Independent bookkeeping & advisory firm · Serving clients nationwide, remotely
If you’ve decided to move off Pilot, this is the path: get your data out, set up your own QuickBooks® file, reconcile and clean up the transition, then run ongoing monthly bookkeeping with your TechBrot team. Pilot is a reputable service that, in its own words, serves startups and small businesses — this page is for businesses whose needs have changed and who want their books in a QuickBooks file they own outright, run by your TechBrot team. Still deciding? Read the full comparison first. Independent firm — not Intuit, and not affiliated with Pilot.
What you can check before you sign
Switching from Pilot to TechBrot moves your bookkeeping off Pilot’s managed service into a QuickBooks file you own, in five steps: a free file review, your data out of Pilot, your file set up, a reconciliation and cleanup pass, then monthly bookkeeping with your senior bookkeeper. Migration and any cleanup are a written fixed fee; cleanup runs $1,200–$15,000+.
Certifications · Current certifications held by TechBrot’s senior reviewer: Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification — verification on request. Intuit’s ProAdvisor program becomes Intuit ProPartner Accountants in early 2027; the certifications continue.
None of these is a knock on Pilot — each is a fit question. When your needs have changed, here’s what usually drives the switch.
The first reason is ownership and control. Pilot’s FAQ says it does all of its bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online and that if you move on, your data goes with you. Some businesses still want the QuickBooks company file itself held in their own name — one their CPA or tax preparer can open directly and any future bookkeeper can pick up — so there is no handover step at tax time or whenever they change providers.
Pilot’s bookkeeping page describes a dedicated team that learns your business. Some businesses prefer a different shape of continuity — a single ProAdvisor who knows the file, answers directly, and owns the monthly close personally.
Pilot’s FAQ says it specializes in high-growth technology startups, alongside ecommerce providers, professional services, and non-profits, and its CFO service lists fundraising support. That’s the right fit for many funded companies. But a profitable small business, a bootstrapped company, or a startup whose priorities have shifted may want a model scoped to its day-to-day operations instead.
A subscription built around what you needed while raising and scaling can be exactly worth it at that stage. When you’re not — or no longer are — the same spend can outrun the value. We don’t publish Pilot’s prices; the real test is to compare your current invoice against a written fixed-fee quote and decide on the numbers in front of you.
Pilot’s FAQ says it does not currently offer sales tax services and can recommend other providers. If you sell across state lines and want nexus, registrations, and filings handled by the same firm that keeps your QuickBooks books, a provider that does multi-state sales tax directly removes a hand-off.
Sometimes the fit was never quite right; sometimes the company simply changed. Either way, the question isn’t whether Pilot is good (it is, for whom it’s built) — it’s whether the model still matches where your business is now. When the answer is no, switching to TechBrot on your own file is a clean move.
Five steps, in order — from a free review to ongoing monthly bookkeeping. You finish owning your own QuickBooks file, with the migration and any cleanup quoted as a fixed fee in writing first.
Before anything moves, a QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews where your books stand, what data you’ll need from Pilot, and what the switch will actually involve. There’s no charge for this and no obligation — it’s how we scope and how you see whether the move makes sense for you.
Gather what you’re entitled to: your historical financials, the underlying transactions, bank and credit-card statements, and any chart-of-accounts and reconciliation history available to you. You own your financial records; the switch is built around getting them in a usable form to rebuild from.
We stand up your own QuickBooks company file — or migrate into an existing one — with a clean chart of accounts, your historical data brought in, and the opening balances set correctly so nothing is lost or double-counted in the transition.
Every account is reconciled so it ties to the bank and credit-card statements, categorizations are checked, and any gaps or duplicates from the migration are resolved. This is where the file becomes trustworthy — the books tie, and the starting point for ongoing work is clean. Any cleanup needed is quoted as a fixed fee first.
With the file clean and reconciled, your senior bookkeeper takes over the monthly close: categorizing, reconciling, and delivering reports on a set cadence at a flat monthly fee scoped to your volume. You own the file throughout; we maintain it.
