Do the books yourself, or pay someone to?
One tape, two columns. This site prints the case for keeping your own books and the case for paying a bookkeeper, entry by entry, and leaves the total to you.
Every entry below that has a page behind it opens that page.
Begin with these
Begin with these pages
The Real Cost of DIY Bookkeeping, Including the Mistakes (2026)
What financial records does a small business legally need to keep?
Read the guide ExplainerWhat Does Doing Your Own Bookkeeping Actually Involve?
What's the difference between bookkeeping and accounting for a small business?
Read the explainer ShortlistDIY Bookkeeping or a Service: Which Is Right for You? (2026)
Should I do my own bookkeeping or hire a service?
Read it How-toHow to Do Your Own Bookkeeping Properly (2026)
How do I set up bookkeeping for my new LLC?
Follow the steps ShortlistWhen a Business Owner Should Stop Doing Their Own Books (2026)
My business is growing past what I can track myself. What bookkeeping help should I get first?
Read it Head to headQuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Experts: Do It or Hand It Over (2026)
How much does a bookkeeping service cost for a small business?
Read itBoth columns
Neither side is the house answer. Each gets the same width of tape.
You post every entry+
Software you pay for, hours you never bill, and a mis-categorised month you find at year end.
Someone else posts them+
A monthly fee, the hours back, and a set of books you still have to read and question.
The two columns meet head to head in Doing Your Own Books vs a Monthly Service.
On the tape
The topics being fed to the machine, in no order of importance.
DIY bookkeeping against a paid service×
The straight head-to-head: cost, time, control, and what breaks under each.
line 02What each way actually costs×
Service pricing on one side; software, subscriptions and your own hours on the other.
line 03The DIY stack, start to first close×
Chart of accounts, bank feeds, receipts, and what month-end asks of you.
line 04Where DIY books go wrong×
The mistakes that surface at tax time, and which of them are recoverable.
Where a paid service disappoints×
Handover gaps, slow months, and the questions a bookkeeper cannot answer for you.
Moving the books either direction×
Taking them back in-house, or handing them over, without losing a quarter.
House rules
The rules the pages here are written under. The Bench Review is one example: a service weighed in words, with no stars attached.
Nothing is scored÷
No stars, no ratings, no tier boards. Where one option suits a reader better, it is argued in words with the reasoning shown.
No test that did not happen÷
Nothing here describes a methodology nobody ran. The pages work from what providers publish about their own plans and from official sources such as the IRS, and none describes using a service first-hand.
The debate stays open÷
Some books belong with their owner and some belong with a bookkeeper. This site is built to help you tell which, not to decide it for you.
Affiliate links are disclosed÷
Some links may earn a commission. That never sets the order things appear in, and it is set out on the disclosure page.
Reading the tape
Start from your own month=
Transaction volume and how messy it is, not the brand on the software.
Price your hours honestly=
The DIY column is only the cheap one if your time is worth nothing.
Read both columns before either total=
Every entry has a matching one on the other side. Skipping one is how the sum goes wrong.
Weighing your time against the fee is worked through in DIY Bookkeeping or a Service: Which Is Right for You?
The full list
Everything on the site
Reviews
The tape stops short of a sum: both columns are printed, and the total depends on your own month. If that month has already outgrown the DIY column, read When a Business Owner Should Stop Doing Their Own Books.