FreshLedger Pro includes a Free Accountant Edition that you can hand to your CPA, EA, or outside bookkeeper at no charge. Your accountant installs the Accountant Edition on their own Windows machine, opens an Accountant's Copy of your company file, posts adjusting journal entries, reclassifications, and year-end corrections, and exports a changes file you import back into your live data. They pay nothing. You pay nothing extra. This matters because in QuickBooks Desktop land, your CPA pays roughly $799 a year for QuickBooks Accountant Desktop just to open your file properly, and that cost frequently lands on your invoice. With FreshLedger Pro, your one-time $799 license covers the company file, and the Accountant Edition is a free companion install. If you switch CPAs, the next one downloads the same free edition. No subscription, no per-seat fee, no annual renewal for the accountant side.
The workflow mirrors the Accountant's Copy model that experienced CPAs already know from Desktop accounting software, with one difference: the accountant tool is free. Step 1 - Create the Accountant's Copy. From the File menu in FreshLedger Pro, choose Create Accountant's Copy and set a dividing date (typically your fiscal year-end, e.g., 12/31). FreshLedger writes a .FLAX transfer file containing all activity through that date plus the chart of accounts, vendor and customer lists, and open AR/AP detail. You email or share the .FLAX file to your CPA. Step 2 - CPA opens in Accountant Edition. Your CPA downloads the Free Accountant Edition installer from our site, installs it on Windows, and opens the .FLAX file. While they work, you can keep entering current-period transactions (dated after the dividing date) in your live file. Pre-dividing-date entries are locked on your side to prevent collisions. Step 3 - Post adjusting entries. The CPA enters adjusting journal entries: accrued expenses, prepaid amortization, depreciation per IRS Pub 946 (MACRS half-year or mid-quarter conventions on 5-yr and 7-yr property, 27.5-yr straight-line on residential rental, 39-yr on commercial real estate), Section 179 elections, bonus depreciation, payroll tax accruals tying to Form 941 quarterly liabilities, owner distribution reclassifications, and book-to-tax M-1 adjustments. They can reclassify miscoded transactions, fix sales tax payable, and true up retained earnings. Step 4 - Export changes. The CPA chooses Export Accountant's Changes, producing a .FLAC file containing only the deltas - new entries, modifications, and reclassifications - not a full file overwrite. Step 5 - Import on your side. You open your live file, choose Import Accountant's Changes, and review each proposed entry line by line before accepting. Accepted entries post with an "AJE" stamp and the CPA's initials in the audit trail. The pre-dividing-date lock then releases.
Year-end close is where small businesses get into tax trouble, and it is the single place where a CPA's hands need to be in your books. Without a clean handoff mechanism, accountants resort to emailing PDF journal entries that the business owner re-keys (introducing errors), or asking for direct access to the live file (creating version conflicts when the owner keeps invoicing). Neither approach preserves a clean audit trail. The Accountant's Copy model exists specifically so that the books can keep moving during the weeks your CPA needs to prepare your return. This is critical for cash-basis taxpayers filing Schedule C, partnerships filing Form 1065, S-corps filing 1120-S, and C-corps filing 1120 - all of which require the trial balance to be locked as of year-end while current operations continue. It also matters for compliance. AJEs your CPA posts for depreciation must reconcile to Form 4562; payroll accruals must agree to Form 941 line 5a-5d totals and Form 940 FUTA wages; 1099-NEC vendor totals must tie to the general ledger. When the CPA works inside the same double-entry system you use - rather than rebuilding numbers in a workpaper tool - those reconciliations happen natively. The audit trail captures who posted what and when, which matters if you are ever examined. Finally, charging the CPA $0 removes the awkward conversation where your accountant marks up their software cost on your bill. The $799 you paid for FreshLedger Pro covers the entire relationship.
QuickBooks Accountant Desktop is the direct comparison. Intuit sells it as a paid annual product (currently around $799+/year for QuickBooks Desktop Accountant, often bundled in ProAdvisor subscriptions starting near $799/year and rising). The CPA must renew every year or lose the ability to open recent client files. That cost is typically passed through to clients. QuickBooks Online handles accountant access differently: the CPA gets a free Accountant user seat, but they are working in your live file in real time, not on a copy with a dividing date. There is no true Accountant's Copy workflow in QBO, so you cannot fully lock the prior period while the CPA works - you rely on closing-date passwords, which the owner can override. Xero offers free advisor access similar to QBO, again live-file only, with no dividing-date export/import workflow. Adjusting entries post directly to the live ledger. Wave does not have a meaningful accountant edition; CPAs typically export to CSV and rebuild in Excel. FreshLedger Pro's approach is closest to the classic QuickBooks Desktop Accountant's Copy mechanic - dividing date, .FLAX out, .FLAC back, locked prior period - except the accountant tool is free and perpetual rather than a paid annual subscription. If you value that workflow but resent the recurring fee, this is the trade-off the product is built around.
The Accountant Edition is Windows-only, like the main product. A CPA on a Mac must run it under Parallels, VMware Fusion, or another Windows VM. There is no web version of the Accountant Edition. Only one Accountant's Copy can be outstanding at a time per company file - you cannot have two CPAs working in parallel. The dividing date cannot be changed once the .FLAX is created without canceling the copy. While the CPA holds an Accountant's Copy, you cannot edit, void, or delete transactions dated on or before the dividing date in your live file. You can still enter new current-period activity. The Accountant Edition does not include tax-return preparation. It is not a substitute for Lacerte, Drake, ProSeries, or UltraTax - your CPA still uses their own tax software to file returns. It also does not auto-generate Form 4562 depreciation schedules; the CPA posts the AJEs, but the 4562 itself is prepared in tax software.
One-time-purchase accounting software with built-in payroll, full depreciation handling, and a free Accountant Edition for your CPA.
Buy FreshLedger Pro — $799One-time purchase. No subscription. Free Accountant Edition included.