What r/Bookkeeping keeps coming back to
Complaints raised here by more than one person. One-off posts are not included.
26 recurring problems · 56 threads read · read since September 2026 · Reddit
Raised more than once here
Most people first.
- 27how do I get my first client?“I do wish more CPA firms would be willing to mentor and hire bookkeepers. I’m stuck in the “not enough experience” to get hired at a place, but educated enough to do basic level AR/AP, reconciling and general recording. If I can’t find someone to work for, I’ll just start working at low level, doing low cost services anyway. I like bookkeeping a lot. I just don’t have enough experience and firms don’t “want to train”. It’s frustrating.”
- 21Doing higher-level work without a pay raise“had a gig last year that wanted me to also run their social media because "numbers and marketing are basically the same thing"”
- 21How to clean up months of messy client expense records“Now I get to spend hours going through bank statements and receipts trying to figure out what all these transactions actually were.”
- 20Why is accounting software like QuickBooks so bad?“I mean QBO is dogshit and so are its reports but everything else is fine.”
- 18How to figure out how much to charge for freelance work“And then monthly I was going to charge a range of 700-1100 for basic bookkeeping. But she wants to do the bookkeeping and have me check it. That would be a lot more work than doing it myself. I know I need to charge more for having her do it and me review it, but I'm not sure how to do that.”
- 18Why does every software update make things slower and harder to find?“It's getting to the point where it's adding time to the docket with the amount of reloading pages/regenerating reports I have to do.”
- 17How to understand a confusing legacy software system you inherited“You’ll double-enter revenue. You’ll double-enter expenses. You’ll “match” things that aren’t matches. And you’ll feel like you’re bad at bookkeeping.”
- 16How to handle clients who demand refunds and bully you“She has a few clients who just ask way too much of her and she can't seem to say no.”
- 11Why is this community full of sales pitches and spam?“I'm on a call right now. It is my third call this week from someone in my networking group who wants to "help" me become a life insurance agent.”
- 6How to tell a client their bookkeeper is incompetent“How do I politely tell my client their bookkeeper hasn’t kept the accounts up to date in 8 months?”
- 6How to respond when a client says your rates are too high“She said to me "you're the most expensive bookkeeper" they've ever worked with”
- 6Boss hasn't paid me in months“My boss hasn’t paid me in 2 months”
- 6Why are teachers expected to be available 24/7?“I have a bookkeeping business outside of my FT job & i find it hard to do any work after work and when i do work on the weekends i feel like i get nothing accomplished”
- 5Simple offline accounting software without monthly subscriptions“Ideally I'd like something that runs as a portal, CRM and also lets me do the accounting from the platform.”
- 5How to consolidate multiple LLCs without Excel“Just know none of them do real intercompany eliminations, I have a client with three LLCs and a holdco and we still consolidate in Excel every month.”
- 4Why do I have to confess my mistakes at work?“How do you handle this, feel like I’m about to be scapegoated.”
- 4Is it normal to have no training or supervision on a new job?“The part that is making me reconsider it is the training situation. The woman I would be replacing finishes next Friday. From what I understand, after she leaves I would essentially be responsible for the bookkeeping function myself.”
- 4How to fix journal entries moving income to expense accounts“When we received the cash the entry was debit cash and credit accounts payable. There is no long term debt account, nor is there an interest expense account.”
- 4Can QuickBooks Spreadsheet Sync do reports and journal entries together?“I cannot figure out how to have QB Spreadsheet Sync operate more than one function within an excel file.”
- 3Why do we keep accidentally paying for software twice?“So last week our boss brought up in the meeting that we somehow paid for the same software twice.”
What this forum worries about more than the rest
How much more often a topic shows up here than across every forum we read.
client negotiation105.1×saas changes105.1×software compatibility105.1×software documentation105.1×