To introduce why I am answering this question, I am a recovering accountant (at least Acct degree & Finance degree). My wife does the books (all of it) for our consulting, interim executive, and training business. I handle the setup and complex accounting questions for her and her customers. We advise our clients to separate the cash, payment, and invoicing functions from other bookkeeping. We also advise using a CPA to do taxes, with the bookkeeper having everything organized to minimize back-and-forth and CPA hourly billing. So, best of all worlds... The owner/CFO keeps the cash and near-cash handling in-house, which is really pretty simple. The firm saves money by using an external bookkeeper using either QuickBooks or anything else, preferably online... They get the oversight and tax insights of a CPA without the huge monthly bills.