QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping is a subscription service that gives a business a certified bookkeeper to help manage the company books. There is a $500 cleanup fee to get started, which pays to get your books up to date, and then you pay $200 to $400 per month for the service. During your first appointment, your bookkeeper gives you a quick tour of QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping and helps you set up your chart of accounts, connect your banks, and upload your documents. Once they have all the required information, they’ll start cleanup, which include categorizing transactions and reconciling accounts. Cleanup takes about 30 days from the time they receive everything they need from you.
You’ll need to provide QuickBooks with a receipt for the transaction in question, correspondence from your outside tax accountant, or a document stating the balance of the account if an account balance is in question. Your bookkeeper can run detailed reports that give you a clear view of your business, so you have the info you need to make informed decisions and feel confident at tax time. Next, your bookkeeper will take on the monthly management of your books. First, a bookkeeper reviews your chart of accounts and past transactions to bring your books up to date. With QuickBooks Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping, a dedicated bookkeeper will get to know your business, bring your past books up to date, and do your book for you, start to finish. You can cancel your QuickBooks Live plan or upgrade from Live Expert Assisted to Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping at anytime.
Activate QuickBooks Live within QuickBooks Online by clicking on Live Bookkeeping from the left navigation bar, as indicated below. After you sign up, you’ll provide QuickBooks with information about your business, and accounting for intercorporate investments within a few minutes, you’ll be matched with a bookkeeper who has expertise in your industry. In addition to having a dedicated professional, you’ll have access to an extended bookkeeping team if you have any questions. Those who left a QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping review appreciate that their dedicated bookkeeper not only performs ongoing maintenance of their books but also helps them get set up and fix past errors. Also, reviewers said that they like the ability to speak with a live person with various communication preferences, including one-way video conferencing.
How QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping Stacks Up
- Ongoing communication is available at any time via document sharing and live chat, either with your bookkeeper or a member of your bookkeeper’s team.
- The Fit Small Business editorial policy is rooted in the company’s mission, which is to deliver the best answers to people’s questions.
- Expert Assisted is a monthly subscription service that requires a QBO subscription and provides expert help to answer your questions related to the books that you maintain full ownership and control.
- At the end of each month, your bookkeeper will send you PDF copies of key financial reports, including your balance sheet and P&L statement.
- And, QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping comes with an “Accurate Books Guarantee” to cover any errors made by your Live Bookkeeper (some exceptions apply).
QuickBooks vets bookkeepers to ensure they are certified in QuickBooks accounting software and have the experience to manage accounts. Having a dedicated bookkeeper means that the business maintains the continuity of one person who learns the ins and outs of the company and what the business owner needs by way of reporting. With the new QuickBooks Live Tax, you can choose whether to do your taxes with expert assistance or have experts do them for you.
Most users meet virtually with their bookkeeper once or twice per month. There’s no set amount of time each month that you can spend with your bookkeeper, but you can only schedule one appointment at a time. You can also chat live with a member of your bookkeeper’s extended team at any time. We evaluated whether the online bookkeeping service offered tax and consulting, and the scope of those services. While QuickBooks Online does have its own free mobile app—which allows you to enter transactions, evaluating a company’s balance sheet record expenses, invoice customers, and send reports—the app cannot access QuickBooks Live features.
Communicate with your bookkeeper through the Document and Request Center
These criteria were disregarded for providers where no reviews were found. Because each plan depends on many factors, we looked at the value provided in terms of the time and potential money that you’re saving by using the service. You’ll also see a step-by-step task list maintained by your bookkeeper, which shows the tasks that have been completed. Using the QuickBooks Live service is often cheaper than hiring an independent bookkeeper who will likely charge you hourly, which makes budgeting the expense a chore as it probably will change monthly. If you have historical records for your business, we’ll review your books during your first appointment to see if you’re eligible.
Frequently asked questions
You’ll also need to give them descriptions of any established capitalization or accounting policies for your business. They can also send PDF copies of key financial reports including your profit and loss statement and balance sheet. In the cleanup/setup phase, your bookkeeper helps you set up your chart of accounts, connects your banks, and teaches you the basics of QuickBooks. If you have information in QuickBooks already, your bookkeeper will help clean it up in the first month of service. Eric is an accounting and bookkeeping expert for Fit Small Business. He has a CPA license in the Philippines and a BS in Accountancy graduate at Silliman University.
To downgrade from Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping, you may need to wait until the end of your current subscription billing period. The first month of service with QuickBooks Live is dedicated to onboarding and cleaning your books. It is custom-priced based on the amount of cleanup your books require. You’ll still need to manage tasks for your business like sending invoices, paying bills, and managing inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. If you invoke the guarantee, QuickBooks will conduct a full n evaluation of the Live Bookkeeper’s work. Whether you need help with your bookkeeping, getting ready for tax time, or need coaching, our team of experts is here to help.
The service doesn’t include financial advisory services, tax advice, facilitating the filing of income or sales tax returns, creating or sending 1099s, or management of payroll. QuickBooks Online offers Expert Full Service Payroll for an additional cost. Live Expert Assisted doesn’t include cleanup of your books or a dedicated bookkeeper reconciling your accounts and maintaining your books for you.
Hand off your books to a Live bookkeeper and get back to what you do best. You can request a callback anytime when you need a how to calculate interest expense little extra help. Answer a few questions about what’s important to your business and we’ll recommend the right fit.
