates — and stays reconciled.

What is Helm?

Helm is a financial operating system for businesses with more than one division. It computes every figure live from one reconciled transaction ledger — company, division and monthly P&L, forecasts, appraisal and reports — and foots to the filed tax return to the cent, with filed years locked read-only.

The gap

Your books close eventually. The questions don't wait.

  • What did we actually make this month — not what the bank balance suggests?

    Helm answers this
  • Which division is carrying the business, and which one is quietly losing money?

    Helm answers this
  • Does our P&L tie out to the tax return, or just come close?

    Helm answers this
  • If a transaction gets recategorized, does every report update — or only the one someone touched?

    Helm answers this
  • What would an appraiser say our adjusted earnings are?

    Helm answers this
  • Where will the year land, based on what has actually happened so far?

    Helm answers this

Most finance stacks answer these with a spreadsheet and a week of reconciling. Helm answers them live.

How it works

Import the bank data. Let the rules place it. Read the business live.

  1. 01 · Import

    Bring in the bank data, safely

    Upload a bank export and preview exactly what will import before anything is written. Duplicates are skipped, and any row that falls in a filed year is rejected automatically.

    • Preview first, then commit
    • Filed years locked and protected
    • Duplicates detected and skipped
    Helm review queue with bank CSV import and auto-matched transaction counts
  2. 02 · Attribute

    Every transaction finds its place

    A rules engine learns from each payee and keyword, splits shared costs across divisions, and scores its own confidence. Anything it can't place confidently goes to a review queue — and every answer becomes a rule for next time.

    • Confidence-scored categorization
    • Shared costs split across divisions by rule
    • Each review decision becomes a reusable rule
    Helm attribution rules, loaded data and account-to-division mapping
  3. 03 · Report

    Read the business, live

    Company, division and P&L views are recomputed from the ledger every time you look, with a full-year forecast built from actuals so far.

    • Nothing hardcoded or snapshotted
    • Full-year forecast from real actuals
    Helm company dashboard with revenue, expenses, profit, margin and profit by month
Inside Helm

One ledger, every view of the business

Company, divisions, month-by-month P&L and saved reports — all computed from the same reconciled ledger, so they can never disagree.

The whole business, on one screen

Revenue, expenses, profit and margin through today, each with a full-year forecast, then profit by month and performance by division.

Helm company dashboard 1 Actuals to date, with a full-year forecast 2 Scope to any division or year 3 Monthly profit called out on every bar
  1. 1 Actuals to date, with a full-year forecast
  2. 2 Scope to any division or year
  3. 3 Monthly profit called out on every bar

Every division, side by side

Revenue and profit per division, with a reconciliation that proves the divisions add back up to net income — unallocated costs shown, never hidden.

Helm divisions dashboard with reconciliation to net income 1 Revenue, profit and margin per division 2 Divisions reconcile to net income, to the cent 3 Monthly revenue by division
  1. 1 Revenue, profit and margin per division
  2. 2 Divisions reconcile to net income, to the cent
  3. 3 Monthly revenue by division

Month by month, line by line

Every P&L line across every month. Months still in progress are faded, so incomplete data is never mistaken for a trend.

Helm month-by-month profit and loss 1 Months in progress are faded — never read as a trend 2 Income, COGS, payroll and expenses in P&L order 3 Every line, every month, with section subtotals
  1. 1 Months in progress are faded — never read as a trend
  2. 2 Income, COGS, payroll and expenses in P&L order
  3. 3 Every line, every month, with section subtotals

Reports that stay put

Every report is a snapshot saved as of the moment it ran. Re-running creates a new one and leaves the old one exactly as it was.

Helm reports library 1 Saved as of the moment each report ran 2 Every run kept — nothing overwritten 3 Maintenance reports flag what is misconfigured
  1. 1 Saved as of the moment each report ran
  2. 2 Every run kept — nothing overwritten
  3. 3 Maintenance reports flag what is misconfigured
Reconciled

It has to add up. To the cent.

Helm doesn't store totals — it recomputes them from the ledger every time you look. So the P&L adds up, the divisions reconcile to net income, and nothing drifts between reports.

