QuickBooks Bookkeeping Services: Live Expert vs ProAdvisor

Quick Answer: Intuit's own QuickBooks bookkeeping services now come in two forms: Expert Assisted, where QuickBooks-certified experts answer your questions while you keep the books ($59 monthly after a 30-day trial), and Expert Full Service Bookkeeping, where a dedicated bookkeeper cleans up and then categorizes and reconciles your QuickBooks Online file each month (starting at $300 monthly after a cleanup fee). Neither prepares taxes. An independent ProAdvisor from Intuit's directory is the main alternative. Prices were read on October 27, 2026 and change.

If you searched for QuickBooks Live, you will find Intuit now sells it under "Expert" names. The idea is the same: bookkeeping help delivered inside your own QuickBooks Online company, by people Intuit has vetted, billed alongside your subscription. Whether it beats hiring an independent bookkeeper depends on how much of the work you want done for you and how unusual your books are.

What are Intuit's QuickBooks bookkeeping services called now?

Intuit's QuickBooks Live page describes two tiers.

The full-service page does not state the cleanup fee or what drives the price above the starting figure, so ask for a written quote before you sign up. Expect the number to depend on how many accounts and transactions you have and how far behind the books are.

What does QuickBooks Live bookkeeping not include?

This is where buyers are most often surprised. Intuit's pages are clear that its bookkeepers will not:

• Prepare or file taxes. The Live page says plainly that the bookkeepers "can't prepare or file your taxes for you," and the Expert Assisted page excludes tax advice and tax compliance.
• Do specialized accounting. GAAP accounting, full accrual and multi-currency work are listed as out of scope.
• Run your back office. The full-service page excludes sending invoices, paying bills, inventory management, managing receivables and payables, 1099 creation and payroll management.
• Give financial or business advice, or set up third-party apps.

On the Expert Assisted page, Intuit adds that those experts "will not work in your books." You still do the data entry; they guide you.

So the full-service tier is closer to "monthly categorize, reconcile and report" than to an outsourced finance department. You still need a tax preparer, someone to run payroll, and someone (possibly you) to send invoices and pay bills.

Who are the bookkeepers?

Intuit says its Expert Assisted bookkeepers hold an active QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification plus at least one further credential, such as CPA, enrolled agent, certified public bookkeeper, or an accounting or finance degree. The full-service page describes help from a "QuickBooks-certified bookkeeper."

The alternative: an independent QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Intuit also runs a ProAdvisor directory where you search by location, then filter by industry, services and software. Two lines on that page are worth reading closely. It says QuickBooks certification "means that someone has passed our QuickBooks proficiency certification exam" and is not an accredited education, and it notes that ProAdvisors are independent professionals, not Intuit employees. You hire and pay them directly, on whatever terms you agree.

That independence cuts both ways:

For the broader market of outsourced services and how they charge, see bookkeeping services for small business: cost and choice.

Is QuickBooks Live worth it?

It fits best when:

• Your business is simple: one or two bank accounts, a card, a modest number of transactions, cash-basis books.
• You already use QuickBooks Online and want to stay there.
• You want a predictable bill and are comfortable keeping payroll and taxes with other providers.
• You want to learn to keep the books yourself, with an expert to check your work (Expert Assisted).

Look elsewhere when you need accrual books, inventory accounting, multi-currency, or one provider who also files your returns. A local CPA firm or an independent ProAdvisor can cover more of that under one engagement.

Questions to ask before you sign up

Put these to Intuit's sales team or to a ProAdvisor you are interviewing, and get the answers in writing:

• What exactly does the cleanup cover? How many months back, which accounts, and what happens if they find a year that was never reconciled?
• What drives the monthly price? Number of accounts, transaction volume, or both, and what happens to the price in a busy month.
• When will the books be closed each month? A fixed date, such as the 15th of the following month, is a reasonable expectation to set.
• Who is my bookkeeper, and what happens if they leave? Continuity matters more than people expect once someone has learned your vendors.
• How will they communicate questions? Uncategorized transactions pile up when questions go to an inbox nobody reads.
• What do they need from me each month? Receipts, payroll reports and loan statements are the usual list.
• Who files my taxes, and how do they hand over the year-end books? If the answer is "not us," line up that person before the first deadline.

What a provider needs for months the bank feed never pulled

Whichever you choose, the first job is cleanup, and the most common obstacle is missing history. A bank feed only reaches back so far, and accounts opened, closed or never connected leave gaps. Before the first call, gather:

1. Statements for every account and card, for each month from your books' start date, including closed accounts.
2. A list of all accounts with the bank, last four digits and whether each is connected in QuickBooks.
3. Loan statements showing principal and interest split, so payments are not booked entirely as expense.
4. Payroll reports from your payroll provider, by pay date.
5. Last year's tax return and any accountant's adjusting entries, so opening balances match what was filed.
6. User access: invite the bookkeeper through QuickBooks rather than sharing your login.

Statements are usually the bulkiest item. QuickBooks Online can extract transactions from an uploaded PDF statement itself, according to Intuit's manual upload help article. If your bookkeeper prefers to review the rows first, or wants one file per month to match against each statement, QuickBankConvert produces CSV, Excel or QBO files from those PDFs; bookkeepers handling several clients can see how that works on the bookkeepers page. The catch-up bookkeeping guide covers the order to rebuild missing months, and reconciling in QuickBooks Online covers proving each month once it is in.

Related guides

• QuickBooks Online plans for small business
• QuickBooks integration: file types for import
• Catch-up bookkeeping