Quick Comparison
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| AccountWorks | Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor on Desktop, Online, Enterprise Solutions, and Point of Sale; founder carries more than 25 years of bookkeeping experience. | Plano and North Dallas small business owners wanting a single Advanced ProAdvisor handling bookkeeping, payroll, sales and use tax, and QuickBooks help-desk support. |
| Collin County Bookkeeping | Certified QuickBooks bookkeeping and payroll specialist; founder carries more than 20 years of small business bookkeeping experience and is a lifelong Collin County resident. | Frisco, Plano, McKinney, and wider Collin County small and mid-sized companies wanting an outsourced bookkeeping and payroll engagement under one named owner. |
| Educated Bookkeeping | QuickBooks Certified Bookkeeper; Associate Digital Bookkeeper Certification; Gusto People Advisor Certification; bonded and insured virtual firm. | McKinney, Plano, and Collin County construction owners, designers, and service-based small businesses wanting QuickBooks Online bookkeeping with monthly statements and payroll support. |
1. AccountWorks
- Address: 2300 McDermott Road, Suite 200-294, Plano, TX 75025
- Phone: (214) 856-5999
- Founder / Owner: Joy McReynolds
- Operating Since: Founder carries 25-plus years of bookkeeping experience
- Credentials: Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Advanced Desktop Certified, Advanced Online Certified, Enterprise Solutions Certified, Point of Sale Certified
- Service area: Plano, Dallas, and the wider North Dallas corridor, with remote engagements available
- Industries served: Small business owners across mixed sectors, with QuickBooks help-desk support work spanning retail, professional services, and owner-operated firms
- Website: accountingworksnow.com
Advanced ProAdvisor on Both Desktop and Online
Most ProAdvisors hold one standard QuickBooks certification. Joy McReynolds carries Advanced Certified status on both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, plus Enterprise Solutions and Point of Sale certifications. The Advanced exam covers complex transaction handling, inventory, multi-user permissions, and reporting layers beyond the base certification, so owners running Enterprise files or planning a Desktop-to-Online migration deal with a bookkeeper qualified above the entry tier.
Founder-Owned Practice in Plano Proper
The firm operates from a Plano office on McDermott Road in the 75025 ZIP, not a Dallas headquarters with a Plano satellite. Clients deal with the founder directly rather than a rotating remote pool, which keeps the engagement letter tied to one named owner. Joy McReynolds graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin and built the practice over two and a half decades of small business work in the Dallas-Plano corridor.
Sales and Use Tax Plus QuickBooks Help Desk
Beyond core bookkeeping and payroll, AccountWorks handles Texas sales and use tax filings and runs a QuickBooks help-desk service for owners who keep their own books but need expert backup on transaction questions, reconciliation issues, or year-end cleanup. That combination supports owners who want a single firm covering monthly bookkeeping and ad-hoc QuickBooks coaching rather than two separate vendors.
Free Consultation Engagement Model
The firm publishes a free initial consultation for prospective clients, which lets owners scope the work and pricing before committing to a monthly engagement. That intake model fits small business owners who want to size up the relationship in person or by phone with the founder before signing an engagement letter.
2. Collin County Bookkeeping
- Address: 11932 Salisbury Drive, Suite 202, Frisco, TX 75035
- Phone: (214) 893-0900
- Founder / Owner: Andrew Hardin
- Operating Since: Founder carries 20-plus years of bookkeeping experience
- Credentials: Certified QuickBooks bookkeeping and payroll specialist
- Service area: Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, Prosper, and the wider Collin County market, with virtual engagements available across the metroplex
- Industries served: Small, mid-sized, and fast-growing companies as well as individuals across mixed sectors
- Website: collinbooks.com
Lifelong Collin County Roots
Andrew Hardin graduated from McKinney High School and earned a BBA from Texas Christian University with a focus on business administration and accounting. He spent twenty years at A.M. Scott Insurance Agency working with his father, then ten years publishing Inside Collin County Business and McKinney Living magazines, before building Collin County Bookkeeping into a full virtual practice. That arc gives clients a founder embedded in the local business community rather than a transplant running a national platform.
Virtual Delivery Across the County
The firm operates a virtual bookkeeping model from the Salisbury Drive office in Frisco, so clients in Plano, McKinney, Allen, and Prosper share books electronically without an in-person commute. Yet engagements stay with the named owner and a small Collin County team, not a pooled offshore center, which keeps the engagement letter local rather than routed through a national queue.
