Outsourced bookkeeping · For CPA and EA firms
For CPA firms: bookkeeping overflow, cleanup and catch-up you can hand off.
A CPA or EA firm can hand the recording work on a client’s books to an outside bookkeeping firm and keep the work that needs a license or the firm’s own judgment: the tax return, attest work, representation and advisory conclusions. This page sets out that division line by line, the five kinds of bookkeeping TechBrot takes on for CPA firms, how a handoff runs from scope to delivery, how the work is checked, where the client’s data stays, how it is priced, and where our role stops. TechBrot is an independent bookkeeping and advisory firm — not a CPA firm, and not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
A CPA firm can hand off the bookkeeping on a client file — monthly categorization and reconciliation for overflow clients, QuickBooks cleanup, catch-up bookkeeping for months or years never recorded, balance-sheet reconciliations, and year-end-ready books delivered as a package — and keep the work that needs a license or the firm’s own judgment: tax preparation and filing, audit, review and compilation, representation before the IRS, tax planning and advisory conclusions, and the client relationship itself. The work is scoped in writing before it starts, done in the client’s own QuickBooks file, reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and delivered back to the CPA firm with a list of anything still open.
Maintained by TechBrot, an independent bookkeeping and advisory firm — not a CPA firm, and not affiliated with Intuit Inc. We do bookkeeping; we do not prepare or file tax returns, perform attest work, or represent taxpayers.
Handing off bookkeeping, in five questions.
What should a CPA firm hand off to an outsourced bookkeeping partner?
The recording work on a client file: monthly categorization and bank and credit-card reconciliation for overflow clients, QuickBooks cleanup, catch-up bookkeeping for months or years never recorded, balance-sheet reconciliations, and year-end-ready books delivered as a package. The test for anything else: if the output is a recorded, reconciled number in the books, it can be handed off.
What does the CPA firm keep?
The work that needs a license or the firm’s own judgment: tax return preparation, signing and filing; audit, review and compilation engagements and any other attest work; representation before the IRS, which needs a CPA, EA or attorney; tax planning and advisory conclusions; and the client relationship itself.
How does a handoff to TechBrot work?
Six steps: a scope call with the CPA firm, a written scope and fixed fee for each client file, access to the client’s own QuickBooks file, the bookkeeping itself, contact with the end client only on the terms the CPA firm sets, and a review by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QuickBooks Online Level 2, Payroll) before the books go back to the firm with a list of open items.
Where does the client’s data stay?
In the client’s own QuickBooks file. We are added as a user, and whoever administers the file can remove that access at any time. We never ask for signing authority or any ability to move money, and we do not need tax returns or tax workpapers to do the bookkeeping.
What does handed-off bookkeeping cost?
Each client file is a fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts. TechBrot’s published ranges: monthly bookkeeping $400–$2,500+/mo; QuickBooks cleanup $1,200–$15,000+; cleanup bookkeeping $1,500–$15,000+; catch-up bookkeeping $2,000–$20,000+. Reconciliation-only work and year-end-ready books are scoped as a fixed fee in writing.
What a CPA firm hands off, and what it keeps.
The line is simple to state. TechBrot records, corrects and reconciles the books; the CPA or EA firm draws every conclusion that needs a license or the firm’s own professional judgment. The table sets it out for each piece of work on a client file.
| The work | Who does it | How it passes between the firms |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly categorization and bank and credit-card reconciliation | TechBrot | Done each month in the client’s QuickBooks file against the written scope. The CPA firm receives reconciled books and the month’s open-items list. |
| QuickBooks cleanup of a client file | TechBrot | Scoped after a review of the file. The CPA firm receives the corrected file and a written record of every change and the reason for it. |
| Catch-up of months or years never recorded | TechBrot | Oldest month first, each month reconciled before the next begins. The CPA firm receives books current through the agreed date. |
| Balance-sheet reconciliations: loans, payroll liabilities, clearing and suspense accounts | TechBrot | Each account tied to a statement or schedule. A balance that cannot be explained is listed for the CPA firm, not written off. |
| Year-end-ready books and the handoff package | TechBrot | Delivered to the CPA firm with the year’s reports and a list of the items that need the firm’s decision. |
| Adjusting and reclassifying entries for tax or financial reporting | The CPA firm decides | We record the entries the CPA firm sends in writing, so the books agree with what the return or statements were prepared from. |
| Tax return preparation, signing and filing | The CPA or EA firm | TechBrot does not prepare, sign or file returns. We deliver the books the return is prepared from. |
| Audit, review and compilation engagements, and any other attest work | The CPA firm | TechBrot performs none of these and issues no report or opinion on financial statements. |
| Representation before the IRS | A CPA, EA or attorney | TechBrot does not represent taxpayers. We can supply the books and reconciliations the representative works from. |
| Tax planning, entity decisions and advisory conclusions | The CPA firm | We supply the reconciled numbers those conclusions rest on. |
| The client relationship | The CPA firm | Whether and how we contact the end client is set by the CPA firm in the written scope. |
One test for any task not on this list. If the output is a recorded, reconciled number in the books, it can be handed off to us. If the output is a conclusion — about tax, about whether statements are fairly presented, about what the client should do — it stays with the CPA firm.
