My QuickBooks StoryI have an honours degree in Business from the University of Cape Town where I majored in Finance and Accounting.After a decade or so working for several large multinationals I changed career, and established a certified retailer in the healthcare sector. That's when my relationship with Quickbooks began. At that time there was only a desktop version and I took to it like a duck to water. With the benefit of my accounting background I found the package intuitive and easy to learn. Back then I had the time and it was the ideal way for me to keep my own books. That worked well until the business grew and I became more involved in service provision to a growing client list.But hey - Quickbooks was easy so anybody less busy than me could handle it. What could go wrong?A few months later the books were in a mess. Entries had been missed ,duplicated or mis allocated, bank and supplier's accounts didn't reconcile, VAT was late, The VAT inspectors were coming. I had to do my own extensive QuickBooks Cleanup. Thereafter I reigned in and did a lot of the drudge work myself. For the next few years I was too stingy to employ a bookkeeper when I was a perfectly good one myself - after hours during the week and at weekends.​ In 2015 I was introduced to an accountant whose mother was a client. He was an accredited Quickbooks online Pro Advisor and I soon signed up. Now all the tax and statutory deadlines were met, I had accurate financial reports.I had my weekends back. Nobody had to be employed and the cost relative to the benefit made it a no brainer. The practice continued to grow until it was sold to a major national company. I think this story underlines the importance of working with a qualified expert who's job it is to focus on your bookkeeping.QuickBooks recommend this as best practice. The benefits greatly outweigh the costs which are minimal.​