When we started we had to pay a bookkeeper monthly. Over the years we used more and less expensive ones, had to switch every few years, but it went that way for a while. As I learned more and kept better books, we needed the bookkeeper for less and less but still needed them monthly. A couple of years ago we moved our payroll to ADP and I buckled down for a month or two to get a handle on what was left-over. For the last few years we only need a CPA at year-end; between ADP and me, the rest gets done throughout the year.

Honestly? In retrospect now? I'm a bit ashamed how long it took me to get it all down. It's clear now that I'm capable of knowing all this stuff so why didn't I learn it faster or sooner? eh, it is what it is.

Anyways, you have this chance now. Remember, every problem is an opportunity. This problem with your books is your opportunity to buckle down, learn some stuff and get comfortable with your finances.

Before you dive back into Quickbooks, do some reading on accounting basics and maybe find some QB tutorials to watch. You want to know what Account Codes are for and why you have to be accurate and honest with them. You need to know the differences between Liabilities and Expenses, Assets and Income. Finally, you need a cheat sheet of all of the different taxes you pay, to whom and when and with which form.

Then get into QB. Start a New Company and start populating it with your own data, as a learning experience. Put in invoices, pay bills, receive payments, make deposits and, finally, for graduation, reconcile a month successfully :)

You can certainly go back to paying a bookkeeper to do the paperwork for you, to make sure it gets done right and on time, but at least learn what they are doing for you and why. Over time, if you want, you'll find you can do this for yourself and it isn't even that hard. It's a little time consuming but the intimate picture you have of your cash flow is worth putting in that effort.