ClerkBooks, Inc. was started in Fertile, Iowa, a small town of 370 people, as Advantage Business Solutions in 2005. In 2014 we changed our name to align more with our priorities and our software product. Our headquarters are currently located in Garner, Iowa, a town of 3,098 people. We are approximately 120 miles south of Minneapolis and 120 miles north of Des Moines, just 20 miles west of Interstate 35. We also have Support Representatives who work from their homes in multiple States.
ClerkBooks software was originally designed to work with QuickBooks desktop editions. QuickBooks is a commonly used and easy to learn system that many City Clerks use in jobs outside of Government. Therefore, many new City Clerks believe they can use QuickBooks for municipal accounting. However, QuickBooks was never designed to meet GASB fund-accounting requirements. Therefore, back in 2005, we created custom data files and a few external add-on tools to help make QuickBooks desktop editions work for utility billing and fund accounting.
Recently, QuickBooks decided to abandon its tried and true desktop products and is currently in the process of migrating all desktop users to their new online system. Unfortunately, we cannot make even their top tier online edition work for either utility billing or for fund accounting. Therefore, ClerkBooks has developed our own core accounting system as an alternative to QuickBooks. We have completed our beta testing of the new system and are currently installing the Alpha edition of the system with our current ClerkBooks customers. We hope to start offering the new system to new cities soon.
While the new system will work for cities up to a population of 10,000, ClerkBooks is designed from the ground up for Clerks with limited accounting experience located in much smaller cities and towns. Most of our current cities have populations ranging from 250-2500.
The Founder and CEO of ClerkBooks has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He has over 35 years of accounting and management experience in wholesale, retail, non-profit and governmental activities. He was a City Clerk/Treasurer for 8 years. He has completed the course work for both the Certified Municipal Clerk and the Certified Municipal Finance Officer certifications through the Municipal Professional’s Institute.
In fact, all of our support representatives have accounting degrees; have formally been City Clerks, City Treasurers and/or City Auditors; and have completed or have attended the Municipal Professional’s Institute.
Therefore, ClerkBooks software and services have been designed with a full understanding of what your City faces every day.
While ClerkBooks started in Iowa, it has now been customized for 25 states. Be the first city in your state to use ClerkBooks and receive 30 days of free support!