Pilot’s FAQ says handing your prepared books to a tax firm of your choice is included in its bookkeeping subscription. If, in your case, tax season still means requesting data rather than your CPA opening a QuickBooks file you control, that friction is a sign a file held in your own name would serve you better.
Fundraising support and a startup-oriented service are valuable when you’re raising and scaling. If you’re profitable, bootstrapped, or simply past that phase, you may be paying for capacity you no longer draw on — worth comparing against a fixed-fee quote scoped to what you actually need.
If you find yourself re-explaining your business to a new contact, waiting on a team rotation, or unsure who actually owns your close, you’re ready for a single ProAdvisor who knows the file and answers directly.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews where your books stand at no charge, then quotes the migration and any cleanup as a fixed fee in writing before any work begins — bookkeeping cleanup runs $1,200–$15,000+ depending on condition. Ongoing monthly bookkeeping is a flat monthly fee on a QuickBooks file you own. Independent firm — not affiliated with Pilot.
The switch isn’t just an export and import. The work that makes it trustworthy is everything around the data: setting opening balances so nothing is lost or double-counted, reconciling every account until it ties to the bank, checking categorizations as history comes across, and resolving any gaps or duplicates the migration surfaces. A QuickBooks ProAdvisor holding the Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 does that against a written, fixed-fee scope, then stays on as the named person running your monthly close — on a QuickBooks file you own and your CPA can open directly. Independent firm — not Intuit, and not affiliated with Pilot; you retrieve your own records from Pilot and we take it from there.
No. Pilot is a reputable, operating bookkeeping, tax, and CFO service that, in its own words, serves startups and small businesses, and its FAQ says it specializes in high-growth technology startups among others. If that’s your profile, it may be the right choice. This page is for businesses whose needs have changed and who want their own QuickBooks file and a senior bookkeeper. It’s a fit question, not a verdict on Pilot.
Yes — that’s the core of the switch. After migrating, your books live in your own QuickBooks company file that you own and control, that your CPA or tax preparer can open directly, and that moves with you if you ever change providers again. Portability and CPA-friendliness are two reasons to make this move.
Pilot’s FAQ says that if you move on from Pilot, your data goes with you, and that it does all of its bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online. The switch is built around getting your records in a usable form — your historical financials, the underlying transactions, bank and credit-card statements, and any chart-of-accounts and reconciliation history available to you. We rebuild from what you can obtain and reconcile it so the new file ties to the bank. We can’t access your Pilot account on your behalf; you retrieve your records and we take it from there.
It begins with a free file review at no charge. The migration and any cleanup are then quoted as a fixed fee in a written scope before any work begins — a bookkeeping cleanup runs $1,200–$15,000+ depending on how far the books need to come — and ongoing monthly bookkeeping is a flat monthly fee scoped to your volume. We don’t publish or estimate Pilot’s pricing; compare your current invoice against a written quote. Prefer to talk it through? Speak with an advisor at (877) 751-5575.
It depends on how much history is moving and how clean the data is when it arrives. A straightforward migration of well-kept books is faster; books that need a cleanup pass take longer. The free file review is where we give you a realistic timeline and a written scope, so you know what to expect before committing.
If you’re still deciding, yes — the TechBrot vs. Pilot comparison lays out, fairly, where Pilot wins, where TechBrot wins, and who each is built for. This page is for businesses that have already decided to move; the comparison is for those still weighing it. Both are linked above.
No. TechBrot is a bookkeeping and advisory firm, and not affiliated with Pilot in any way. QuickBooks and Intuit are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.; Pilot is a separate, independent company. We simply help businesses move their bookkeeping onto their own QuickBooks file with a senior bookkeeper.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews where your books stand and what you’ll need from Pilot at no charge, then quotes the migration and any cleanup as a fixed fee in writing before any work begins (bookkeeping cleanup runs $1,200–$15,000+ depending on condition). Ongoing monthly bookkeeping is then a flat monthly fee scoped to your volume — on a QuickBooks file you own. Not affiliated with Pilot.
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