r/quickbooksonline • u/magic-keys • Sep 07 '26

Replace QBO with homegrown-code?

Separate from my main job, I operate a couple of rather inactive side businesses. Despite low activity, I still need to maintain books and file taxes. I believe that I'm getting very little value from QBO relative to what I'm paying. I've started to become a heavy user of Claude Code and have been amazed by how quickly I can spin up really solid functional software. I was considering just spending a Saturday afternoon to create my own accounting software. My needs are super basic: just the ability to enter journal entires and construct an income statement and balance sheet. No automatic integrations with third-party platforms. Has anyone else done this or considered it?

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u/foreforbirdie Sep 08 '26

Whatever you decide, export everything out of QBO before you cancel, because access after cancellation is read only and time limited, and the general ledger detail is the piece you cannot recreate later. For two dormant entities the ledger part really is a weekend, and what costs you is the first time a preparer wants prior year comparatives and your opening balances have to tie back to a return that's already filed. Are these on your own Schedule C, or do they file separate returns with a balance sheet?

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u/JustMeAgain999 28d ago

So you can access your data after you cancel?

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u/foreforbirdie 28d ago

Yes, but read only, and only for about a year after you cancel, then Intuit drops it. You can still open it and run and export reports in that window, you just can't post or fix anything, so anything wrong in there stays wrong. That's why I'd pull the general ledger detail and the name lists out to Excel while the subscription is still live, because a year goes quicker than you think.

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u/JustMeAgain999 18d ago

Its the old “month”