Fondo Production Checklist

Overview

Fondo handles startup tax preparation, R&D credit claims, bookkeeping, and compliance filings. A production integration syncs financial data from banking, payroll, and expense platforms into Fondo for automated tax workflows. Failures mean missed filing deadlines, incorrect R&D credit claims, or unreconciled books that block board reporting.

Prerequisites

• A finance owner, authorized reviewer, completed staging evidence using synthetic data, and documented rollback/correction process.
• Approved data flows, retention rules, access controls, filing calendar, and escalation contacts.

Instructions

1. Attach evidence or a named owner decision to each applicable control and maintain professional review for financial/tax conclusions.
2. Verify scoped secrets, source reconciliation, redacted diagnostics, access boundaries, and safe failure handling before promotion.
3. Run a synthetic canary and review aggregate health, delivery, and reconciliation results; halt on discrepancy or access failures.
4. Record approval, exceptions, correction/rollback owner, and follow-up date.

Output

Create a launch receipt with completed controls, evidence references, aggregate canary results, approver, exception status, and recovery owner. Exclude financial records, tax data, payroll data, and credentials.

Examples

Process a fictional expense export in staging, simulate an incomplete reconciliation, and verify the workflow pauses for finance review. Promote only after the reviewer records evidence and the rollback/correction path has been tested.

Authentication & Secrets

• [ ] FONDO_API_KEY stored in secrets manager (not config files)
• [ ] Financial integration OAuth tokens stored securely (Stripe, Mercury, Brex)
• [ ] Key rotation scheduled before each tax season
• [ ] Separate credentials for staging/prod environments
• [ ] Payroll provider API tokens scoped to read-only

API Integration

• [ ] Production base URL configured (https://api.fondo.com/v1)
• [ ] Rate limit handling with exponential backoff
• [ ] All bank accounts connected and syncing (verified daily)
• [ ] Payroll provider connected with W-2 and 1099 data flowing
• [ ] Revenue sources synced (Stripe, invoicing platforms)
• [ ] Expense tool integrations verified (Brex, Ramp, Expensify)
• [ ] Bookkeeping categorization queue drained before close

Error Handling & Resilience

• [ ] Circuit breaker configured for Fondo API outages
• [ ] Retry with backoff for 429/5xx responses
• [ ] Bank sync failure detection within 24 hours
• [ ] Intercompany transaction reconciliation validated
• [ ] R&D qualifying activity documentation verified programmatically
• [ ] Filing deadline alerts set 30/14/7 days before due dates

Monitoring & Alerting

• [ ] API latency tracked per sync endpoint
• [ ] Error rate alerts set (any financial sync failure = immediate)
• [ ] Monthly close completion tracked (all 12 months before year-end)
• [ ] R&D credit calculation validated against employee tags
• [ ] Extension filing status monitored (Form 7004 before March 15)

Validation Script

async function checkFondoReadiness(): Promise<void> {
  const checks: { name: string; pass: boolean; detail: string }[] = [];
  // API connectivity
  try {
    const res = await fetch('https://api.fondo.com/v1/status', {
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FONDO_API_KEY}` },
    });
    checks.push({ name: 'Fondo API', pass: res.ok, detail: res.ok ? 'Connected' : `HTTP ${res.status}` });
  } catch (e: any) { checks.push({ name: 'Fondo API', pass: false, detail: e.message }); }
  // Credentials present
  checks.push({ name: 'API Key Set', pass: !!process.env.FONDO_API_KEY, detail: process.env.FONDO_API_KEY ? 'Present' : 'MISSING' });
  // Bank sync status
  try {
    const res = await fetch('https://api.fondo.com/v1/integrations/status', {
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FONDO_API_KEY}` },
    });
    const data = await res.json();
    const active = data?.integrations?.filter((i: any) => i.status === 'active').length || 0;
    checks.push({ name: 'Active Integrations', pass: active >= 2, detail: `${active} connected` });
  } catch (e: any) { checks.push({ name: 'Active Integrations', pass: false, detail: e.message }); }
  for (const c of checks) console.log(`[${c.pass ? 'PASS' : 'FAIL'}] ${c.name}: ${c.detail}`);
}
checkFondoReadiness();

Error Handling

Resources

• Fondo TaxPass
• IRS Form 1120

Next Steps

See fondo-security-basics for financial data protection and compliance controls.