The P&L adds up Foots to the cent
Revenue $994,217.44
minus
Expenses $669,826.93
equals
Profit $324,390.51
Divisions reconcile to net income Foots to the cent
Allocated divisions $325,668.43
minus
Unallocated $1,277.92
equals
Net income $324,390.51

Unallocated is the expense-allocation plug, not a division — surfaced so the totals foot without it posing as a business unit.

Why the numbers hold
  1. 1
    Recomputed on every request

    No hardcoded totals, no snapshots carried forward. Every figure is the live sum of the ledger.

  2. 2
    Filed years are locked

    Once a year is reconciled to the return it becomes read-only. Edits and imports that touch it are rejected.

  3. 3
    Tested against the return

    Baseline tests fail the build if the reconciled total drifts by a single cent.

Two numbers, never confused

Reported profit and appraisal, kept apart

Accountants need the filed P&L. Owners preparing for a sale or valuation need adjusted earnings. Helm keeps both — and one never changes the other.

The filed statement

The profit and loss exactly as it reconciles — every section, every line, and the bottom line that matches the return.

Adjusted earnings

Owner add-backs itemized on top of reported profit, with appraisal profit alongside — a separate lens that never alters the filed P&L.

Helm profit and loss statement
Helm appraisal view with profit to adjusted earnings bridge
One ledger

Every source, reconciled into one place

Checking accounts belong to a division; card charges are allocated across divisions by rule.

  • Bank exports (CSV)
  • Credit cards
  • Stripe
  • QuickBooks general ledger
  • Invoices
  • Payroll and staff costs
Computed live Helm

One reconciled ledger. Every figure recomputed on request — nothing hardcoded, nothing snapshotted.

  • Company and division P&L
  • Monthly P&L with forecast
  • Appraisal and adjusted earnings
  • Saved, versioned reports
Built for

The people who sign off on the numbers

  • 01

    Owners

    See what the business actually earned, by division, without waiting for month-end.

  • 02

    Accountants and CPAs

    Books that foot to the return, with filed years locked and every figure traceable to the ledger.

  • 03

    Multi-division businesses

    Shared costs split by rule, and divisions that always reconcile back to net income.

FAQ

Questions about Helm

Where does Helm get its data?

From bank and card exports, Stripe revenue and the QuickBooks general ledger, with invoices, payroll and staff costs attributed to divisions. Data from a legacy system such as Airtable can be migrated in.

How does Helm stay reconciled to the tax return?

Every figure is recomputed from the ledger each time you look — nothing is hardcoded or snapshotted — and baseline tests fail the build if the reconciled total drifts by a single cent.

What happens to a year once it's filed?

It's locked. Edits to a reconciled year are rejected, and imports reject any row dated in a filed year, so the numbers behind a return can't change after the fact.

How are transactions categorized?

A rules engine learns from merchant names and keywords, splits shared costs across divisions and scores its own confidence. Anything it can't place confidently goes to a review queue, and every answer there becomes a rule for future transactions.

How do bank imports work?

In two steps: upload a bank export, preview exactly what will be written, then commit. Duplicates are skipped and malformed rows are rejected.

How does Helm handle multiple divisions?

Checking accounts belong to a division, card charges are allocated across divisions by rule, and anything unallocated is shown as its own reconciliation line — so the divisions always add back up to net income.

What's the difference between reported profit and adjusted earnings?

Reported profit is the filed P&L. Adjusted earnings add owner add-backs — such as interest, contributions, life insurance and retirement contributions — for appraisal purposes. Helm shows both, and the appraisal view never changes the filed P&L.

Does Helm forecast the year?

Yes. Full-year forecasts are built from actuals to date, and months still in progress are shown faded so incomplete data is never read as a trend.

Can we export reports?

Yes. The P&L exports as a spreadsheet-ready CSV, and every report is saved as a snapshot of the moment it ran — re-running creates a new one and leaves the old one exactly as it was.

How can we see Helm on our own numbers?

Request a demo and we'll walk through Helm with you.

Related

Where Helm fits

See Helm running on your own numbers.

Request a demo