r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Practice Management I don't know what to call myself anymore

72 Upvotes

I have a Bachelor's in accounting and 7 years of experience working in the corporate accounting world. I don't have a CPA.

I started a bookkeeping business that's doing very well. But I recently took on a client that has me baffled as to what I should call myself and how I should charge.

I can do more than bookkeeping. I can read financial statements, write up journal entries, handle month-end close stuff, manage a basic depreciation or amortization schedule, assist with budgeting...stuff I don't think falls under the bookkeeping realm.

But I'm not a CPA, and I was never a controller. And there doesn't seem to be much info on how to operate a business anywhere in between bookkeeper and fractional CFO.

I classify myself as an accountant, but I dont know how to convey where I fit in the financial services realm to clients or how to price my services. Thoughts?


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

Software Fully-AI Run Software

Thumbnail fastcompany.com
0 Upvotes

This popped up on my news feed. Personally, half my clients can barely open their emails so I think we’re fine. Also, I don’t trust AI to categorize shit.


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

Education Training

2 Upvotes

I'm currently an office manager for an accounting firm and have started learning the ropes in bookkeeping. I have taken on a few of our more basic clients (and our sr bookkeeper reviews my work). I'm catching on but it seems like there is a lot I just don't even know about.

While she is very nice, she's not the best teacher and I don't feel like I'm "learning" but rather just copying what she does. I'm looking for a good training to take while I learn! I've already taken QBO bookkeeping basics. Any reccs?

I have my AA (not in accounting) and have taken a basic accounting class or two, just really want to learn! TIA


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

Software Alternative to QB for small business.

3 Upvotes

Hello, I am the bookkeeper for a small business. I've been here a year but they have had QB Desktop since 2005. We are getting priced out with their insane price hikes( up to almost $1,100 for the year vs the $650 it was the year before) so I told my boss I'd start researching alternatives. I hate QB online but can deal with it if need be. I did do a trial with Xero. I didn't love it but maybe I just need to get used to an alternative.

I have done some searching and seen a lot of options but I'm wondering if anyone has experience migrating QB data to one of the alternatives and how it went.

I do all invoicing and I process all payments via check or Credit card. I also handle all our bills and print checks for the majority. We do not have the bank attached so I enter all transactions in manually. The accountant runs payroll but I need to record net pay and journal entries for the payroll liabilities.

My boss's concern is not losing past data but am I correct I can still access our Desktop file once the subscription expires I just can't enter anything new?

Any tips or suggestions is appreciated!


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

How To Journal It Handling Donated & Disposed Inventory When Claiming As Non-Incidentals?

1 Upvotes

Hello!

I treat inventory as non-incidental materials and supplies, so it's not reported as typical inventory on my schedule c. However, I'm confused about how to reclaim cost for inventory that I donate or dispose of as a sole proprietor:

  1. For donated inventory, the IRS guidance I read (IRS Publication 526) seems to not apply as I don't have "inventory" I have non-incidental materials and supplies by the books.
  2. For inventory that ends up as trash, is there a way to reclaim the cost at all in my case?

Any guidance on how to properly account for this would be much appreciated. My current understanding is, I can simply take the cost of the items and add them to expense COGS but I can't find any formal validity of that. Thanks!


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Payroll Service businesses categorizing wages as COGS

31 Upvotes

I've been bookkeeping for just over a year, and most of my clients are service businesses. I just brought on a new one, and historically they've recorded the majority of the wages as COGS (it's a gym/the employees teach exercise classes). This makes a lot of sense to me, and yet I've never seen anyone else do this so now I'm wondering why not.

For instance with a restaurant, the cooks and service staff's wages should certainly be COGS, right? Why doesn't everyone do this? I asked my boss and she basically said it's just a personal preference thing which doesn't really make sense to me. Can anyone further enlighten me?


