Bookkeeping for Los Angeles Mental Health Practices
Monthly bookkeeping, catch-up work, and payroll for Los Angeles therapy and mental health practices. You work directly with Aretha.
Bookkeeping From Someone Who Knows Your World
Los Angeles has one of the biggest private practice communities in the country. Therapy offices sit in Sherman Oaks medical buildings, in shared suites along Wilshire, in second-floor rooms in Highland Park and Culver City, and in converted home offices from Woodland Hills to San Pedro. Bookkeeping for mental health professionals is the only thing I do, and I do it for practices across the city.
My name is Aretha Dirde. Before I opened AD Keeps The Books, I spent more than 15 years as a licensed nurse working in mental health, so you will never have to explain what your week looks like or why the money side keeps sliding to the bottom of the list. I’m in Lancaster, a straight shot up the 14, and I work with practice owners remotely. You work with me, not a rotating team.
Monthly Bookkeeping
Monthly Bookkeeping
Transactions categorized, bank and credit card accounts reconciled, and a monthly report set you can read between sessions. Starting at $165 per month, with me available to walk you through anything that looks off.
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
If the books were never done, we record and reconcile the missing months. If they were done and the numbers stopped making sense, we find the mistakes and fix them properly. Either way, you end up with records you can trust.
Payroll When You Have a Team
Payroll When You Have a Team
For group practices with a payroll system already up and running, I process each pay period on time so associates and admin staff are paid right. I don’t handle payroll system setup, so if you still need that built, get it running first and I’ll take it from there.
Tax-Ready All Year
Tax-Ready All Year
I don’t prepare tax returns. What I do is keep your books in the shape your tax preparer needs, so the handoff in the spring takes a phone call instead of three weekends of digging through statements.
Los Angeles Practices I Work With
The practices I see in LA range from one clinician with a full caseload and a waitlist to owners running six or seven associates across two locations. Therapists, counselors, psychologists, clinical social workers, addiction and recovery counselors, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and behavioral health teams. Most of them are good at the clinical work and tired of the bookkeeping.
The shapes differ, and the underlying monthly bookkeeping work looks a lot alike. Deposits from your practice system and card processor have to match what actually hit the bank, business spending has to stay separate from personal, and the reports have to tell you the truth about what the practice earned. If that is what you have been missing, book a consultation with me and we’ll look at where things stand.
Therapists and Counselors
Therapists and Counselors
Session revenue reconciled from your EHR deposits to the bank, private pay and insurance payments landing on different rhythms, sliding scale and cancellation patterns visible in the numbers. You see what a week of clinical hours actually brings in.
Psychologists and Assessment Practices
Psychologists and Assessment Practices
Testing engagements, report writing time, therapy hours, and consulting income often live in the same practice at different rates. I track them so you can see which part of the practice is carrying the rest.
Group Practices and Staff-Heavy Teams
Group Practices and Staff-Heavy Teams
Associate splits and salaries recorded correctly, W-2 staff and 1099 contractors kept straight, year-end 1099s prepared, and reporting that shows margin per clinician. This includes ABA and behavioral health practices with technicians and analysts on the schedule.
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
A lot of LA clinicians see clients online part of the week and in the office the rest. Platform subscriptions, merchant processing fees, and payouts all get reconciled instead of guessed at, and your home office records stay organized for your tax preparer.
Questions About This Area
Do you work with practices all over Los Angeles?
Yes. Westside, the Valley, the eastside, South LA, the Harbor area, all of it. I'm based in Lancaster, about an hour and a half north, and everything is handled remotely, so your office location does not change how the work gets done.
What does monthly bookkeeping cost?
Full-service monthly bookkeeping starts at $165 per month. Your rate depends on how many accounts you have and how much activity runs through them. I'll give you a real number after we talk about your practice.
My books are more than a year behind. Is that a problem?
Not with me. Catch-up work is one of the most common reasons practice owners call. I gather your statements, record and reconcile period by period, and get you current. No lectures about how it got that way.
Do you file my tax return?
No, I don't prepare tax returns. I keep your books clean and tax-ready so your tax preparer has what they need, and I'm happy to answer their questions directly when they come up.
Can you handle payroll and insurance billing?
I run payroll for practices whose payroll system is already set up, so your clinicians and staff get paid on time each period. I don't do insurance billing, claims, credentialing, or coding. Your biller handles that, and I reconcile and record what lands in the bank.
Helping the People Who Help Others
Let's Start With
a Short Conversation
Tell me where your books stand right now, even if the honest answer is that nobody has looked at them in a year. I'll ask a few questions and give you a clear idea of how I can help.
