We are a bookkeeper in Hauppauge, NY working with the manufacturers, distributors, and trade contractors in and around the Long Island Innovation Park. That means job costing that survives a real quote, inventory that ties to a count, and Suffolk County sales tax filed at the right rate. Our Melville office is about ten minutes down the LIE.
Ten minutes from the Innovation Park, off LIE Exit 51 or 52
Job costing and work in progress for shops that quote fixed prices
Inventory reconciled to a count, not to a guess
Suffolk sales tax at 8.75 percent, filed on schedule
The Long Island Innovation Park, or a shop floor in it.
Overview
We are a bookkeeper in Hauppauge, NY working with the manufacturers, distributors, and trade contractors in and around the Long Island Innovation Park. That means job costing that survives a real quote, inventory that ties to a count, and Suffolk County sales tax filed at the right rate. Our Melville office is about ten minutes down the LIE.
Job costing in ninety seconds
Video coming soon
Where the margin goes on a fixed quote
Why labour, materials, and subcontract cost have to land on the job as they happen, shown on a real quote.
[confirm length once filmed]
Bookkeeping for the Hauppauge Innovation Park
The Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge is the largest industrial park in the Northeast, with roughly 1,300 companies and over 55,000 employees according to HIA-LI, the park's own industry association. The businesses inside it are mostly light manufacturing, contract assembly, distribution, and the trades that serve them, and they share a set of accounting problems that a general bookkeeper usually does not touch.
Job costing that holds up. If you quote fixed prices, your margin lives in the gap between the quote and the actual. That gap is invisible unless labor, materials, and subcontract cost are booked to the job as they happen. Most shops we pick up are booking all three to one expense account and finding out at year end.
Inventory that ties to a count. Raw material, work in progress, and finished goods are three different balances. Booking every purchase straight to cost of goods sold overstates cost in a buying month and understates it in a selling month, which makes every monthly margin figure meaningless.
Equipment, and how it is financed. A machine on a capital lease is an asset and a liability. Booked as rent, it disappears off the balance sheet, and the depreciation that should have reduced your tax bill never gets claimed.
Suffolk County sales tax for a Hauppauge business
Hauppauge is in Suffolk, so the rate is 8.75 percent. That is the state 4 percent, the county portion, the MCTD surcharge that applies because Suffolk is inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District, and the county increase that took effect on 1 March 2025, which raised the county share from 4.25 to 4.375 percent.
Two things catch Hauppauge businesses specifically. Manufacturers selling to distributors are usually making exempt sales for resale, which is only defensible if the resale certificate was collected at the time of the sale. And a shop that installs what it manufactures may be doing capital improvement work, which is treated differently from a repair. Both of those are documentation problems more than calculation problems, and documentation is easier to keep than to reconstruct.
Payroll and the MCTMT
A shop in the park with a floor crew usually crosses the MCTMT threshold, which starts once quarterly payroll expense across the district passes 312,500 dollars. Nassau and Suffolk sit in Zone 2, where the employer rate steps up with payroll: 0.055 percent at the bottom, 0.635 percent above 2.5 million dollars of quarterly payroll. Crossing a bracket mid-year is the part that surprises people.
The other payroll question in a manufacturing shop is classification. Bringing in help as a contractor during a busy run is common and is often the right call, and it is also the thing New York looks at hardest. We review the arrangement as it actually works rather than as the invoice describes it, and we tell you where it is thin.
What this looks like in practice
These are the situations we are typically brought in to fix on Long Island. Details are generalised, and we never publish a client's business.
1
A contract machine shop in the Innovation Park
Hauppauge, Suffolk County
What we found
Every purchase booked straight to cost of goods sold and no work in progress balance, so monthly margin swung between 9 and 44 percent with no relation to the work done.
What we did
Built raw material, work in progress, and finished goods as separate balances, and moved labor and materials onto the job as they were incurred. Reconciled to a physical count at the start.
Where it landed
Monthly margin settled into a real range. Two long-running jobs turned out to be losing money at the quoted price, which the owner had suspected for a year without being able to show it.
2
An electrical contractor off Motor Parkway
Hauppauge, Suffolk County
What we found
Capital improvement jobs and repair jobs invoiced identically, with no exemption certificates on file for the improvement work.
What we did
Split the job types at the quoting stage so the paperwork is created with the job, and put a certificate collection step into the invoicing process.
Where it landed
The exempt jobs are now documented at the time rather than reconstructed later, which is the difference between a defensible position and an assessment.
What it costs
A flat monthly fee, quoted from your transaction volume, your accounts, and whether you run payroll. You get the number in writing before any work starts. Catch-up work is quoted separately so it does not inflate the ongoing fee.
Basics
$250per month
Solo owners and single-location businesses under about $50k of monthly expenses.
Monthly bank and card reconciliation
Expense categorization with bank rules
Profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow every month
Sales tax return prepared and filed at your county rate
Ro Sokhi is a New York licensed CPA. The person who signs off on your numbers is the person who can tell you what they mean for your tax bill.
Flat monthly fee
You know the number before the month starts. No hourly meter, no surprise invoice for a phone call in March.
On Long Island, not a call center
Staffed offices in Melville and Hicksville. We will come to the shop if the shoebox is easier to hand over than to scan.