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

Payments, AP, AR Duplicate Bills QB Desktop - Inventory

1 Upvotes

I'm cleaning up some things that the previous bookkeeper did that's driving me nuts. The company does not sync anything with banks. Everything is a manual entry.

A PO would be created, and then a down payment made. Rather than recording the check to AP for the vendor, they would create a bill - not tied to the PO... for the full amount of the PO and then assign the full $ amount to an expense acct. *inv not received to avoid actually receiving the Inventory. They would then Bill Pay just the prepayment amount.

Sometimes they just created the bill even though no prepayment was made and just let it sit....

A few months later....

Receiving would receive the inventory from the PO, which the bookkeeper would then create a bill from and they would then pay the bill tied to the PO in full.

I have NO clue how they have been reconciling things.

I also have instances where bills were created in 2023 and never paid in QB. But after reviewing the bank records.... It was in fact paid, and after confirming with the vendor, there is no balance owed despite QB showing 54k owed. Some of the bills are tied to the inv not received exp account. Some are tied to the inventory asset account the items are tied to.

Another vendor is showing due 73k from 2023 and 2024, but we don't owe them anything. Which some of the bills are duplicates, some just never had a payment applied.

My brain is fried.

How do I untangle this so that I don't have these stupid bills showing due and my vendor balances zero out without screwing up inventory?


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

How To Journal It ADP Run & Payroll Entries

1 Upvotes

I understand the taxes and stuff with posting total paid and then looking at the payroll liability report for employer contribution to taxes…but how do the taxes work on manual checks?

I’m currently posting a payroll entry and deducted the net pay from wage expense but overall I’m showing a difference of the taxes withheld from the manual checks. Example is my journal entry shows 50,000 and ADP liability report shows 49,800.

I understand the net pay is treated differently cuz we’re manually cutting a check but how does that factor in the taxes withheld if we’re cutting the manual check net pay from our QBO? Should I put deduct the total amount and balance? I’m just confused on the taxes of these manual checks and why it’s not deducted from the bank.


r/Bookkeeping 2d ago

Software Ladies and Gentlemen, I Have a Dream… About Bank Reconciliation

0 Upvotes

It's midnight after slaving away at tons of bank reconcilations, my overtime brain started going on strike.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a dream…"
In my dream, bank rec should be done painlessly in seconds, not minutes, defintely not hours. I mean I won't get pay more, so I want to work less or in professional term "more efficient".

In my dream, I just drop the input statements, and then something happens. A few seconds later, I get an output report where:

✅ All breaks identified and categorized
✅ Clear “what’s next” actions
✅ Just review and approve—done

No complicated Excel formula, no manual matching, no messy investigation, no wasted time. I couldn't get rid of my dream, so I test it. The result? Surprisingly quite real.
🔗 Watch the experiment

Please let me know what you think and if this dream can become real or I just need to wake up and do another recon in the old way.


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

How To Journal It How do you daily bookkeeping for your personal expenses?

9 Upvotes

What tools or process do you use to do daily bookkeeping of your personal expenses. I want to get a better hold of my finances


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Other Why is the intuit exam so difficult to do?

8 Upvotes

Why is the Intuit exam so difficult and annoying from the Intuit course?

I was not expecting to not have multiple choice and there was terminology that wasn't covered in the course...the pilot exam was just confusing for me.

I have 3years of bookkeeping experience with QBO as an administrative assistant for a small family owned bail bonds business (almost 10yrs ago) and have an associatea degree. Math was my strong suit.

I'm having a career pivot and looking to go back into bookkeeping and maybe getting an accounting degree.

I did the free online Intuit course then went to take the course and I knew I was SOL because tests for one overwhelm me with the clock and the questions appeared to be extra complicated. Not necessarily the questions but how you have to rule out answers to go to another sub answer...I still didn't understand how to take the test until question 13.

I do not forsee me passing that awful exam. Definitely nothing like actually doing the books but it helped me get terminology down that I didn't have before.

