Bookkeeping Online: Virtual Services for Your Finances

This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. Each month, your bookkeeper categorizes your transactions and reconciles your accounts. Categorizing transactions records each transaction under the right account so you have clear records of how much the business made and where the money went. Terms, conditions, pricing, special features, and service and support options subject to change without notice. As part of ongoing bookkeeping, your bookkeeper categorizes your transactions and reconciles your accounts each month.

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1. QuickBooks Live, Decimal and Ignite Spot Accounting are three competitors that offer subscription bookkeeping services.
2. Hand off your books to a Live bookkeeper and get back to what you do best.
3. You can make and view your appointments with your Live Bookkeeper directly from your QuickBooks Online mobile app.
4. QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house bookkeeper or outsourcing your bookkeeping to an accounting or bookkeeping firm.

They categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, and are available to meet with you to go over updated reports or answer any questions you have. 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. An expert can guide you through QBO elasticity of demand and its types setup and answer questions based on the information you provide; some bookkeeping services may not be included and determined by the expert. For more information about Expert Assisted, refer to the QuickBooks Terms of Service. QuickBooks Live is an assisted bookkeeping service that enables QuickBooks Online users to enlist a qualified bookkeeping professional to categorize expenses, reconcile accounts, and provide advanced reports.

Live Expert Assisted also doesn’t include any financial advisory services, tax advice, facilitating the filing of income or sales tax returns, creating or sending 1099s, or management of payroll. Unlike QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, Bench also offers historical bookkeeping services beyond the last filed tax return as well as tax filing and advisory services. And if you need accounts receivable or accounts payable, Bench offers specialized bookkeeping for an additional fee. Use the QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping service to make sure your books are up-to-date, accurate, and ready for tax time. With QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, you have access to a dedicated QuickBooks-certified bookkeeper who works with you to understand your business and supports you along with their team.

Between monthly meetings, you and your bookkeeper can communicate through comments in the Document and Request Center. You’ll get an email notification when your bookkeeper leaves a new comment on a request. We consider the opinions of users and the service’s ratings on various review what do you need to know about financial literacy sites.

How much does QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping cost?

Your QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper will not send invoices, pay bills, manage your inventory, or provide tax or financial advisory services. QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping is a comprehensive bookkeeping service that businesses can contract with to maintain their books, properly categorize expenses and perform reporting. With the subscription, the small business is connected with a dedicated bookkeeper who is available to work on the account virtually. There is a cleanup fee to get started and get your books in order, and then pricing drops to the monthly fee of $200 to $400. Read our comprehensive QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping review to decide if this popular managed service is right for your business. Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping what is a tax expense doesn’t include sending invoices, paying bills, or management of inventory, accounts receivable, or accounts payable.

However, if you are comfortable setting up and maintaining your QuickBooks account on your own, then the additional cost may not be worth it. QuickBooks Live’s pricing is based on the company’s average monthly expenses and ranges from $300 to $700 a month after the initial month of service. The cost for the initial month will include an additional charge for onboarding and cleanup, but the exact amount is custom-priced for each customer. The best online bookkeeping service should offer a wide range of bookkeeping solutions, including catch-up bookkeeping, invoicing, bill pay, bank reconciliation, payroll, and tax filing. You’ll meet with your bookkeeper via one-way video chat, which can be accessed by sharing your screen. During these meetings, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions about financial reports and request assistance with basic bookkeeping tasks.

Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses of 2024

Although QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping offers “full-service” bookkeeping, some tasks often fall to in-house or outsourced bookkeepers that aren’t included in the service. And keep in mind this service won’t make tax filings on your behalf, so you’ll have to handle that separately. Most businesses meet with their bookkeeper on a live call once a month. These monthly meetings are a great time to get a status update on your books and go over key financial statements. After the first month, Full-Service Bookkeeping is available in three different pricing tiers, depending on your company’s average monthly expenses over three consecutive months.

In some cases, your cleanup may take longer depending on timeliness of documentation and the complexity of your books. 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. QuickBooks Online also has many special reports that you can generate, like a balance sheet and P&L statement by class or location. Because of its versatility, it’s our best small business accounting software.

QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house bookkeeper or outsourcing your bookkeeping to an accounting or bookkeeping firm. There are no long-term contracts, so you can switch or cancel your service at any time without incurring fees. And, QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping comes with an “Accurate Books Guarantee” to cover any errors made by your Live Bookkeeper (some exceptions apply). If you work with a popular subscription service such as QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, you can pay as little as $200 per month for bookkeeping. Other services may cost as much as $2,500 per month, depending on the complexity of your business’s books.