Setting an LLC’s books up
A separate business account, a chart of accounts that suits the work, and what has to stay apart from the owner’s own money.
Bookkeeping for LLCs
The books an LLC keeps, worked one close at a time.
Write-ups of the software and the services an LLC uses to keep its books - what each one does, where it stops being enough, and which one suits the work you actually have.
The five modules below split the job into setup, software, reconciliation, the service question and the tax-time handoff, and each lists its published pages.
Close board Scope
- Business money, kept apart from the owner’s Filed
- Bookkeeping software, weighed against the work Filed
- Reconciliation and the monthly close Filed
- Doing the books, or handing them to a service Filed
- Getting the books ready for a tax preparer Filed
- Filed pages on this module are published
A chip marks whether a module has published pages. It is not a rating, and it says nothing about how good anything is.
The five modules
Setting the books up, choosing software, reconciling, deciding on a service, and handing the books over at tax time.
Bookkeeping software, compared
QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, FreshBooks and the rest, read against the bookkeeping a small LLC actually has to do each month.
Reconciling the month
Bank feeds, uncleared items, owner draws and the checks that make a month’s books worth relying on.
Software against a bookkeeping service
Where a service such as Bench or Pilot earns its fee, and where software plus an hour a month is already enough.
Close, and the handoff at tax time
What month-end asks of you, and the shape the books need to be in before a tax preparer opens them.
Covered in detail in Zoho Books vs Xero for a Multi-Member LLC, Wave vs FreshBooks for a Small LLC and Best Setup for Tracking Owner Draws and Distributions.
Where to begin
Where most readers start
Guide
LLC Records: What to Keep, for How Long, and Why (2026)
What financial records does a small business legally need to keep?
Read the guide ExplainerHow Is Bookkeeping Different for an LLC?
What's the difference between bookkeeping and accounting for a small business?
Read the explainer ShortlistBest Bookkeeping Setup for an LLC (2026)
What bookkeeping setup makes tax season easiest for an LLC?
Read it How-toHow to Set Up Bookkeeping for a New LLC (2026)
How do I set up bookkeeping for my new LLC?
Follow the steps ShortlistBest Bookkeeping for a Single-Member LLC (2026)
What bookkeeping setup makes tax season easiest for an LLC?
Read it Head to headQuickBooks Online vs Xero for an LLC (2026)
What bookkeeping setup makes tax season easiest for an LLC?
Read it Control notes
Controls applied to every entry
Prices carry the date they were read off the provider's own page, and record-keeping rules cite the IRS publication they come from, as in LLC Records: What to Keep, for How Long, and Why and QuickBooks Online for LLC Bookkeeping.
CTRL-01
An entry carries its reasoning
No scores, no stars, no tier boards. Where one option is preferred over another, the argument for it is on the page in words you can disagree with.
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A figure carries its source
Prices, plan limits and feature names are read off the vendor, and the entry says when they were read. Nothing is estimated into existence.
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Claiming a test means the test happened
No described methodology standing in for work nobody did. If a tool was not run on real books, the entry says what it is based on instead.
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Commissions are disclosed
Some links earn a commission. That is stated in the footer of every page and on the page about how the site is funded.
How an entry gets posted
01
Open the line
Each entry starts from a bookkeeping job an LLC actually has - a reconciliation, a handoff, a decision - not from a product page.
02
Post the detail
Pricing, plan limits and what a tool refuses to do get written down together, because the refusals are usually what decides it.
03
Review the wording
Anything reading as a test, a score or a count stays out unless the work behind it exists.
04
Lock the entry
Once the wording holds, the entry is locked and filed under the module it belongs to. Until then it stays off the board.
Two entries to start from: How to Set Up Bookkeeping for a New LLC and QuickBooks Online vs Xero for an LLC.
Common questions
What this site answers
- How do I cleanly separate business and personal expenses in my books?Shortlist
- How do I set up bookkeeping for my new LLC?Alternatives
- What's the cheapest way to keep clean books for a brand new business?Head to head
- What's the best bookkeeping solution for a small business?Head to head
- What's the best all-in-one tool for invoicing, expenses, and bookkeeping?Review
- My business is growing past what I can track myself. What bookkeeping help should I get first?Review
Everything here