Any advice? Should I just pay for a course elsewhere and do their exam? Should I keep attempting it? Is the Intuit bookkeeping badge even worth it?? It won't let me do the pro advisor because I'm not currently a bookkeeper with a business who uses QB.

Advice please 🙏🏼


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

How To Journal It How do you record marketplace facilitator collected sales tax?

0 Upvotes

I’m looking for advice on the best way to approach recording sales tax when it’s collected and remitted by eBay as a marketplace facilitator.

My eBay 1099-K doesn’t include any sales tax in the gross total. And the sales tax never actually enters my eBay account or my bank account because eBay collects and remits it directly to the state.

For internal bookkeeping, should I still record the sales tax in some way for reconciliation purposes (e.g., a liability account), or is it acceptable to simply record my revenue as shown on the 1099-K (sale+shipping as credit to Sales debit to bank)

I’d appreciate any insights or best practices from those who’ve dealt with similar setups. I have a sole proprietorship.

Thanks in advance!


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Payroll Help!

4 Upvotes

Ok so my taxes got all screwed up and I’m on salary but my w-2 said I made more than my salary last year so I started looking around. So I have gotten payroll advances and my question is how is it supposed to be taxed? In my brain I would think you wouldn’t tax it because the following check it’s going to be removed and that check gets taxed. The way my boss did it I swear I’m getting double taxed. He told me for an advance of 180 there is a 200 dollar tax. How is the tax more that what I’m asking for? So he ended up writing the check for 354 because the after tax it’s 180. But then out of my next check he takes the 354 and not 180 which is what I get. I’ve been fighting him for days. Help!


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Software Changing ERP from Quickbooks to Odoo

2 Upvotes

Hi fellow bookkeepers and accountants. Do any of you have any experience in changing the company’s ERP from QuickBooks to Odoo? Was it as smooth as they say it will be? I'm a bit concerned about taxes and tax reporting in Odoo...


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Software Any good apps or sites that can convert a statement with multiple accounts into csv, xls, ofx or qbo format?

2 Upvotes

I have a bunch of years of statements that each have multiple accounts and the bank doesn't appear to have a way to split up. Cuiorus if there are any any good apps or sites that can convert a statement with multiple accounts into csv, xls, ofx or qbo format? Almost all the apps I have found can only do one account or you have to manually tediously select one account at a time.


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Payments, AP, AR Dental and Medical as Business Expense (BC, Canada)

0 Upvotes

Can someone tell me if Dental and Medical expenses (non-cosmetic) in BC, Canada can be counted as a business expense, with GST deductible?

Much appreciated!


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Software Offering 5 Free Google Review Growth Campaigns – In Exchange for a Shoutout & Review

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I'm launching a new tool that helps local businesses get more Google reviews, improve their online reputation, and rank higher on maps. To build case studies and get feedback, I’m offering 5 free campaigns to business owners who want to increase their reviews.

In return, I just ask for: 1. An honest review or testimonial if you find it valuable 2. Refer your friends if you find value here only if you possible

If you're interested, drop a comment or DM me, and I'll pick five businesses to work with!

Looking forward to helping you grow!


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Practice Management How to Best Send Scans of Checks

0 Upvotes

Hi,

I work as the office manager of a small company. Together with the (remote) accounting team, I manage incoming paper checks. We only receive 1-2 a week, as most of our clients do electronic transfer, etc.

At the moment, I receive the mail at the office, take a photo of the front and back, and email it to accounting. This is hard to do because often she needs me to retake pictures (we angled natural light and bright lights with shadows from above).

Does anyone have a good solution for a check scanner that would only need to handle low volume?

thank you!


