About Us

BooksTime  ➞  About Us
Our Story
BooksTime was founded by the husband-and-wife team Sonya Livshits, a CPA who previously worked at some of the world’s leading accounting firms, and Jacob Livshits, a technology entrepreneur.

Sonya and Jacob noticed that small businesses often struggle to find a good bookkeeping solution.

Big companies have large departments dedicated to keeping financial records, generating reports, running payroll, paying bills, and similar back-office tasks — but small companies can’t afford to hire teams of expensive employees to do this work.
1/4
Instead, they end up spending their own precious time bogged down in QuickBooks, trying to muddle through. It’s stressful, because small mistakes can cause big issues. Plus, it distracts business owners from focusing on what they do best.

Sonya and Jacob knew there had to be a better way.

They noticed that some small business owners hire employees to take care of the bookkeeping. However, there’s no backup when an employee takes time off, and employees come with all sorts of hidden costs: training and management time, recruiting costs, steep taxes, and paid time off just to mention a few.
2/4
Our Story
Most importantly, when hiring a bookkeeper, many small business owners feel they have to choose between qualifications and affordability. They don’t want to trust their critical financial operations to someone without the necessary professional skills and training, but bookkeepers who have these qualifications tend to be more expensive than a small business can afford.

As a result, lots of businesses try to outsource their bookkeeping. However, too many outsourced bookkeeping services only offer a narrow range of services, or overly-standardized services that don’t adapt to meet the unique needs of each business.
3/4
Even worse, many outsourcing companies cut corners and hire inexperienced or unreliable bookkeepers.

Sonya and Jacob founded BooksTime to change all of that. BooksTime offers reliable, personalized bookkeeping services at prices that every business can afford. We take pride in our work and in our mission to enable small businesses everywhere to thrive.
4/4
Our Story
BooksTime was founded by the husband-and-wife team Sonya Livshits, a CPA who previously worked at some of the world’s leading accounting firms, and Jacob Livshits, a technology entrepreneur.

Sonya and Jacob noticed that small businesses often struggle to find a good bookkeeping solution.

Big companies have large departments dedicated to keeping financial records, generating reports, running payroll, paying bills, and similar back-office tasks — but small companies can’t afford to hire teams of expensive employees to do this work.
1/4
Our Story
Instead, they end up spending their own precious time bogged down in QuickBooks, trying to muddle through. It’s stressful, because small mistakes can cause big issues. Plus, it distracts business owners from focusing on what they do best.

Sonya and Jacob knew there had to be a better way.

They noticed that some small business owners hire employees to take care of the bookkeeping. However, there’s no backup when an employee takes time off, and employees come with all sorts of hidden costs: training and management time, recruiting costs, steep taxes, and paid time off just to mention a few.
2/4
Our Story
Most importantly, when hiring a bookkeeper, many small business owners feel they have to choose between qualifications and affordability. They don’t want to trust their critical financial operations to someone without the necessary professional skills and training, but bookkeepers who have these qualifications tend to be more expensive than a small business can afford.

As a result, lots of businesses try to outsource their bookkeeping. However, too many outsourced bookkeeping services only offer a narrow range of services, or overly-standardized services that don’t adapt to meet the unique needs of each business.
3/4
Our Story
Even worse, many outsourcing companies cut corners and hire inexperienced or unreliable bookkeepers. Sonya and Jacob founded BooksTime to change all of that. BooksTime offers reliable, personalized bookkeeping services at prices that every business can afford. We take pride in our work and in our mission to enable small businesses everywhere to thrive.
4/4
People
Sonya Livshits
Owner and Co-Founder, Chief Service Advisor
Sonya is a CPA with an MBA and over a decade of public accounting experience in senior roles at elite audit firms and professional service companies. In her 8 years at KPMG, Sonya supervised audit teams, oversaw an IPO of over $200 million in NASDAQ, and advised clients in both public and privately held companies. Starting in 2009, Sonya served as Chief Controller at a Boston-based forex startup that now has offices in three countries and monthly trading volume of $7 billion. Before joining BooksTime, Sonya was a Manager in the Financial Services Office at Ernst & Young, where she was in charge of corporate audit functions at State Street Corporation and its subsidiaries, one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors. Sonya is certified by Intuit as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
People
Jacob Livshits
Co-Founder, Executive Chair
Jacob, who also goes by Yakov, is a graduate of University of Oxford, Technion, and MIT. Before becoming a serial entrepreneur, Jacob managed R&D at software giant Nuance Communications, which powers speech applications such as the iPhone's Siri, and also developed network security solutions at Check Point Software Technologies, the largest pure-play computer security vendor in the world. Over the last twelve years, Jacob has founded four financial services and financial information companies in the US and around the world. He recently competed in an Ironman triathlon in Israel.
People
Jesse Gildesgame
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Before coming to BooksTime, Jesse was Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Language International, a Harvard Business School startup that helps language students find and enroll in language courses around the world. Jesse is responsible for making sure BooksTime achieves its mission to make top-quality accounting and bookkeeping services affordable for every small business. Jesse is a graduate of Bowdoin College.
People
Jenn Page
Vice President
Jenn is an accountant with over 15 years of experience working with small businesses. She is certified by Intuit as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Before coming to BooksTime, Jenn worked as (among other roles):