Reconciliation-First Bookkeeping Philosophy
Andrew Hardin publicly frames his work as the kind of bookkeeper who cannot sleep until the checkbook balances to the penny with the bank statement. That detail-first mindset shows up in the engagement structure, where bank and credit card reconciliation drive the monthly close rather than getting deferred to year-end cleanup. Owners who have inherited messy books from prior bookkeepers get a practice that puts the reconciliation work at the front of the engagement.
Outsourced Bookkeeping Plus Payroll
The firm runs core bookkeeping, payroll, accounting, and budgeting under one engagement, so owners can outsource the back-office stack to one bookkeeper instead of splitting work across separate vendors. That single-point structure pairs well with small and mid-sized Collin County firms that need monthly books plus payroll, but do not yet have headcount to justify a full-time in-house bookkeeper.
3. Educated Bookkeeping
- Address: McKinney, TX (virtual delivery)
- Phone: (817) 798-3883
- Founder / Owner: Kelsey Gleason and Linda Tarshahani (co-owners)
- Operating Since: January 2021 (5 years)
- Credentials: QuickBooks Certified Bookkeeper, Associate Digital Bookkeeper Certification, Gusto People Advisor Certification, bonded and insured
- Service area: McKinney, Plano, Frisco, Allen, and the wider Collin County market, with remote engagements available
- Industries served: Small service-based businesses, with concentrated experience in construction owners and designers
- Website: educatedbookkeeping.com
Former Math Teachers Turned Founders
Kelsey Gleason spent twenty years as a public school math teacher, twelve of those at McKinney ISD teaching high school math, before opening Educated Bookkeeping in January 2021 alongside co-owner Linda Tarshahani. The teaching background shapes how the firm explains monthly statements and chart-of-account decisions to owners without an accounting background, rather than handing over numbers without context. That instructional posture differentiates the practice from firms where the bookkeeper simply submits reports without walking the owner through what the numbers mean.
QuickBooks Online Exclusive Practice
The firm runs QuickBooks Online for every client engagement rather than mixing Desktop and Online files across the book of business. That single-platform discipline lets the team go deep on QBO features such as bank rules, recurring transactions, and class tracking, and it standardizes the onboarding workflow. Owners still on Desktop get a clean migration into Online as part of the engagement rather than a bookkeeper trying to maintain both products at once.
Construction and Designer Concentration
Alongside general small service-based work, Educated Bookkeeping publishes construction owners and designers as primary client lanes. Construction bookkeeping uses job costing, retainage tracking, and progress billing that differ from a standard service chart of accounts, and designer engagements often need project-level profitability tracking against retainer billings. Owners in those niches get a bookkeeper familiar with the cadence rather than one learning the trade on their books.
Gusto Payroll and Sales Tax Coverage
The firm holds the Gusto People Advisor Certification and handles payroll setup and processing through Gusto, plus Texas sales tax remittance and Texas franchise tax filings. The combined bookkeeping, payroll, and state tax stack keeps wage data, withholding liabilities, and sales tax accruals reconciled inside one engagement, which reduces the year-end cleanup that owners face when payroll and tax filings run through separate platforms.
Reference Notes
Plano sits in southwestern Collin County, with portions extending into Denton County, and forms the northern anchor of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. With more than 290,000 residents and an economy anchored by Toyota North America headquarters, JPMorgan Chase regional operations, Frito-Lay, Liberty Mutual, NTT Data, and a deep technology and corporate services layer, the local small business community concentrates in professional services, technology consulting, real estate, healthcare practices, retail, restaurants, and a strong construction and designer niche tied to ongoing residential growth across Frisco, McKinney, Allen, and Prosper.
Texas has no state income tax, but Plano bookkeepers still handle the Texas franchise tax administered by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, state and local sales and use tax across Collin County and the City of Plano, and unemployment tax through the Texas Workforce Commission. Federal payroll filings such as Form 941, Form 940, and year-end W-2 and 1099 issuance layer on top. Bookkeepers in Plano generally do not prepare federal income tax returns themselves, but their monthly ledger work flows directly into the Texas franchise tax public information report and the year-end packages CPAs use for federal returns.
