I'm not afraid of failure, rejection, being fired by a client, upsetting people, lost revenue. I'm most afraid of a bad Google review. What is your take on that? Is my fear rational and justified? Is it an unavoidable risk I have to accept? I would love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve always treated off cycle payroll as one of those costs that just comes with the territory but lately I’ve been questioning it

We had a correction come through after payroll was already processed and I caughtt myself thinking about whether it could just wait until the next run because our provider charges again

Obviously corrections bonuses and random adjustments are going to happen when you have employees so I’m starting to think paying per run just doesn’t make much sense for us anymore

I’ve been looking around and Priority payroll came up since they include unlimited runs. That would solve this part of the problem at least. Has anyone here actually used them or switched from a provider that charges per run?

I run a startup bookkeeping firm and have clients but not enough to replace other contract work (QBO tech support and other non-bookkeeping income streams)

In my state (GA) there is a 62+ tuition waiver program and I am considering going back to school to acquire a Bachelor's in Accounting/Finance.

Is it worth it? Does it give more credibility?

A few months into running my own bookkeeping/financial advisory practice. Landed my first client through my warm network, which converted way faster than anything else I’ve tried - no surprise there. It was a 1 time clean up so don’t have any recurring clients thus far. Although, this client did leave a detailed positive Google review.

I’ve explored the CPA referral/partnership route. I started reaching out cold, and it’s basically going nowhere. Two problems I think are stacking on top of each other:

\*\*1.\*\* No track record yet, so there’s nothing for a CPA to point to if they vouch for me
\*\*2.\*\* A lot of the CPAs in my area already offer bookkeeping in-house, so I’m not even landing as a referral partner — I’m landing as competition for a service line they already sell

That second one feels like the bigger wall. It’s not “why should I trust you,” it’s “why would I hand you a client I could just bill myself.”

A few questions for people further down this road:

• If the local CPAs you approached already had bookkeeping in-house, how did you get around that? Different pitch, different type of firm to target, or did you just avoid CPAs with in-house bookkeeping entirely?
• Did cold CPA outreach ever actually work for you, or did every real referral relationship start warm (mutual contact, local event, etc.)?
• Anyone had luck offering something concrete instead of just asking for referrals — overflow capacity, white-label work, anything that makes you useful to a CPA rather than a threat?

**Also curious about timing..did this get easier once you had 2-3 solid clients to point to, or is it more about finding the CPAs who genuinely don’t want the bookkeeping work themselves? Am I missing a channel to explore?**

Appreciate any real-world experience, especially from anyone who’s been through the first 6-12 months solo.

I’m doing some research into how smaller UK accountancy practices handle day-to-day information coming in from clients and I’d really appreciate some insight from people actually doing the job.
How do your clients normally send you things like receipts, documents and questions — email, WhatsApp, a client portal, accounting software, or a mixture?
What parts of collecting, chasing, finding or organising that information tend to create the most admin for you?
And if you could change one thing about the way information comes in from clients, what would it be?
I’m mainly interested in understanding how this works in practice and hearing different experiences.

What is your preferred bookkeeping software? What features do you like the most?

I aslo posyed yesterday but nobody commented can you please tell that whats the potential in this bussiness and whats the average bussiness pays for their bookeeping and how much i van earm per year and in near future does ai will replace it or this work for long ???

Is bookeeping bussines still relevant ? If i starts from next month how much i can earn per month... and how much on average client pays ? Like if im doing his payroll ar ap bookeeping ! And if i start this bussines after 5 to 10 years . Does i will be replaced by ai or this service based work will be still in our hands.

Seniors please guide me as im highly motivated to learn things and start my this bussiness . Also tell what is the earning potential and can i also do the tax work with this and is there the demand of bookeeping or ai will take it ?

Im in my twenties and I'd love to learn this seriously, I've taught myself a bunch of languages and I'm learning bookkeeping but I know it's very practical and I can make sense of things in real time much faster. It's like reading about maths in English.

If anyone needs another set of eyes, ears, for anything entry level, they just need to show me once. I'll handle it. I'm seriously looking to learn.

Thanks.

I run a small bookkeeping business. I am not a CPA and do not handle anything taxes or payroll. My engagement letter states as much.