  • - A finance manager at a management company, where she oversaw services for 11 client companies in multiple states
  • - An accountant and manager at a small chocolate & candy business
  • - A controller at a large law firm
  • - A business analysis and compliance coordinator at a multi-million dollar international reinsurance company employing 225 people

She has expertise in a broad range of accounting and other software, including QuickBooks, Peachtree / Sage 50c, Wind2 / Deltek, Aderant, Visibility, and more.
Sonya is a CPA with an MBA and over a decade of public accounting experience in senior roles at elite audit firms and professional service companies. In her 8 years at KPMG, Sonya supervised audit teams, oversaw an IPO of over $200 million in NASDAQ, and advised clients in both public and privately held companies. Starting in 2009, Sonya served as Chief Controller at a Boston-based forex startup that now has offices in three countries and monthly trading volume of $7 billion. Before joining BooksTime, Sonya was a Manager in the Financial Services Office at Ernst & Young, where she was in charge of corporate audit functions at State Street Corporation and its subsidiaries, one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors. Sonya is certified by Intuit as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
Jacob, who also goes by Yakov, is a graduate of University of Oxford, Technion, and MIT. Before becoming a serial entrepreneur, Jacob managed R&D at software giant Nuance Communications, which powers speech applications such as the iPhone's Siri, and also developed network security solutions at Check Point Software Technologies, the largest pure-play computer security vendor in the world. Over the last twelve years, Jacob has founded four financial services and financial information companies in the US and around the world. He recently competed in an Ironman triathlon in Israel.
Before coming to BooksTime, Jesse was Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Language International, a Harvard Business School startup that helps language students find and enroll in language courses around the world. Jesse is responsible for making sure BooksTime achieves its mission to make top-quality accounting and bookkeeping services affordable for every small business. Jesse is a graduate of Bowdoin College.
Jenn is an accountant with over 15 years of experience working with small businesses. She is certified by Intuit as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Before coming to BooksTime, Jenn worked as (among other roles):

  • - A finance manager at a management company, where she oversaw services for 11 client companies in multiple states
  • - An accountant and manager at a small chocolate & candy business
  • - A controller at a large law firm
  • - A business analysis and compliance coordinator at a multi-million dollar international reinsurance company employing 225 people

She has expertise in a broad range of accounting and other software, including QuickBooks, Peachtree / Sage 50c, Wind2 / Deltek, Aderant, Visibility, and more.
US Team
Us team image Sarada Junquera
Senior Accountant
Us team image Jonathan Farrington
Client Service Associate
Us team image
Jane Milovanova
Project Manager
Us team image George Mastaby
Senior Accountant
Us team image John Nocera
Senior Accountant
Us team image Alicia Hammersmith
Director of Strategic Initiatives/Senior Accountant
Us team image Jocelyn Painatt
Senior Accountant
Us team image Marisela Perez-Cruz
Client Service Associate
Us team image Cathi Green
Senior Accountant
Us team image Janice Dawkins
Client Service Associate
Us team image Carson Bybee
IT Lead
Us team image Zubair Bashir
Senior Accountant
Us team image Tamara Zishuk
Director of Operations
Us team image Kiran Patel
Senior Accountant
Us team image Sheri Hodinko
Senior Accountant
Us team image Luke Jeppsen
IT Specialist
With BooksTime, you can choose to work with bookkeepers in our US team, or in one of our overseas offices, or a combination of both.
Click here to learn more about which option would be best for you
Choose Your Option

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A bookkeeping expert will contact you during business hours to discuss your needs.

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