QuickBooks second opinion
QuickBooks second opinion
Numbers feel off? Get an independent read.
A QuickBooks second opinion is an independent review of books you suspect are wrong — when the numbers feel off, or you're not sure your bookkeeper has them right. We read the file cold and tell you what's solid and what isn't. Start with the free health score; if it's clean, you may not need us.
Last reviewed October 2026 by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
- Free, view-only review first
- Findings in plain English
- One specialist — never a rotating pool
Which do you need?
Start with whether you need one
Start here
Do you actually need one?
RECON TIED, REPORTS LOOK RIGHT
You may not need us
If your last three reconciliations tied and the statements agree, run the health score to confirm — a do-it-yourself check.
Run the health scoreSOMETHING FEELS OFF
Independent review
A cold read of the file tells you what's solid and what needs work, with no obligation.
Get your free reviewBOOKS MAY BE WRONG FOR MONTHS
Review, then cleanup
If the review confirms real errors, cleanup corrects them and gets the file back to reliable.
See QuickBooks cleanup
Read this as text
- RECON TIED, REPORTS LOOK RIGHT: You may not need us — If your last three reconciliations tied and the statements agree, run the health score to confirm — a do-it-yourself check.
- SOMETHING FEELS OFF: Independent review — A cold read of the file tells you what's solid and what needs work, with no obligation.
- BOOKS MAY BE WRONG FOR MONTHS: Review, then cleanup — If the review confirms real errors, cleanup corrects them and gets the file back to reliable.
Honest answer
Who this affects
Plenty of people who ask for an independent review don't need one, and we'll tell you so. If your bank and credit-card accounts reconcile every month, your balance sheet balances, and your profit-and-loss matches what you know about the business, your books are probably fine — a nagging feeling isn't the same as an error. In that case the honest answer is to run a quick self-check and get on with your day.
An independent review earns its keep when something concrete is off: reports that don't match your bank, a balance sheet that won't balance, numbers that jumped without explanation, or a handover from a bookkeeper you're no longer sure about. It's also worth it before a big decision — a loan application, a sale, a tax filing you'll sign — where being wrong is expensive. The point of an independent read is to replace the feeling with a fact, either way.
Eight checks you can run before asking anyone
Each takes a few minutes in QuickBooks, and each one that fails is a specific question for your bookkeeper:
- Reconciliation dates. When was each bank and card account last reconciled? More than a month behind the latest statement is a warning.
- Old uncleared items. On the last reconciliation report, any check or deposit uncleared for more than 90 days needs an explanation.
- Receivables tie-out. The A/R aging total should equal Accounts Receivable on the balance sheet, on the same date.
- Payables tie-out. The A/P aging total should equal Accounts Payable.
- Opening Balance Equity should be zero.
- Undeposited Funds should hold only deposits genuinely in transit.
- Uncategorized and Ask My Accountant should be empty, or close to it.
- A closing date should be set on the last finished month.
If all eight pass, you probably don't need a second opinion. If any fail, the free review is the second opinion — view-only, at no charge — and it ends with a written list of what is reliable and what isn't.
Do-it-yourself
Check it yourself first
The three checks
Read this as text
Three checks run in a row: each bank and credit-card account reconciles to the latest statement with a zero difference; the balance sheet actually balances; and suspense accounts such as Undeposited Funds and Opening Balance Equity hold no balance they shouldn't. If all three pass, you probably don't need an independent review. If any one fails, that failure is the concrete fact that makes one worth it. A decision aid, not a guarantee about any particular file.
Before you pay anyone, you can get most of the way to an answer yourself, and we'd rather you did. Start with our free bookkeeping health score — it walks through the checks that matter and flags the ones your file fails. Then look at three things: does each bank and credit-card account reconcile to the latest statement with a zero difference, does the balance sheet actually balance, and does Undeposited Funds or Opening Balance Equity carry a balance it shouldn't.
If all three come back clean, you likely don't need an independent review — this is a do-it-yourself check, and passing it is the answer. If they don't — a reconciliation won't tie, the balance sheet is off, or a suspense account is holding money — that's your fact, and it's worth an independent read. Either way you'll know more than you did, and you won't be paying to confirm a hunch.
How the second opinion is written up
Who’s responsible for your file
A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor handles your file from the review through the corrections to the hand-back — the same person throughout, never a rotating pool.
About QBSpecialist
Illustrative example — not a client file.Sample findings report
The plain-English read you receive — what's reliable in your file, what isn't, and what it would take to fix.
How we read a file
Every account checked against the statement before we call anything solid. Read the method.
Read the reconciliation referenceResponse commitment
A written reply within one business day.
Remote-first, nationwide
Mon–Sat · 8am–6pm CT
We work entirely remote — view-only access for the review itself, QuickBooks' accountant access only if you hire us to fix what it finds, every change visible to you in the audit log, and every finding documented in writing.
- All 50 states
- Remote-first
- View-only review
Questions about a second opinion
Will you criticize my current bookkeeper?
No. The review is about the file, not the person. We tell you what's reliable and what needs work in plain terms, with the evidence behind each finding. If the books are in good shape, we say that too — the goal is an honest read, not a sales pitch.
How is a second opinion different from a cleanup?
A second opinion diagnoses; a cleanup fixes. The review tells you what's wrong and what it would take to correct — no obligation. If you decide to fix it, cleanup is the separate engagement that does the work, scoped from what the review found.
What will you actually look at?
The checks that reveal whether books can be trusted: bank and credit-card reconciliations, whether the balance sheet balances, suspense accounts like Undeposited Funds and Opening Balance Equity, and whether the reports agree with the statements. It's a read of the file, not a full audit.
What does a second opinion cost?
The initial read is our free QuickBooks review — we look at the file, view-only, and tell you what it needs. If a deeper independent review or a cleanup is warranted, we scope and quote that up front, so you decide with the findings in hand.
Do I have to switch bookkeepers if the review finds problems?
No. The findings are yours, not a hook. Many owners hand the list to their current bookkeeper to fix, and that's a fine outcome — the review's job is to tell you the truth about the file. If you'd rather have the errors corrected independently, cleanup is a separate engagement, never a condition.
How do I know if I even need one?
Run the free bookkeeping health score first. If your reconciliations tie, the balance sheet balances, and nothing looks off, you probably don't need one. If something fails, that's your signal that an independent review is worth it.
How quickly should my bookkeeper reconcile and close each month?
A sound benchmark: every bank and card account reconciled within ten days of the statement date, and the month closed — reports delivered — by the second week of the next month. Ask any provider, us included, to put its monthly delivery day in the written scope.
Where to go next
- Hire a QuickBooks consultant— Diagnose the file and say what it actually needs.
- QuickBooks rescue for a broken file— Diagnose a file whose reliability is in question.
- QuickBooks errors— if the problem you want checked started with an error code
- Not reconciling— the most common thing a second opinion looks at
- Balance sheet out of balance— when the report that worries you is the balance sheet
Not sure how bad it is?
Talk to a QuickBooks specialist.
Describe the file and a specialist will tell you which of these you are dealing with — including when the answer is that you don't need us.