Handing off bookkeeping, section by section.
The five kinds of bookkeeping a CPA firm can hand off, the one test for anything else, the six handoff steps, and where our role stops — set out in full below.
Outsourced bookkeepingMonthly bookkeepingGet the free file reviewBook the discovery call
The full handoff, section by section — what to hand off, what the firm keeps, the six steps, the checks, the client’s file and the published ranges.
What should a CPA firm hand off to an outsourced bookkeeping partner?
A CPA firm should hand off the recording work on a client’s books: monthly bookkeeping for overflow clients, QuickBooks cleanup, catch-up bookkeeping for months or years never recorded, balance-sheet reconciliations, and year-end-ready books delivered as a package. The firm keeps the tax return, attest work, representation, advisory conclusions and the client relationship. TechBrot does the bookkeeping, and the books come back ready to work from.
What a CPA firm hands off, and what it keeps
The CPA firm keeps the work that needs a license or its own professional judgment: preparing, signing and filing the return; audit, review and compilation engagements; representation before the IRS; tax planning and advisory conclusions; and the client itself. One test covers any task not on that list. If the output is a recorded, reconciled number in the books, it can be handed off. If the output is a conclusion, it stays with the firm.
Monthly bookkeeping overflow
Monthly bookkeeping overflow covers client files the firm’s own staff cannot reach every month, handed over as a recurring engagement, for tax season or for good. Each month, transactions are categorized, every bank and credit-card account is reconciled to its statement, and the month is closed. A file can join partway through the year: a current file starts from the next month-end, and a file that is behind is caught up first.
QuickBooks cleanup
QuickBooks cleanup is for a client file that has been kept, but kept wrong: miscategorized transactions, duplicates, reconciliations that were forced or never done, balances left in Undeposited Funds or Opening Balance Equity, a chart of accounts that no longer fits. The file is reviewed, the correction is scoped as a fixed fee, each error is fixed at its source, and the file comes back with a written record of what changed and why.
Catch-up bookkeeping
Catch-up bookkeeping is for a client who arrives with months or years not recorded at all. The books are rebuilt from source documents: bank, card and loan statements, bills, invoices and payroll reports. The work runs oldest month first, and each month is reconciled before the next one starts, until the books are current through the date the CPA firm needs. The catch-up bookkeeping page covers the service in full.
Reconciliations
Reconciliations can be handed off as their own piece of work, for a file where the day-to-day recording is sound but the balance sheet has not been proven: bank and card accounts, loans, payroll liabilities, sales tax payable, clearing and suspense accounts. Each balance is tied to a statement or a schedule. A difference is traced to its cause and corrected there, never forced, and a balance nobody can explain stays on the list for the firm.
Year-end-ready books
Year-end-ready books are books a CPA firm can start the return or its engagement from: every bank, card and loan account reconciled through year-end, balance-sheet accounts tied to support, suspense balances cleared or listed, and the year’s reports in one package. Adjusting entries the firm makes at year-end are sent over in writing and recorded, so next year starts from the same balances the firm ended on.
How a handoff runs, from scope to delivery
A handoff runs in six steps, and nothing starts until the second one is in writing. First, a scope call with the CPA firm: which client files, what each one needs, the period, and the date the books are needed by. Second, a written scope and fixed fee for each file, approved by the firm. Third, a user invitation to the client’s own QuickBooks file, with the statements and reports the scope lists. Fourth, the bookkeeping itself.
Contact with the end client, on the firm’s terms
The CPA firm decides who talks to its client, and the written scope records it. Either every question routes through the firm, which relays it, or TechBrot asks the client directly for documents and answers and copies the firm. A tax question, or a question about the firm’s own services, goes straight back to the firm. Questions only the client can answer are collected into a written list, never guessed at.
How the work is checked before it comes back
Before anything goes back, the work is checked. Every reconciled account ties to its statement. Every prior-period change is listed with its reason, and an error found in a year already filed is written up for the firm before anything in that period changes. A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor then reviews the work, as a bookkeeping review, not an audit. The firm receives the reconciled books, the reports, a record of changes and a list of open items.
Whose file it is, and who sees what
The books stay in the client’s own QuickBooks file, not a copy on TechBrot’s systems, so there is nothing to hand back when the engagement ends. Access is a user login, granted by whoever administers the file and removable by them at any time. TechBrot never asks to sign on a bank account or to move money, and does not need tax returns or tax workpapers to do the bookkeeping.
