# Set up your back office in a week

> A week, in order: the EIN, the bank, the books, payroll, bills and invoices, the calendar and the records. Then a monthly close from the first month.

Source: https://lopifi.com/learn/set-up-a-startup-back-office
Part of: Lopifi — US GAAP books on autopilot, checked by a CPA (https://lopifi.com)

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**How do I set up a startup's back office from scratch?** A week, in order: the EIN, the bank, the books, payroll, bills and invoices, the calendar and the records. Then a monthly close from the first month.

Everything in Core can be set up in the company's first week, before the first hire and before the first invoice. Done in order, each day's work is what the next day needs. Northwind did it this way in the first week of September.

1. **Day 1: the number.** Apply for the EIN on IRS.gov, confirm the registered agent and decide the fiscal year. Done when the EIN notice is saved with the certificate of incorporation. Deeper: [the entity and its numbers](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/ein-and-state-registrations) and [choosing an entity](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/which-entity-should-i-choose).
2. **Day 2: the money.** Open the business checking account and the company cards, and fund it with the founders' shares. Done when the founders' $60,000 is in the company account and JE-1 is the first entry. Deeper: [company money, kept apart](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/separate-business-and-personal-money), and [founder stock and vesting](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/founder-stock-and-vesting) for the shares themselves, with the 83(b) election due within 30 days.
3. **Day 3: the books.** Set up the accounting system on the accrual basis, with a chart of accounts and the bank and card feeds. Done when yesterday's transactions are in the ledger, coded. Deeper: [the books, in one lesson](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/how-startup-books-work) and [the chart of accounts](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/accounts-and-the-chart).
4. **Day 4: the people.** Choose a payroll provider or a PEO and register for state payroll accounts wherever employees will work. Done when the first payday is scheduled and each hire has a W-4 and an I-9 ready. Deeper: [hiring your first employee](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/hiring-your-first-employee), [payroll providers and PEOs](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/payroll-provider-vs-peo) and [health insurance](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/does-a-startup-have-to-offer-health-insurance).
5. **Day 5: bills and invoices.** Write down who approves bills and who pays them, collect a W-9 from every vendor and make the invoice template. Done when no bill can be paid by the person who approved it. Deeper: [vendor onboarding](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/vendor-onboarding-w-9-and-tin-matching) and [how to write an invoice](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/how-to-write-an-invoice).
6. **Day 6: the calendar.** Put the year's deadlines in a shared calendar, worked out from the rules. Done when each date has an owner and a reminder two weeks ahead. Deeper: [the founder's annual calendar](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/startup-back-office-calendar) and [the compliance calendar](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/startup-annual-compliance-calendar).
7. **Day 7: the records.** Make one place for records: the certificate, the EIN notice, minutes, contracts, and receipts attached to transactions. Done when anyone can find any document from the books in a minute. Deeper: [keeping the records](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/how-long-to-keep-business-records).

A week to a working back office. Each day ends on something you can check.

*[Figure: books sync]*

The books kept in step with the systems that feed them. Illustrative sync.

> **After the week.** Then it runs on a rhythm. Code and reconcile weekly, close monthly, file quarterly, and do the year-end with the CPA. [The Finance track](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/finance) adds the monthly look forward: [burn and runway](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/how-to-calculate-burn-rate-and-runway), [the budget against actuals](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/budget-vs-actual-variance-analysis) and [the board pack](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/monthly-board-pack).

Two habits carry most of the weight. Keep company money in company accounts, so the bank feed is the whole story and there's no [Commingling](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/commingling) to untangle. Split the work, so the person who approves a payment isn't the one who releases it. Even two founders can keep [segregation of duties](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/segregation-of-duties) that way, and it's the first control a diligence team asks about.

**Wrong:** Use the founder's card for now, keep a spreadsheet, and hire someone to clean it up before the seed round.

**Right:** A week of setup, then a monthly close from the first month, with books that are reconciled and signed off.

Back-office debt compounds. Six months of unreconciled transactions take longer to fix than six months of doing it right, and the fix usually lands in the middle of a fundraise.

> **Set it up in the first week, in order: the number, the money, the books, the people, the bills and invoices, the calendar, the records. Then close every month.**

That's the map. The tracks after Core each take one road on it, taught on the same company and the same month: [Entity types](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/entities) for what the company is, [Accounting](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/accounting) for the books, [Finance](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/finance) for the cash ahead, [Cap tables & raising](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/equity) for who owns it, [Payroll](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/payroll), [AP](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/ap) and [AR](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/ar) for the money moving, [Compliance & tax](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/compliance) for the filings, [Health & benefits](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/benefits) for the plans, and [the R&D tax credit](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/rd-credit) for what a startup's research can earn back.

## Where this lesson's rules come from

- [IRS, Get an employer identification number](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/get-an-employer-identification-number) — Apply for an EIN online, free, from the IRS (irs)
- [IRS Pub. 583 (12/2024), Recording Business Transactions — Business checkbook](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p583) — Open a business account, and keep it separate (irs)
- [Form W-4 (2026)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf) (PDF) — Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate (form)
- [USCIS Form I-9 (Edition 01/20/25), Sections 1 and 2](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9.pdf) (PDF) — Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (form)
- [Form W-9 (Rev. 3-2024)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf) (PDF) — Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification (form)

## Read further

- https://lopifi.com/md/startups/why-close-your-books-monthly
- https://lopifi.com/md/startups/chart-of-accounts-for-startups
- https://lopifi.com/md/startups/company-cards-and-receipts
- https://lopifi.com/md/startups/accounts-payable-process-for-startups
- https://lopifi.com/md/startups/startup-compliance-calendar
- https://lopifi.com/md/startups/audit-ready-books-before-series-a
- https://lopifi.com/md/accounting/close
- https://lopifi.com/md/accounting/chart-of-accounts
- https://lopifi.com/md/accounting/reconciliation

- **Track:** [Back office core](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/core)
- **Lesson:** Lesson 9 of 9 — 7 min
- **Terms taught:** [Commingling](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/commingling), [Segregation of duties](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/segregation-of-duties), [Chart of accounts](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/chart-of-accounts), [Close](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/close), [Reconciliation](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/reconciliation)
- **Previous:** [Keeping the records, Core · Lesson 8](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/how-long-to-keep-business-records)
- **Next:** [The entity menu, Entities · Lesson 1](https://lopifi.com/md/learn/business-entity-types-explained)
- **The course:** https://lopifi.com/md/learn