Be Careful If Using QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping

Ask the Accountant…

Question: Do you have any experience with QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping?

Answer: I have not personally worked with QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, but I have had a couple of distributors come to me after trying to use this service.

In one instance, a distributor had a QuickBooks file that he had not kept up to date. QB Live assured him they could straighten out the file for several thousand dollars. Shortly after taking over the file, QB came back and said that they couldn’t figure out the data at all, and they refunded the money.

In another instance, a distributor turned to QB for support and spent an hour or more on the phone with the rep who wanted to change all the items from "Non-Inventory" to "Inventory" items, which is generally incorrect in our industry. This would have significantly altered the financial statements and created a world of errors, and fortunately, the distributor knew enough to say no to that idea.

In both cases, it showed that QB does not understand our industry at all, and there is no reason why they should. We are complicated and have many unique aspects. Be very careful of putting your accounting system into the hands of someone who doesn’t know our industry

Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor of 23 years. She advises ad specialty distributors about using QuickBooks Premier & Enterprise, and SAGE Online to save time, eliminate errors, and correctly account for your business. Her specialty is converting distributors from ProfitMaker, SmartBooks, OrderMaster, AIA, and other accounting systems.

HGatter@AccountingSupportLLC.com www.AccountingSupportLLC.com

Please email accounting questions you would like considered for the column to HGatter@AccountingSupportLLC.com with the subject line of "Ask the Accountant".