How handed-off work is priced
Each client file is a fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts. Monthly bookkeeping runs four hundred to twenty-five hundred dollars a month, and up. A QuickBooks cleanup runs twelve hundred to fifteen thousand dollars, and up. Cleanup bookkeeping runs fifteen hundred to fifteen thousand dollars, and up. Catch-up bookkeeping runs two thousand to twenty thousand dollars, and up. Reconciliation-only work and year-end-ready books are scoped as a fixed fee in writing.
Send us the books. Keep the return, the opinion and the client
TechBrot is independent, not affiliated with Intuit, and its role stops at the books. It never prepares, signs or files a return, never performs attest work, never advises the firm’s client on tax, and never holds or moves money. Representation stays with the firm too: the IRS gives CPAs, EAs and attorneys unlimited representation rights. Book the discovery call. Send us the books, and keep the return, the opinion and the client. Send this to whoever runs client work at your firm, and subscribe for the rest of the series.
Five kinds of bookkeeping a CPA firm can hand off.
Each is bookkeeping: it produces books the CPA firm then works from. None of it is a tax or attest service.
Work 01 · Monthly bookkeeping overflow
Client files the CPA firm’s own staff cannot cover every month, handed to us as a recurring monthly engagement — for tax season or for good. Each month we categorize transactions, reconcile every bank and credit-card account to its statement, keep payables and receivables current where the scope includes them, and close the month. The CPA firm receives reconciled books and a short written list of anything we could not resolve without the client. What the recurring engagement includes is set out on the monthly bookkeeping page.
Work 02 · QuickBooks cleanup
A client file that has been kept, but kept wrong: miscategorized transactions, duplicates, reconciliations that were forced or never done, balances left in Undeposited Funds or Opening Balance Equity, a chart of accounts that no longer fits the business. We review the file, scope the correction as a fixed fee, fix each error at its source, and hand back the file with a written record of what changed and why. See QuickBooks cleanup.
Work 03 · Catch-up bookkeeping
A client who arrives with months or years not recorded at all. We rebuild the books from source documents — bank, card and loan statements, bills, invoices, payroll reports — oldest month first, reconciling each month before starting the next, until the books are current through the date the CPA firm needs. See catch-up bookkeeping.
Work 04 · Reconciliations
Reconciliation as its own piece of work, for a file where the day-to-day recording is sound but the balance sheet has not been proven: bank and card accounts, loans, payroll liabilities, sales tax payable, clearing and suspense accounts. Each balance is tied to a statement or a schedule, and each difference is traced to its cause. See reconciliation services.
Work 05 · Year-end-ready books
The books brought to a state the CPA firm can start the return or its engagement from: every bank, card and loan account reconciled through year-end, balance-sheet accounts tied to statements or schedules, uncategorized and suspense balances cleared or listed, and a package of the year’s reports. What goes into the package is agreed in the written scope. See the year-end books review.
How a handoff runs, from scope to delivery.
Six steps, in order. Nothing starts until step two is in writing.
A scope call with the CPA firm
The CPA firm tells us which client files are in question, what each one needs — monthly coverage, a cleanup, a catch-up, reconciliations or year-end books — the period involved and the date the firm needs the books by. The call is with the CPA firm. The end client is not involved unless the firm wants them to be.
Scope and fee in writing
Each file gets a written scope: the work, the period, the deliverables, the fixed fee, who we may contact, and what counts as finished. The CPA firm approves it before any work begins. Anything found later that falls outside the scope is written up and rescoped, never added silently.
Access to the client’s own QuickBooks file
We are invited as a user on the client’s existing QuickBooks file by whoever administers it, and we receive the source documents the scope lists — statements, bills, invoices, payroll reports — through the channel the CPA firm chooses. We do not need, and do not ask for, any ability to move money.
The bookkeeping
We do the scoped work in the file: categorization, corrections made at the source, reconciliations to statements. Questions only the client can answer — what a payment was for, whether an account is still open — are collected into a written list instead of guessed at.
Contact with the end client, on the firm’s terms
The CPA firm decides who talks to the client, and the scope records it. Either every question goes through the CPA firm, which relays it, or we ask the client directly for documents and answers and copy the CPA firm. Either way, a tax question or a question about the CPA firm’s services goes back to the CPA firm.
Review and delivery back to the CPA firm
Before anything goes back, the work is reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QuickBooks Online Level 2, Payroll). The CPA firm receives the reconciled books, the reconciliation reports, a record of the changes made, and a list of open items with what each one needs. The file is then the CPA firm’s to work from.
Have client files waiting on the books?
Tell us which files need monthly coverage, a cleanup or a catch-up. Each one is scoped as a fixed fee in writing before we start, and the books come back to your firm ready to work from.