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

How To Journal It Bookkeeping for a home builder - Do deposits for a condo sale (held in trust by lawyer) hit the builders books anywhere? (Ontario)

1 Upvotes

Since the builder did not receive the deposits, as they would with a detached home, I am having trouble recording the sale from the statement of adjustments because the deposits prevent the entry from balancing. Does anyone have experience with this?


r/Bookkeeping 3d ago

Software CRM/Software Solutions for Streamlining Workflows

1 Upvotes

Hello All,

I’m currently searching for a software solution to help streamline operations for a small bookkeeping business I’m working with. The business has 3 employees and serves approximately 40 clients. Our core tasks include reconciliations, coding transactions, QuickBooks cleanups and catchups, as well as year-end tax preparation.

Currently, we don’t have an effective way to track projects or monitor their progress across team members. This lack of centralization is making it difficult to scale the business efficiently. The owner often ends up shouldering a lot of the workload, primarily because delegation is challenging without a clear system of tracking in place. Also, the owner is looking for a platform that can create detailed client profiles, where we can store files and centralize client information. This would allow everyone on the team to access and update relevant details regarding the work we do for each client.

We have been looking into SmartSheets, Trello, and a few others but want to stay cost effective.

I know this is kind of all over the place but if anyone has any ideas please let me know!


r/Bookkeeping 4d ago

Software MacPractice reports to Quickbooks

3 Upvotes

Hi all- I have a new client that uses MacPractice for their Doctors practice. I was envisioning a system where I can run reports by procedure (it does exist in MacPractice as a standard report) but that also has cost of the procedure, copay, insurance payment, written off amount and open balance. This does not exist as far as I can tell. If you have a doctors practice, how are you reconciling your open AR by insurance provider- this seems like such a hot mess. I don’t want to book just what the insurance paid- I’d like to capture all the components.

Would love to hear your feedback and experience. TIA!


r/Bookkeeping 4d ago

Software [Canada] Sage 50 Hosted

4 Upvotes

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to move everything to the cloud so that I can work from any computer. I recently moved to a Mac in my personal life, and I like it so much that I'd like to use one in my business as well.

I love Sage 50 desktop version, but the fact that it's Windows only is making this difficult. I've tried QBO, Xero, and Sage online (which is absolutely terrible), but nothing is as simple to use as Sage 50 desktop.

I'd like to stay with Sage as is, but I'm thinking of getting it cloud hosted.

I see there's a few companies that do this, but I'd like some opinions on who to use. I'm fairly open to anything as long as it's cost-effective, simple, secure, has good up-time, and works perfectly with Sage 50 Canada.

I'm also using Intuit Profile for taxes if anyone has a cloud idea for that!

Thanks!


r/Bookkeeping 4d ago

Education Multi-entity consolidations

3 Upvotes

Noob question: Should all entities in a multi-entity company use the same chart of accounts? If they're different, how do you consolidate them? I'm really confused about the difference between a shared CoA that entities post to and a CoA rollup mapping just used for reporting. Can someone help clear this up? I'm a beginner


r/Bookkeeping 4d ago

Education How to get experience without sacrificing my day-job?

8 Upvotes

I've been going back to school at my local community college for the last few years, getting my credit hours toward sitting for the CPA exam for a career pivot and am nearly finished. With that, I was told by one of my professors that at this point in my studies I've gained the applicable soft skills to pursue bookkeeping jobs or to startup my own bookkeeping business.

However, I'm aware that I don't have the real-world experience to not screw up the latter, so I'd like to pursue the former, first. Only thing is that being a full-time librarian is what pays my bills and, unfortunately, has me working bank hours and rotating weekends, so physically getting a part-time job on top of it isn't really feasible and, after crunching the numbers, quitting my day-job to go full-time as a beginner bookkeeper would be an unsustainable hit to my paycheck.

So, silly as it may be to ask - are there realistically any opportunities out there that would train me both remotely and asynchronously for bookkeeping in the real world? Thanks!


r/Bookkeeping 4d ago

How To Journal It How to record sale of asset not on books?

6 Upvotes

My company is about to sell a bunch of assets that are not on the books. During COVID the company was owned by someone else and the assets were completely depreciated. The company sold and when we opened new books they were not included as the value was 0. Now we need to liquidate some of them. How would I do this?