Finance for foreign-owned U.S. companies
Bookkeeping, tax and CFO. For foreign-owned U.S. companies.
Most founders running a U.S. company from abroad buy five vendors and inherit the gaps between them. Prolify runs the books the filings are made from.
Scope
Bookkeeping, tax, payroll and CFO support
Records
One ledger every filing is made from
Pricing
Quoted per company. See the pricing page.
One set of books. Five functions read from it.
| Function | Reads |
|---|---|
| Bookkeeping | monthly close |
| Tax | federal, state and sales |
| Payroll | people and contractors |
| CFO | forecast and runway |
| Cap table | coordinated with partners |
- 0
- Vendors to coordinate between
- 1
- Ledger every filing is made from
- 5
- Finance jobs on one set of books
What a foreign-owned U.S. entity reports. And where the rules for it live.
What a U.S. entity owned from outside the U.S. has to report depends on its entity type, its ownership and the tax year. The form numbers, thresholds and deadlines are set out with the instruction each comes from on the taxes page and in the Form 5472 guide.
One finance function, five jobs.
Bookkeeping and accounting
Books that are current, not reconstructed in April
Monthly bookkeeping and reconciliation, catch-up for the months already behind you, financial statements, and cleanup of an existing set of books.
| Account | State | Txns | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating account | Reconciled | 142 | 0 |
| Stripe payouts | Reconciled | 38 | 0 |
| Card, company | Reconciled | 96 | 0 |
| Owner transfers | Needs a note | 4 | 4 |
Tax
Federal, state and sales-tax filings
Preparation and federal, state and sales-tax filing, planning, and R&D credit work.
| Step | Owner | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Books closed | Prolify | monthly |
| Year-end package | Prolify | prepared |
| Return prepared | Licensed partner | coordinated |
| Return signed | Licensed partner | their responsibility |
Payroll and payments
Paying people and getting paid
Payroll, contractor payouts, invoicing, bill pay, and both sides of the ledger on the same books your filings come from.
- Payroll
- Contractor payments
- Invoicing and bill pay
- Accounts receivable
- Accounts payable
CFO services
The financial questions that come before a raise
Planning, budgeting, forecasting and cash-flow management, plus fundraising preparation and investor reporting when you need them.
- Financial planning and budgeting
- Forecasting
- Cash flow management
- Fundraising preparation
- Investor reporting
Startup finance
The infrastructure diligence looks for
Financial controls and the finance infrastructure a buyer or investor expects to already exist. Cap table and stock administration are coordinated with partner platforms.
- Cap table support
- Stock administration
- Financial controls
- Finance infrastructure
The problem is the gaps, not the vendors.
Each provider is competent inside its own boundary. The failures happen at the handoffs, and a handoff problem is not solved by buying a better vendor for one side of it.
| Vendor | What it does | What it cannot see |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | closes the month | does not know who owns the company |
| Payroll provider | runs payroll | cannot see the filing calendar |
| Tax preparer | receives 12 months in March | rebuilds before filing |
| Cap table tool | issues equity | diverges from the books |
Where we fit, and where we do not.
| Prolify | A specialist startup accounting firm | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | U.S. companies owned from outside the U.S. | U.S.-domiciled, VC-backed startups |
| Pricing | Formation is published; finance services are quoted | Commonly quoted on a sales call |
| Scope | Formation, compliance and finance on one calendar | Finance only, usually deeper within it |
| Board-grade accrual books | Not our strength | Yes, go here instead |
| Audit services | No, we refer | Sometimes |
If you are a U.S.-domiciled startup that has raised institutional capital and needs board-grade accrual accounting, a specialist firm such as Pilot or Kruze is the better choice, and we would rather say so here than waste your call. Competitor pricing models were observed on September 1, 2026 and are not tracked. Check their current terms directly.
Check this is the right fit. In both directions.
Who this is for
If most of these describe you, the fit is good.
- You need U.S. banking and Stripe access from outside the U.S.
- You want a real bookkeeping cadence, not an annual panic.
- Your U.S. entity is foreign-owned and may carry extra reporting.
- You are preparing for fundraising, an acquisition, or diligence.
Who this is not for
If any of these describe you, we will say so rather than sell to you.
- You want the cheapest possible bookkeeping with no oversight.
- You need a full-time in-house CFO. We will refer you.
- You need an audit. We do not perform them and will refer you.
What founders ask before switching.
Do I still need bookkeeping if my U.S. company had no income?
The answer turns on your entity type and your ownership, and we have not published our sourced version of it. Rather than summarise a rule from memory we have marked it pending; it publishes with its primary source.
Can my local accountant handle this instead?
Often for the bookkeeping, rarely for the U.S. filings. The common failure is books kept correctly under local convention that then do not support the U.S. return, so the work is redone at year end.
Who is responsible if a filing is wrong?
The licensed professional who signs a return carries that responsibility.
My books are two years behind. Is that a problem?
No, and it is one of the more common ways companies arrive. Catch-up runs before the ongoing monthly cadence starts.
What is not included?
State fees are quoted separately and never bundled into the plan price. Audit services and any position requiring licensed judgment are referred, not performed in-house.
Put the finance function on one set of books.
Formation plans are published. Finance services are quoted per company.