The three firms profiled here are independent and owner-led, hold active QuickBooks ProAdvisor or Certified Bookkeeper status, and serve Plano and the wider Collin County small business community under a named founder. National rollups and venture-backed bookkeeping platforms were excluded regardless of ProAdvisor coverage, and firms profiled separately in the Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington directories were not duplicated so that Plano, Frisco, McKinney, and the Collin County corridor are represented on their own.
Selection Methodology
Firms were evaluated against four criteria. First, the company must be independent, family-owned, or founder-led, with the named owner still active in client work. Second, the shop must hold current QuickBooks ProAdvisor or Certified Bookkeeper status, verified against the practice’s own credential disclosure and supporting public listings. Third, the firm must show a minimum of five years of continuous operation under current ownership; two of the three firms profiled clear two decades of either firm history or owner experience. Fourth, a Better Business Bureau listing in good standing, a Chamber of Commerce membership, or equivalent local trust signal was treated as a positive marker where available.
National rollups and platform players were excluded by name, including Bench, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, and 1-800Accountant. Pure CPA firms whose primary offering is income tax preparation rather than ongoing bookkeeping were also excluded, even when those firms list ProAdvisor status, because the engagement model and pricing structure differ from a dedicated bookkeeping practice. Firms profiled in the Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington directories were also excluded so that Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Prosper, and the wider Collin County market are represented under separate listings.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I verify a Plano bookkeeper’s credentials?
Search the Intuit Find-a-ProAdvisor directory at proadvisor.intuit.com using the bookkeeper’s name or city to confirm active QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification and the specific certifications held (QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Advanced, Enterprise, Payroll). Cross-check the Better Business Bureau profile for accreditation status, complaint history, and years in business, and look at the Plano Chamber of Commerce, Frisco Chamber, or McKinney Chamber member directories for active local membership. For Texas business registration, look up the company name through the Texas Comptroller’s Taxable Entity Search and the Texas Secretary of State’s SOSDirect system to confirm the entity is active and in good standing. Ask the bookkeeper directly for proof of professional liability or errors-and-omissions coverage before signing an engagement letter.
What credentials should a Plano bookkeeper hold?
At a minimum, a working Plano bookkeeper should hold current QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification, since QuickBooks dominates the small business market across North Texas. Many stronger bookkeepers also carry the AIPB Certified Bookkeeper designation or the NACPB Certified Public Bookkeeper credential, both of which require a national exam and continuing education. For payroll-heavy clients, the Fundamental Payroll Certification from the American Payroll Association or certification in a payroll platform such as Gusto Partner or QuickBooks Payroll adds value. Texas does not license bookkeepers at the state level, so credentialing is the primary signal owners can rely on for professional verification.
How can I tell if a Plano bookkeeper is independent versus a national rollup?
Check the website footer for a single physical Plano, Frisco, McKinney, or Collin County address rather than a generic national headquarters. Confirm that the founder or named owner is reachable by phone and listed on the ProAdvisor directory under the local firm name. Look for community signals such as Plano Chamber of Commerce, Frisco Chamber of Commerce, McKinney Chamber of Commerce, or AIPB and NACPB chapter involvement. National rollups typically route phone calls through a central queue, assign clients to whichever remote bookkeeper is available, and do not name a local owner on engagement letters.
When should a Plano business hire a bookkeeper versus a CPA?
Hire a bookkeeper for ongoing transaction recording, bank and credit card reconciliations, accounts payable and receivable, payroll processing, sales tax filings, and monthly financial statement preparation. Hire a CPA for federal income tax return preparation, Texas franchise tax filings beyond the basic public information report, IRS audit representation, complex entity structuring, and year-end tax planning. Most small Plano businesses need both: a bookkeeper running the books month to month, and a CPA pulling those clean books into annual filings and strategic tax work. Using a bookkeeper for income tax filing or a CPA for daily transaction entry generally costs more and produces worse results than the proper division of labor.
Editorial Note
This directory was researched and published on 11 May 2026. Firm details, including address, phone, ownership, year founded or owner experience, and credentials, were verified against firm websites, the Intuit Find-a-ProAdvisor directory, the McKinney Chamber of Commerce member directory, LinkedIn owner profiles, and other public business records at the time of writing. Operating details can change. Confirm current address, phone, and credential status with each firm directly before engagement.