A QuickBooks cleanup is file work, so the person doing it does not need to be nearby. What matters is that they hold a current QuickBooks certification and will quote the job before they start. Shea Business Solutions cleans up Orlando businesses' books remotely.
Below is how remote access to a QuickBooks file works, how to check a ProAdvisor with Intuit, and what to ask before you hire. It is general information, not tax or legal advice, and the sources are at the end. If you already know you want a cleanup, our page on QuickBooks cleanup in Orlando explains the service and the free file review.
Does a QuickBooks cleanup need someone local?
Mostly no. Reconciling accounts, fixing categories and clearing old uncleared items all happen inside the file, working from your bank and card statements. The cleaner needs the file and your statements. At Shea Business Solutions the cleanup runs remotely in QuickBooks Online, and a free review of your file comes first, then a flat quote.
Where local knowledge does matter is Florida's rules for what the file records. Sales tax is the clearest example. Florida's state rate is 6 percent, and the Department of Revenue's surtax table (form DR-15DSS, revision 11/24) lists Orange County at 0.5 percent, Seminole County at 1 percent and Osceola County at 1.5 percent. A business that sells across the Orlando area can have invoices in more than one of those counties, and a cleanup of its sales tax liability has to check which rate each sale used. Ask any cleaner you are considering whether they regularly work with Florida sales tax returns.
How does someone clean up your file from a distance?
It depends on which version of QuickBooks you use. Intuit describes a different route for each.
In QuickBooks Online you stay in control of the invitation. The accountant's status on the Manage users page reads Invited until they accept and Active afterward. Ask who will be in your file and how their access ends when the job does.
With QuickBooks Desktop, the Accountant's Copy can go through Intuit's secure transfer service. The accountant gets an email with a download link that works for two weeks, and you give them the file password yourself, because it is not in the email. Some activities in your file are restricted while the copy is out, so ask which ones before you agree to a timeline.
How can you check a QuickBooks ProAdvisor's credentials?
Intuit runs a public Find-a-ProAdvisor directory at quickbooks.intuit.com/find-an-accountant. You can search by ZIP code, town or city, pick a specialty, and open a profile to see credentials, services, industries and client reviews. Intuit says that city and ZIP searches can return different results because they use different boundaries, so try both. To publish a profile, a ProAdvisor must hold a current and valid QuickBooks Online certification.
A listing is only a starting point. It won't say whether the person has worked on a file as tangled as yours, so ask. Ryan Shea, who runs Shea Business Solutions, is a QuickBooks Level 2 ProAdvisor, and our page on QuickBooks ProAdvisor services in Orlando explains what that covers.
What should you ask before you hire someone for a cleanup?
- Will you look at my file and quote the cleanup as one flat price? Shea Business Solutions does, after a free file review.
- Which accounts and which months will you reconcile, and against which statements?
- What happens if the cleanup changes a year I already filed? If a cleanup changes income or expenses for a filed year, that return may need amending, so say at the start which years are filed.
- How will I see what you changed? Ask for a written summary, not just a cleaner file.
- Who will be inside my file, and how does their access end?
- Who keeps the books current once the cleanup is done? The first month after a QuickBooks cleanup covers that handoff.
What records should you gather for a remote cleanup?
The IRS says to keep records that support an item of income or deduction on a return until the period of limitations for that return runs out. Under its Publication 583, that period is generally 3 years from filing, and employment tax records should be kept for at least 4 years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later. Start with these.
- Statements for every bank and card account, for every month the cleanup covers.
- Your most recent filed return and the date it was filed.
- Payroll reports and filings, if you have employees.
- Invoices and receipts behind your larger expenses. The IRS notes that supporting documents such as canceled checks and invoices back up the entries in your books and on your return.
If some of this is on paper, ask whoever you hire how they want it sent, and agree on a format first, such as clear photos or scans. Our guide to what a QuickBooks cleanup involves walks through the full list of what to have ready.
QuickBooks cleanup for Orlando-area businesses
Shea Business Solutions handles QuickBooks cleanups for small businesses across Orlando and Central Florida, including Winter Park, Dr. Phillips, Windermere, Lake Nona and Baldwin Park, all remotely. If your file is behind rather than messy, catching up on months of bookkeeping is the related job. To start, call (603) 759-8547 or use the free review on our QuickBooks cleanup page.
Sources, read October 27, 2026: Intuit, Invite accountant users; Intuit, Create an Accountant's Copy in QuickBooks Desktop; Intuit, Learn about ProAdvisor profiles and Find-a-ProAdvisor; IRS, Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records; Florida Department of Revenue, DR-15DSS discretionary sales surtax rates and GT-800067, Sales and Use Tax on Construction, Improvements, Installations and Repairs (state rate of 6 percent).