AI-assisted QuickBooks balance sheet correction saved my small business bookkeeping

Thanks for the tips! I've been reconciling monthly and it's really helped me stay organized. The whole assets = liabilities + equity thing finally clicked after getting some clear examples. Do you think it's worth paying for a quarterly review even for a very small business? I'm a solo operator with around $75,000 in annual revenue. And what specifically should I look for when finding someone to review my books?

For a business your size, I'd recommend at least a semi-annual review to start - perhaps at mid-year and then before tax season. This gives you a chance to catch and fix issues before they compound. As you gain confidence, you might scale back to annual reviews. When looking for someone to review your books, find a professional with small business experience in your industry if possible. Ask about their QuickBooks expertise specifically, their approach to teaching clients (not just fixing mistakes), and their availability for occasional questions between reviews. A good bookkeeper or accountant should be willing to explain things in plain language and help you learn, not just do the work for you.

How exactly does it work with QuickBooks? Can you upload your QBO file directly or do you need to export reports first? I'm interested but my books are kind of a mess and I'm worried about security.

Sounds too good to be true. Does it actually give you specific journal entries to fix things or just general advice? I've tried other "AI for accounting" tools and they've been pretty disappointing.

You can either connect it directly to your QuickBooks Online account through their secure integration, or upload exported reports if you prefer. The security is top-notch with bank-level encryption - that was my first concern too. It gives you both specific journal entries to make AND explains the logic behind them. That's what makes it different from other tools I tried. It'll say something like "This $3,500 equipment purchase on March 15th should be recorded as a fixed asset, not an expense. Here's the correct entry..." and then shows exactly what to change.

Wait, so this service just gets you through to actual QuickBooks support faster? How is that even possible when their wait times are always insane?

This sounds like a paid advertisement. I doubt anyone is actually getting through to QuickBooks support in 10 minutes when I've literally waited 2+ hours multiple times. How much does this "miracle service" cost?

It uses an automated system that navigates the phone tree and waits on hold for you. Once a representative answers, you get a call back connecting you directly to them. They've somehow figured out the patterns in Intuit's phone system to minimize wait times. It's not just about speed - they also help get you to the right department. When I called directly, I kept getting basic support who couldn't help with my accounting questions. Through their service, I got connected to an advanced support specialist who actually understood balance sheet issues.

That's a great suggestion about running reports side by side. I never thought about checking if profit increases match equity changes! Do you have any recommendations for the best audit reports to run? There seem to be so many options in the system.

The Audit Trail report is your best friend - you can access it under Reports > Accountant & Taxes > Audit Trail. It shows every change made to any transaction, who made it, and when. Filter it by date range to keep it manageable. Also check out the Voided/Deleted Transactions report if you suspect something might be missing. For balance sheet accuracy specifically, the Account QuickReport is helpful - right-click any account on your balance sheet and select QuickReport to see all transactions affecting that account.

I've had my QuickBooks connected to my business checking and credit cards for three years with no problems. The time saved on manual entry is HUGE. Just make sure you still review the auto-categorization because it gets things wrong sometimes. I set aside 15 minutes every Monday to check the previous week's transactions.

Hey Everett! I'm not the original poster, but I wanted to jump in since I've been following this thread closely as someone also new to small business accounting. The woodworking inventory question really resonates with me - I run a small craft business and tracking raw materials has been one of my biggest challenges. From what I've learned lurking in various business forums, many woodworkers struggle with properly valuing their inventory, especially when you have partially completed projects sitting around. I'm really curious about the AI tool Josef used too. There seem to be several options mentioned in this thread (like taxr.ai), but I'd love to hear more specifics about which one actually helped with the conceptual understanding rather than just fixing errors. The "no judgment" aspect you mentioned sounds incredibly valuable for someone like me who's still learning the basics. Have you found any good resources specifically for creative/craft businesses? I feel like the standard accounting advice doesn't always translate well to our type of operations.