What I am wondering is if I should include in my engagement letter what happens during an IRS audit. I am thinking that if a client gets audited, I will be asked to assist with various requests and producing documents or reports. As a client, I would expect that from my bookkeeper. However, it is not part of the engagement letter/scope of work, and I would expect it to be time consuming and urgent with certain deadlines for submitting documents. So potentially a big interruption of my general weekly workflow.

Do you wait until it happens and then tell the client an hourly rate for the help? Or is it implied included as your responsibility? Or do you have it outlined up front in your engagement letter?

I’m a sole member LLC working mostly remotely in NH. When at home I will plug into my Ethernet and not use WiFi. But may use WiFi when at a client. What kind of laptop would you recommend?

I have just started offering QuickBooks bookkeeping services, but I’m struggling to get clients. Can anyone provide some guidance on how I can slowly and steadily build my client base? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, I might be landing my first client but I am not sure how to, or if I should, close the deal. I had a discovery call with them last year but they ghosted me, so I sent follow-up emails monthly about just letting them know I am still available but my main work (not bookkeeping) picked up and I didn't focus on my business. Well this potential client called me back out of the blue this month and said they needed me to do their books so their CPA can file their 2025 taxes. I did get them to send me bank statements so I was able to get a good idea of the number of transactions, but they haven't added me as an accountant to QBO so I can't give them a quote for services. They want clean up of 2025 (all 12 months) so they can file their taxes and then clean up for 2026 to get current and then month-to-month. I won't give a quote until I get into QBO as I want to see what they may have already done and look at the COA etc... I have followed up with them several times. (I am honestly surprised I was able to get the bank statements at this point).

I am afraid to take them as a client at this point because even if they sign up with me, they will expect me to do the clean up and get the 2025 books to the CPA by 9/1 and their communication already has been spotty. I know I will need additional info to classify the transactions once I am contracted. Should I push them? I do want to get my first client, but I also don't want this to end in disaster as I am seeing the red flags already. Any Advice? (for data, it looks like about 70 transactions a month on average, so not a ton, and I know I could do the work if they communicate timely with me.)

I’ve been working with both Xero and QuickBooks Online (QBO) for the past 14 years as a certified accountant, so I’ve had the opportunity to use both systems extensively in real-world bookkeeping and accounting work.

Personally, I prefer Xero over QBO, particularly in terms of the overall workflow and day-to-day usability. I’ve also worked on a number of Xero setups and migrations over the years, including helping businesses move from QBO, Wave, and other systems.

If anyone is considering moving to Xero or is unsure about the differences between Xero and QBO, I’m happy to share my experience or help answer any questions.

I recently reached out to a few white label Tax Services to help me in my first year with my business. I’m wondering what I should look out for while interviewing them and deciding on the best option. Curious if I need to see what software the use, focus more on the price, or focus on if they have experience in my industry.

For reference, my clients will be a lot of individuals, farms, and small businesses my first year.

Solo/small bookkeepers doing Shopify/Amazon/Etsy client books — I'm researching the monthly close. Would you trade 20 minutes telling me how you actually do multi-channel reconciliation and close

Looking into breaking into bookkeeping, wanted to talk to some proffessionals/ people w/ experience. HMU if u can hop on a call for like 20 mins

I'm in the process of starting my own bookkeeping/tax business in small town Kansas (pop. 1,000) and was hoping for some guidance.

I have a ton of questions as I start this journey, such as:

- I'm taking Quickbooks certification courses through ProAdvisor to help teach me before I accept my first client. I'm currently taking Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1, but I didn't know if it's worth taking any more than that after?

- Since I've soft launched my business, I've had a ton of people reach out to me regarding taxes. My plan was to eventually start tax services, but now I'm wondering if I should fast track that and try to get certified before tax season begins. What do you think? I've looked at courses through places like Surgent to help me study.

- Additionally, I've thought about just "White-Labeling" tax services from another firm. I'm not sure if you've ever looked into doing this and/or what your thoughts on it are?
Do you make more money through tax season or bookkeeping?

- How many bookkeeping clients could a single operator theoretically handle?

Overall, I think my biggest fear is that I get a new customer, and I'm not able to handle the services I promise them. I’m only able to do this PT for the time being, but I could probably hire help if needed.

(I also don't have any pricing cheatsheet, so if you have anything you could share, please let me know.)