How the work is checked before it comes back.
Reconciled to the statement, never forced
Every reconciled account ties to its bank, card or loan statement as of the period end. A difference is traced to the transaction that caused it and corrected there. It is not plugged to make the reconciliation screen show zero; an unexplained difference stays on the open-items list, labelled as unexplained. See why forcing a reconciliation causes damage.
Every prior-period change on the record
In a cleanup or catch-up, every change we make to a prior period is listed with the reason for it, so the CPA firm can see what moved and check it against returns already filed. We do not change a period the CPA firm has told us is closed without the firm’s written approval.
A ProAdvisor review before delivery
The finished work is reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QuickBooks Online Level 2, Payroll) before it goes back to the CPA firm: reconciliations tie, balance-sheet accounts have support, suspense and uncategorized balances are cleared or listed, and the open-items list is complete. This is a bookkeeping review. It is not an audit or a review engagement, and it gives no assurance on financial statements.
Whose file it is, and who sees what.
The books stay in the client’s own QuickBooks file
We work in the client’s existing QuickBooks file — not a copy on our systems, and not a new file we control. The client, or the CPA firm where it holds the subscription, keeps ownership. When an engagement ends there is nothing to hand back: the books are already where they belong.
Access that can be removed at any time
Our access is a user login on that file, granted by whoever administers it and removable by them at any time. We ask for the access the scoped work needs. We never ask to be a signer on a bank account, or for any ability to pay, transfer or disburse funds.
Confidentiality
We use a client’s records only for the scoped work, and we contact the client only as the scope allows. We do not need tax returns or tax workpapers to do the bookkeeping; it is done from source documents. What a CPA firm may share about its clients with an outside service provider is governed by the firm’s own professional and legal obligations, which the firm confirms for itself before sharing.
How handed-off work is priced.
Every client file is scoped on its own and billed as a fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts. The ranges below are TechBrot’s published figures from our pricing page. Where a piece of work has no published range, it is scoped as a fixed fee in writing.
| The work | Published range | How it is billed |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly bookkeeping (overflow clients) | $400–$2,500+/mo | Fixed monthly fee per client file, set by transaction volume, the number of bank and credit accounts, payroll and entities. |
| QuickBooks cleanup | $1,200–$15,000+ | One-time fixed fee for the structural fix of a QuickBooks file. |
| Cleanup bookkeeping | $1,500–$15,000+ | One-time fixed fee for the structural fix of the books. |
| Catch-up bookkeeping | $2,000–$20,000+ | One-time fixed fee, set by the number of months or years involved and the condition of the records. |
| Reconciliation-only work; year-end-ready books | Scoped in writing | Fixed fee, scoped for each file. |
Before any fee. The discovery call and the QuickBooks file review are free. Who each engagement is with, and who is billed, is set out in that file’s written scope. For how the ranges are built, see monthly bookkeeping pricing and cleanup and catch-up pricing.
Where TechBrot’s role stops.
TechBrot is a bookkeeping and advisory firm. On a file a CPA firm hands us, we record, correct and reconcile the books in the client’s QuickBooks file, have the work reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and deliver it back to the CPA firm with a written list of anything still open. That is the whole of our role. We never:
- Prepare, sign or file a tax return. Returns are the CPA or EA firm’s work.
- Perform an audit, review or compilation, or any other attest work. We issue no report or opinion on financial statements.
- Represent a taxpayer. Representation before the IRS needs a CPA, EA or attorney, and we are none of those.
- Give tax advice to the CPA firm’s client. A tax question from the end client goes back to the CPA firm.
- Hold, move or approve money. We are never a signer on an account, and we never pay, transfer or disburse funds.
- Present ourselves as Intuit or as official QuickBooks support. We are independent; an Intuit account, login or billing matter stays with Intuit.
If the question is still whether to outsource bookkeeping at all, start at the outsourced bookkeeping page. If a client file’s condition is unknown, the free QuickBooks file review is a place to begin before any scope.
What CPA firms ask before handing off bookkeeping.
Does TechBrot prepare or file tax returns for our clients?
Can TechBrot do audit, review or compilation work on a client’s statements?
Will TechBrot contact our clients directly?
Whose QuickBooks file is the work done in?
What do you need from our firm to start a file?
Can a client file be handed off partway through the year?
What happens to the adjusting entries our firm makes at year-end?
What if you find an error in a year that has already been filed?
Is TechBrot affiliated with Intuit?
Bookkeeping you can hand off
Send us the books. Keep the return, the opinion and the client.
Book a discovery call and tell us which client files need monthly coverage, a cleanup or a catch-up. We will look at what each file needs and send a written fixed-fee scope before any work starts. We do the bookkeeping; your firm does the tax, attest and advisory work, and keeps the client relationship.