A local accounting expert with a healthy background in the field recently began her own freelance service, opening her door to any local business hoping to get or keep their books in order.

Kiva Muskopf has spent much of her life moving around Southern Illinois, though she settled down in Monroe County roughly 20 years ago, her kids attending Waterloo schools and her family now enjoying Fults as their home.

She attended Greenville University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, focusing her studies around business management and accounting.

“I always wanted to combine those two and just kind of have my own service,” Muskopf said. “It just came to be a good time to do that in my life.”

Muskopf recalled working at a number of companies previously, particularly spending time with the accounting firm Brown Smith Wallace which has since been acquired by the larger firm Armanino.

Her most recent work had her at Red Bud Regional Hospital.

“Worked there in the accounting department in all those locations, just gaining experience with corporate accounting with an emphasis in accounts payable and accounts receivable,” Muskopf said.

As she left the hospital, Muskopf earned her certification and established her own bookkeping solutions service in July – something she’d long been interested in getting off the ground.

“It was always kind of a goal in mind as I gained experience, both with QuickBooks and accounting in general,” Muskopf said. “I kind of had this in the back of my mind. I didn’t know if I’d get a chance to do it. With my husband’s support, I’m taking this opportunity.”

Muskopf offers a small range of services to suit the needs of any businesses or organizations interested in her help.

With her diagnostic review and clean-up/catch-up options, she seeks to provide new clients with a thorough overview of their financial data. She also offers monthly bookkeeping for business owners looking to get her help on a more regular basis rather than just in preparation for tax season or some other large milestone.

She emphasized the importance of helping clients truly understand the information she reviews for them, allowing them to see or pursue tangible goals from data that can otherwise feel rather confusing.

“I hope to help people understand their financial reports,” Muskopf said. “It’s not just about data entry. It’s about understanding what the numbers mean and helping to use that information to help small businesses make bigger bangs for their buck, help them understand inefficiencies, where their strengths are and be able to answer questions that help them guide their decisions for their business.”

Speaking further on her services, Muskopf stressed the importance and value of having an expert such as herself to review a business’s books.

While some business owners might feel as though they’re losing control in some way by sharing their financial information with a bookkeeper, Muskopf remarked that the knowledge and understanding she’s able to provide upon reviewing an organization’s financials actually provides much greater control given the insight she’s able to share.

She further commented that while accounting and financials might be greatly automated and AI-influenced today, the work she does is still best done with a human touch.

“As automated as bookkeeping may sound, you need the human to make sure that the details and the classifications actually are the way that you want them to be,” Muskopf said. “I add a human aspect to it.”

As she moves forward with her business, Muskopf said she’s hopeful to work more and more with those small business owners in the area, acquiring even more insight into what local organizations need to succeed.

She added that her approach to bookkeeping really centers around building a partnership with clients.

“To me, accounting is not just a support role,” Muskopf said. “It’s a partnership with the business owner to find out, to know where they want to go and how we can get there.”

For more information, visit kivamuskopf.com or email kiva@kivamuskopf.com. She can also be reached at 618-978-4417.