Client Requests our help in QB Online Account - Should I?

We do nothing for this client except for income tax preparation of her 1120s and 1040 tax returns (plus state income tax returns), for which we charge a flat fee.

She is asking very specifically that we go in to her QB Online Account an undo an account reconciliation because she completed it prematurely and cant figure out how to undo it.

I accepted the online invitation and I can see that it will be easy to undo the reconciliation. It was just submitted, so it doesn't look like I'll be messing anything up.

So she doesn't know how to do it (or she may not be able to do it because she does not have the accountant version), so I can charge her 15 minutes or whatever to do it for her because I know how to do it.



Generally, we either do a clients books, or we don't. We dont offer the "joint effort" approach because it hasn't worked out well for us (client messes up our work, etc).

Should we as a firm fix QB accounts for clients for which we do not do bookkeeping?

I'm afraid of what can go wrong if I do this. We have no other background or involvement with her books except for this one thing she is asking us to do. Could there be consequences down the road?

Pros of helping:

I can help her and not leave her in the cold with no one to help her (I get a lot of "well other firms do this, you cant do it?")

I can charge a fee for it.

Cons of helping:

Time costs to repair things if they become messed up and she blames us.

What do you think?

We use Quickbooks Online and that's what is recommended to clients. I feel it's best to stick to one platform for efficiency. My clients are free to choose something else, but we can only help if they use QBO.

I offer full service bookkeeping at regular intervals in additional to "transactional bookkeeping".

Some client are comfortable doing their own books for regular items but want us to jump in for the complex transactions. That's where the value comes in.

If you're comfortable with QBO I don't see any issue...

The ones that accuse you of messing something up when you in fact didn't should be excised from your practice rather quickly IMHO. Don't entertain nonsense.

Technically I guess you'd need an engagement letter but this is just a low risk thing you might do for a good client.

Honestly, the con of not helping is that she might not think you're the tax pro who can help her out with "simple" issues...

I would have very little hesitation to jump in and assist a client in this manner.
Honestly, I'm not certain I would have spent more time thinking about it than the time it's taken me to write this post.
Client finds value, I provide value, I send a bill. I don't see much risk in this at all. Scope and success is clearly defined.

This is just from my own experience so it may not apply in your situation.

Couple of years back the bookkeeper of my client walked off the job without notice. He had to complete payroll and AP that week so he begged me to help him while he looked for a new bookkeeper. I did that just to help him out one time with the understanding that I am not his bookkeeper. I don't take new bookkeeping clients, got rid of 90% of them. Guess what, my phone would ring every time he or his new inexperienced bookkeeper ran into a problem. I actually had to disengage because it was not worth my time and liability.

All I was interested in was tax returns.

I would have very little hesitation to jump in and assist a client in this manner.
Honestly, I'm not certain I would have spent more time thinking about it than the time it's taken me to write this post.
Client finds value, I provide value, I send a bill. I don't see much risk in this at all. Scope and success is clearly defined.

What he said. You could have done this already.

Side note: You seem to worry a lot.

^^ It's a curse (but maybe sometimes a blessing).

Neurotic people live longer, so at least I can suffer for a few more years on average.

I sent some simple disclaimers and I'll do it.