Independent bookkeeping & advisory firm · Serving clients nationwide, remotely
“My bookkeeper isn’t working out” covers a lot — books that are months behind, slow answers, no CPA-ready statements, a bookkeeper who’s retiring or going quiet, or errors you’re only catching now. Below: the signs it’s time, how to switch without losing your QuickBooks history, and — just as important — when the issue is fixable in place and you shouldn’t switch at all. We start with a free file review so the decision is based on facts, not frustration.
What you can check before you sign
Switching bookkeepers moves your day-to-day books from whoever does them now to a new provider while you keep your own QuickBooks file and full history: an access handoff plus a free file review of the books’ real state. Not every frustration means you should switch; if the books are behind, a one-time 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.
Any one of these is worth a closer look — though not every one, on its own, means you must switch today. Several at once usually does.
Transactions sit uncategorized, reconciliations are skipped, and the month-end close keeps slipping. A few weeks behind happens; a backlog of months — especially heading into tax season or a loan application — means the current arrangement isn’t keeping pace with the business.
Emails go unanswered for days, questions get deflected, or you can’t get a clear explanation of what a number means. Bookkeeping is partly a communication job; when responsiveness drops off, decisions start getting made on stale or unclear figures.
You never receive a tidy profit-and-loss, balance sheet, and reconciliation package your CPA can use without rework — or your CPA quietly redoes the books at tax time. Paying twice for the same numbers is a sign the monthly output isn’t doing its job.
The books get recorded but nobody flags cash-flow trends, margin slips, or what the numbers mean for the next decision. That can be perfectly fine for a simple business — but if you’ve grown into needing a sounding board, pure data entry may have been outgrown.
A solo bookkeeper retiring, winding down, or simply becoming hard to reach leaves you without continuity. The move is not because anything was wrong, but because the person who held the knowledge is stepping away.
Duplicate transactions, miscategorized expenses, a balance sheet that doesn’t tie, or numbers that don’t match the bank — discovered late. Everyone makes mistakes; a pattern of errors you’re finding yourself, after the fact, is the signal to get an independent set of eyes on the file.
Six steps, in order. The early ones protect your data and your decision — and one of the outcomes is realizing you don’t need to switch at all.
The company file and its data belong to your business. Make sure you hold the primary admin login — or can get it — for your QuickBooks Online company or your Desktop file. This is the one non-negotiable: with access to your own books, nothing about a switch can strand your history.
Ask your current bookkeeper for the essentials: the QuickBooks access (you hold the primary admin login, and their accountant-user access is removed when they stop), the last reconciliation report for each bank and card account, any spreadsheets, notes or workpapers they keep on the side, the payroll and sales-tax filing calendar, the status of the current month, and a short note on anything in progress. A professional handoff is normal and reasonable — you’re entitled to your own records.
Before changing anything, have a QuickBooks ProAdvisor look at the actual file — how current it is, whether it reconciles, and whether the chart of accounts is sound. This is the step that replaces guessing with facts, and it’s where we tell you whether a switch is even warranted.
The review points to one of three answers. If the books are basically fine, you may not need to switch at all. If they’re behind, a one-time catch-up or cleanup brings them current. If the fit is wrong for where the business is now, a full switch makes sense — you choose with the facts in hand.
If the file is behind or has errors, a fixed-fee cleanup or catch-up brings it current and reconciled — typically $1,200–$15,000+ depending on how far behind and how complex the books are. You get a written scope before any work starts, and the file ends up CPA-ready.
Once the books are current, transition to monthly work with a senior bookkeeper: consistent categorizing, reconciliation, a clean month-end package, and a real point of contact. Fixed monthly fee, scoped to your volume — so the next handoff, if there ever is one, is never a crisis.
Eight areas decide whether a file needs a cleanup, a catch-up or only a monthly routine. Each is a count in your own file, not an opinion, and the result is a written list. See what you receive when the work is done in what you receive after a cleanup.
The months that are reconciled and the months that are not, for every bank and card account, checked against the statements.
The same date, amount and payee posted twice, which overstates one side of the books and throws the cash balance off.
