THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408230136
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
IF IT WERE UP to Janet Carlisle, the world would be a more balanced place.
Or, at the very least, checkbooks would be balanced on a monthly basis.
Carlisle is the owner of The Balanced Account, a business where she picks up a customer's checkbook, and statement, balances it, and then returns it the next day.
``If you've overdrawn your account once a month, then that'll pretty much pay for my service,'' said Carlisle, 31.
She started the business almost five years ago in her Thalia home and has about 19 customers on a monthly basis, including four small businesses that use her services for bookkeeping.
``I have customers who just don't want to do it, they're very busy. They know it needs to be done, but they're too busy,'' Carlisle said.
For about $25, Carlisle will match a checking account statement with a checkbook register. If there are discrepancies, she'll run interference with the bank to find the problem.
``I'm more than happy to call,'' said Carlisle, a Virginia Beach native and 1981 graduate of Princess Anne High School. ``I've even gone by other peoples' banks and picked up more information if I needed to.''
As for the small-business bookkeeping, Carlisle typically charges about $35 for once-a-month balancing jobs. However, bookkeeping is much more involved, she said, therefore she charges depending on how big the business is and how in depth its bookkeeping needs are.
Carlisle works all month on checkbooks because each customer's statement arrives at a different time. Typically, depending on how meticulous the customer is, she spends a couple of hours each day with her adding machine and papers spread out on a kitchen table in her home, adding and subtracting to find a balance.
``It's amazing the amount of people that just let those bank statements pile up,'' said Carlisle, who one time was given two years of bank statements by a customer who wanted her to find a pricey account error.
It's not unusual, Carlisle said, to get a checkbook with a register that hasn't even been recorded. ``I can still match the canceled checks with the statement to get a balance. That way, at least you know the bank isn't making errors on your account.''
There are very few cases, she said, where she is unable to return the checkbook the next day.
Carlisle has retrieved checkbooks from behind plants, doormats and even secretaries. She has one customer, a real estate agent, she has worked with for two years but has never met.
As for confidentiality, Carlisle spent 10 years working in a bank and knows that confidentiality is a must.
``I don't look at who the checks are written to,'' she said. ``I just look at the amount and the bank statement. When you work at a bank for 10 years you know everything's confidential. It's just second nature to you.''
She also knows the ins and outs of the banking world. For instance, a check over six months old should not clear an account.
Before her first child, Joshua, now 4, was born, she found herself bringing work home from the office because there was ``no time'' during banking hours to work on personal accounts for customers.
When she became pregnant, she decided that she wanted to stay at home with her child.
``I retired the day he was born,'' she said. ``I thought maybe there was a need for this type of service. The business developed out of that need.''
Carlisle already had clients from her banking job, and through word of mouth, she's taken on more.
``My customers, they're a nice group of people and I know about them, their kids, their husbands,'' she said. ``I've been through their weddings and divorces.''
Carlisle credits her mom, Audrey Davis, with teaching her how to balance a checkbook at age 15. Audrey Davis, who lives across the street from Carlisle and her husband, John, often watches her daughter's two children if Carlisle has a heavy workload.
Carlisle has no intentions of returning to the working world, other than to continue her trips to collect checkbooks.
``It's nice, fun extra money for my children, and I enjoy it. It keeps me from doing something other than changing diapers all day long,'' said Carlisle, who also has a 16-month-old daughter, Jessica. ``I'm very lucky that this just all worked out.'' MEMO: The Balanced Account's phone number is 498-1438. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Janet Carlisle balances a customer's checkbook in the comfort of her
own kitchen. The former bank employee started her at-home business
when her first child was born.
by CNB