If you serve clients who are small business owners (SBOs), and especially if you run a firm that juggles the books for many of them, you probably are familiar with QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA).
It is made for accountants and bookkeepers who manage multiple clients all in one place. But what does it really cost? And is it something that scales with your business, or does it cap out too early?
So, before you look for QuickBooks online expert accountant, let’s break it down in a way anyone can easily understand — no fluff, no jargon, just plain speaking about pricing and scalability.
QBOA Is Free—But There’s A Catch
Technically, QuickBooks Online Accountant is free. You can register and use all its tools for free. That sounds great, right? It is — but here’s the interesting part.
You don’t pay for QBOA directly but you pay for it with client subscriptions. If you’re outfitting books for others, then each client of yours needs their own QuickBooks Online plan, and each of those plans have monthly charges.
So, the more clients you handle, the more you are making — except, of course, not for your own account. That arrangement suits many accounting pros just fine, keeping their own overhead low.
Nonetheless, you’ll want to consider those client subscription costs — particularly if you’re the one paying for them. Many companies provide client discount as a part of the accommodation service. Just be careful it doesn’t eat too far into your profit.
Instruments That Work For Either Single Bookkeepers
But just opening up QBOA isn’t like opening a pared-down version of QuickBooks Online. It’s got a whole list of features useful for those of us who take care of numerous clients.
You receive a dashboard you can use to flip from one account to another, a workload planner for managing deadlines, and even tools for assigning work to team members if you’re not working on your own.
Single bookkeepers like the time-saving tools, including auto-reminders and recurring tasks. But it also serves a larger team decently. Staff can be added, permissions defined, and audit logs show who did what.
That makes it play like a board game for companies that are looking to scale. Whether you’re one person running a home office or in charge of a team of ten, the toolset doesn’t seem like it’s restraining you.
Growth Easier To Swallow With Discounts
Here’s something that can help as you scale: wholesale billing. QuickBooks offers ProAdvisors — essentially, certified accountants — a discount on client subscriptions.
You receive wholesale pricing, potentially cutting up to 50% off what a client pays. That’s a big deal if you’re handling a lot of clients or bundling some accounting services into one flat monthly rate.
This is where the true advantage lies: flexibility. You also have the option of charging clients directly or paying on their behalf and invoicing them through your service and it’s easy when you’re first using.
That kind of setup provides you space to offer competitive packages, while still actually making yourself a decent margin. It’s a neat little lever to pull when you’re trying to expand your client base.
Integration That Allows It To Play Well With Others
No accounting software operates in isolation. QBOA plays nicely with other apps as well —TaxDome, Karbon and even Google Workspace. You can also connect it to payroll tools, time trackers and CRMs.
That means you aren’t stuck using just one workflow or trying to make your system behave in ways it was never designed to work. This adaptability is one of the things that keeps people on board.
If you’ve got a way that you do things, it’s likely that the tools that you like can be integrated into QBOA and make everything all work together. That kind of arrangement is hard to beat, as your business begins to grow and your systems become more complex.
Final Thoughts
Certified QuickBooks expert Accountant makes it easy when you’re first getting started. But it doesn’t push you to start over when you mature. The no-cost entry point is easy to explore for cutting-edge technology, and the client billing options empower you to manage costs as you grow.
If you have a growing accounting business — or want one — that’s a great place to build your roadmap. Keep an eye on your client subscriptions and avail yourself of the discounts then surely.
The platform will grow with you without having to change systems down the line. And that makes it alone worth a serious look.