Payments recorded as received and never matched to a bank deposit, and how old they are.
A balance that should be zero, left behind by an import or a setup shortcut, which distorts equity until it is allocated.
Money parked in holding accounts: how many transactions and how much, because the profit and loss is wrong by that amount.
Whether the liability balances in QuickBooks agree with the payroll provider’s own reports.
Whether the payable agrees with the returns that were filed, or whether tax payments were coded to an expense.
Duplicate and unused accounts, and costs recorded in the wrong kind of account, so one cost does not split across several report lines.
What it costs depends on what the file shows: a QuickBooks cleanup is $1,200–$15,000+, catch-up bookkeeping is from $2,000, and monthly bookkeeping is then $500–$2,500+/mo, set by volume and accounts. Each is a fixed fee against a written scope.
Months of backlog with no plan to catch up, an unresponsive or departing bookkeeper, no CPA-ready output, repeated errors you keep finding yourself, or access to your own file being withheld. When more than one of these is true at once, switching usually costs less than staying.
One bad month, a single miscommunication, or a backlog your current bookkeeper has a credible plan to clear can often be resolved without changing anyone. If the relationship is otherwise solid, the answer may be to fix the specific problem — not start over.
If your needs are straightforward, the books are current and accurate, and you’re getting what you pay for, there may be no reason to switch. A bigger firm isn’t automatically better for a simple business. We’ll say so — we’d rather tell you to stay than sell you a change you don’t need.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews your file free and tells you where it stands — including whether a switch is even warranted. If the books are behind, a one-time bookkeeping cleanup runs $1,200–$15,000+; ongoing monthly bookkeeping is then a fixed fee scoped to your volume.
Moving your books is more than swapping a login. The work that actually makes a switch worthwhile is everything around it: confirming you hold access to your own file, taking a clean handoff of context, assessing the true state of the books, catching up anything that’s behind without disturbing your history, and then running a steady monthly close you can rely on. A QuickBooks ProAdvisor holding the Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 does that against a written scope — and is candid when the review shows the smarter move is to stay where you are.
It’s yours. The company file and the financial records in it belong to your business — you’re entitled to the primary admin access and to export your own data. A reputable bookkeeper hands it over without friction. If access is being withheld, that’s a problem in itself and a reason to get the situation reviewed.
Sometimes it’s genuinely fixable in place — one bad month, a single miscommunication, or a backlog with a credible plan to clear it doesn’t always mean you should start over. And if your needs are simple and the books are accurate, your current bookkeeper may be perfectly fine. We recommend a free file review to decide objectively, and we’ll tell you if the right answer is to stay.
Books that are months behind, slow or unclear answers, no CPA-ready statements at month-end, pure data entry with no advisory as you’ve grown, a bookkeeper who is leaving or going quiet, or errors you’re catching yourself after the fact. One sign alone may not mean much; several at once usually means the arrangement has been outgrown.
That’s a good reason to move, and nothing about it has to be a crisis. As long as you have access to your own QuickBooks file, the transition is straightforward: we do a free review of where the books stand, catch up anything left mid-stream, and pick up ongoing monthly work with a senior bookkeeper so there’s continuity going forward.
Only if the file actually needs it. The free file review tells us whether the books are current and reconciled or behind. If they’re behind, a one-time cleanup or catch-up brings them current — typically $1,200–$15,000+ depending on how far behind and how complex the books are, with a written scope before any work begins. If the books are in good shape, there’s no cleanup to pay for. Prefer to talk it through? Speak with an advisor at (877) 751-5575.
No. TechBrot is a bookkeeping and advisory firm. For an Intuit account, login, subscription, or billing matter, contact Intuit directly; we can’t access your Intuit account. What we do is the bookkeeping work inside your own QuickBooks file.
No. The file review is free, and it’s deliberately the first step — it’s how you decide with facts instead of frustration. We look at how current and accurate the file is and give you a straight read, including whether a switch is even warranted. You’re under no obligation to move forward.
Tell us where the books stand. We’ll tell you which engagement fits, if any.
Or send the details instead What happens after you call