Catch-up work is normal here
Most businesses that call us are behind. Some by a quarter, some by three years. That is the job, and it is quoted separately so the monthly fee stays clean.
Our offices
Both offices are staffed. Most work happens electronically wherever you are, and the offices are there for the businesses that would rather hand something over in person.
Suffolk County Office
68 S Service Rd #100 Melville, NY 11747
On the South Service Road off the LIE, serving Suffolk County and eastern Long Island.
Sales tax rates by county.Publication 718: New York State Publication 718 lists the combined rate for every jurisdiction, including Nassau at 8.625 percent and Suffolk at 8.75 percent.
Suffolk's rate change.Sales tax rates bulletin: Suffolk raised its local rate from 4.25 to 4.375 percent effective March 1, 2025, which is why the two counties no longer match.
Clothing under $110.Publication 718-C: Publication 718-C sets out which localities exempt clothing and footwear under $110 and which continue to tax their local portion.
MCTMT employer rates.MCTMT employer rates: The payroll expense threshold and the Zone 2 bracket rates that apply to Nassau and Suffolk employers.
CPA licence verification.NYSED licence register: The New York State Education Department register, where any CPA licence can be checked, including ours.
Every rate on this page links to the New York State authority that publishes it. Figures are current as of the date shown above. They explain how the numbers work and are not tax advice for your situation.
Local resources
HIA-LI The Innovation Park's industry association, and the best route into the business community there.
Every rate on this page links to the New York State authority that publishes it. Figures are current as of the date shown above. They explain how the numbers work and are not tax advice for your situation.
Questions
Do you work with businesses inside the Innovation Park?
Yes, and it is most of what we do in Hauppauge. The park is largely light manufacturing, distribution, and contract assembly, which means job costing, inventory, and equipment financing rather than straightforward retail bookkeeping.
Can you handle inventory?
Yes. Raw material, work in progress, and finished goods get tracked as separate balances and reconciled to a count. Booking purchases straight to cost of goods sold is the shortcut that makes monthly margin figures useless, and it is the first thing we unwind.
How far is your office from Hauppauge?
About ten minutes. The Melville office is at 68 S Service Rd, on the South Service Road of the LIE, so it is a straight run down the service road from the park.
How much does a bookkeeper cost on Long Island?
Our plans start at $250 a month for a solo owner and run to $850 for a multi-entity business, set by your monthly expense volume rather than by the hour. You get the number in writing before any work starts. Independent bookkeepers on Long Island often quote hourly, which looks cheaper until a busy month arrives; a flat fee is a number you can budget.
My books are two years behind. Is that a problem?
It is the most common reason people call. We work backwards from the last filed return, rebuild the periods in between, and reconcile to the bank rather than to whatever the prior file says. You get a clean starting balance and a written list of what changed. Catch-up is quoted as a one-time project, usually one to two months of the recurring fee.
Do you file sales tax returns?
Yes, and on Long Island that matters more than most places. Nassau charges 8.625 percent and Suffolk charges 8.75 percent, so a business selling in both counties collects at two rates and has to report them separately. We register you if you are not registered, review what you are collecting, and file on whatever schedule the state has put you on.
Are you a CPA firm?
Ro Sokhi is individually licensed as a CPA in New York and leads the work. The operating entity is a business corporation and is not registered with NYSED as a public accounting firm, so we do not perform audits, reviews, or compilations. If your bank or a buyer needs assurance work we will tell you plainly and point you to a registered firm.
What is the difference between a bookkeeper and a CPA?
A bookkeeper records what happened. A CPA is licensed, can represent you before the IRS, and can tell you what the numbers mean for your tax position and your decisions. Most small businesses are sold one or the other. Here the bookkeeping is done to a standard a CPA is willing to sign off on, and the same person handles the return.
Do you work with QuickBooks, or do I have to switch?
QuickBooks Online for most clients, and Xero where a business is already on it. We do not force a migration for its own sake. If you are on spreadsheets, a shoebox, or a system your last bookkeeper set up badly, that is a normal starting point and we will move you when moving is worth it.
How long does it take to get started?
A first call takes about twenty minutes and a quote follows the same day. Once you accept, we need read-only access to your bank and card feeds and your last filed return. Most businesses are fully onboarded inside two weeks; a business needing catch-up work takes longer, and we tell you how much longer before you commit.
Do we have to meet in person?
Only if you want to. Most clients send documents electronically and talk to us on a call. The Melville and Hicksville offices are there for the businesses that would rather hand over a box of receipts than scan them, and for anyone who wants to meet the person doing the work before handing over the books.
Can you handle payroll as well as the books?
Yes. We process payroll, file the NYS-45, and track the MCTMT, which applies here because Nassau and Suffolk are inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District. We also review worker classification, because contractors who work like employees are the payroll issue New York challenges most often.
What happens if I get a letter from New York State or the IRS?
Send it to us the day it arrives. Most notices are routine and are resolved with a reconciliation and a reply. Ro is a CPA and holds unlimited representation rights before the IRS, so if a notice turns into something more, you are not looking for help at that point.
Are you taking new clients right now?
Yes. We keep the client list small enough that the same person reviews your file every month, so there are periods when onboarding runs a few weeks out, and we tell you that on the first call rather than after you sign.