ASK Bookkeeping Coach®
• Founding cohort · 12 seats · Closes May 27
Most bookkeepers record transactions.
I'll teach you to see what the books are hiding.
A 12-week live cohort for people serious about becoming the kind of bookkeeper their clients actually need. By Week 12, you'll be ready to take on your first paying clients — and serve them properly.
Co-owned by Loral Langemeier • and Bev Ottone
Cohort starts
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Live class
Tuesdays · 6:00 PM ET · 90 min
Duration
12 weeks · Through August 18
Enrollment closes
May 27, 2026
Why this exists
You've done bookkeeping at some point. Now you want to do it for real.
Maybe for a friend. A side gig. Your own business. A job that didn't quite stick. You want your own clients, your own practice, on your own terms.
The problem isn't motivation. It's that the courses out there teach you to record transactions. Real clients don't need that. They need a bookkeeper who can look at a set of books and tell them what's actually going on.
That's a different skill. That's what this is.
Your instructor
Bev Ottone
Founder, ASK Bookkeeping Coach®
Who's teaching
I'm Bev. I've spent 30+ years learning to see what most bookkeepers miss.
I run CanAm Bookkeeping out of Georgia — over 100 active clients — and in 2025 I was named Best of Georgia in the Accounting category.
I've also found more than $4 million in fraud across client books over the years. I don't go looking for it. I find it because I was trained to see the books, not just process them.
That's the skill I'm going to teach you. Most of my students come to me having taken another course already. They tell me the same thing every time: "They taught me debits and credits. They didn't teach me how to actually look at a set of books."
This is the course I wish existed when I was starting out.
30+ years working as a bookkeeper, controller, and firm owner
100+ active clients served through CanAm Bookkeeping & Payroll
$4M+ years working as a bookkeeper, controller, and firm owner
2025 Best of Georgia Award, Accounting category
The 12 weeks
From "I've touched QuickBooks" to "I'm ready for my first clients."
Each week: one 90-minute live class, one workbook section, and one hands-on exercise in QuickBooks Online Accountant. Every week also includes a fraud-spotting prompt — a real pattern I've seen in 30+ years of work, redacted and built into the exercise. All classes recorded and posted within 24 hours.
Module 1
Weeks 1–2
Foundations
What bookkeeping actually is in 2026. The accounting equation in plain English. Debits and credits without the math anxiety. The mental model that makes every entry obvious. By the end of Week 2, you can trace any transaction — and you've started training your eye on what doesn't belong.
Module 2
Weeks 3–5
The Daily Work
A full QuickBooks tour. Building a real chart of accounts (and recognizing a bad one). Recording transactions correctly, including bank feeds and AI categorization — when to trust it and when to override. Bank and credit card reconciliations, including what to do when something doesn't balance and what reconciliation can never prove. By Week 5, you can do a clean month of books on a real client file.
Module 3
Weeks 6–7
Reading the Books
The three financial statements and what each one actually tells you. The balance sheet ghosts framework — what's on the books that shouldn't be there, and what's missing that should be. Month-end and quarterly review. This is where most bookkeepers stop. You're going further.
Module 4
Weeks 8–10
Building the Practice
Who do you serve, and how do you choose a niche when you don't have clients yet. Pricing your work without flinching — value vs. hourly, monthly recurring vs. project, what to charge for cleanups. Where to find your first clients, how to run the discovery call, and how to write a proposal and engagement letter that protects your scope. By Week 10, you know how to land a client — not just keep their books.
Module 5
Weeks 11–12
First Clients
Week 11: onboarding and workflow. Getting bank and credit card access without losing your mind. Your first 30 days with a new client. The app stack and the AI tools worth using in 2026. What to do when their books are a disaster on day one. Week 12: the capstone. If you can do this capstone, you can take on a real client.
The 12 weeks
From "I've touched QuickBooks" to "I'm ready for my first clients."
Carolina Coastal Catering. Real-looking books. 10–15 hidden issues across the chart of accounts, the bank rec, the balance sheet — and two fraud-shaped patterns. One you'll spot easily. One you might not.
Your job: find the issues, identify the patterns, write the cleanup plan, and propose the engagement — scope and price — exactly as you would for a real prospect. Individual feedback from me on every submission. No other course I've found does this. Most send you off with a certificate and wish you luck. You'll walk out of this cohort with a one-page cleanup plan and a real proposal you can adapt for your first client.
What's included
From "I've touched QuickBooks" to "I'm ready for my first clients."
Everything you need to do the work — and keep doing it after.
Twelve 90-minute live classes on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM ET
Complete student workbook (digital, fillable)
Weekly fraud-spotting prompts drawn from real client work
Individual feedback on your capstone project
All classes recorded and posted within 24 hours
Hands-on exercises in QuickBooks Online Accountant
Cohort community for the duration of the course
Lifetime access to recordings, including future cohorts
Two ways to join
Founding cohort pricing. Never repeats.
This is the first cohort I'm running of The Diagnostic Bookkeeper: Foundations. You'll get more of my direct attention than any future cohort will. In exchange, you get the lowest price this course will ever be offered at.
Founding cohort
Standard seat
$2,497
or 2 payments of $1,297
12 live classes with recordings
Complete workbook & QBO exercises
Weekly fraud-spotting prompts
Cohort community access
Individual capstone feedback
Lifetime recording access
Founding rate locked for future courses
8 of 8 Standard seats available
Most direct access
Founding VIP
VIP seat
$3,494
or 2 payments of $1,797
Everything in Standard
Five 30-minute private 1:1 sessions with me
Priority response on questions between classes
First seat on Diagnostic Bookkeeper: Cleanup (Course 2)
4 of 4 VIP seats available
Cohort 2 launches fall 2026 at $2,997 retail with testimonials from this cohort backing it. Founding pricing does not repeat.
Why founding rate
Founders shape the course. Future cohorts shape their careers around it.
If by the end of Week 2 you don't believe this is the most useful bookkeeping training you've aYou're not getting a discount. You're getting earlier access, more of my time, and a stake in the version of this course every student after you will take.
In exchange, your story (with permission) goes on this page for everyone who comes after — which is why founding rate doesn't repeat. You're the proof the course works.ever paid for, email me and I'll refund the full amount.
The guarantee
Full refund through end of Week 2.
If by the end of Week 2 you don't believe this is the most useful bookkeeping training you've ever paid for, email me and I'll refund the full amount.
After Week 2, no refunds. You'll have most of the material by then, and I want students who are committed for the full twelve weeks.
Honest moment
Who this isn't for.
I'd rather you not enroll than have you finish the course frustrated. If any of these describe you, this isn't the right fit:
You want a certificate to hang on a wall. This isn't credentialed. It's not pretending to be.
You want bookkeeping basics with no intent to take on clients. There are cheaper ways to learn the basics.
You've never used a computer comfortably and don't want to start.
You want a passive course where the videos are pre-recorded and the instructor never shows up. That's not how I teach.
Common questions
Things people ask before they enroll.
I've done bookkeeping before. Will this be too basic?
The first two weeks are foundational. If you're solid on debits and credits already, treat those weeks as a tune-up — most students discover gaps they didn't know they had. From Week 3 forward, even experienced bookkeepers find new things every cohort.
Do I need QuickBooks before I start?
No. You'll set up a free QuickBooks Online Accountant account in Week 1 (I'll walk you through it). That's the only software you need. There's no separate subscription you have to buy.
What if I miss a class?
Recordings go up within 24 hours. The cohort moves together, but missing a live class won't break you. You'll still be able to complete the workbook exercises and submit your capstone.
Will you teach me how to find fraud?
Yes — at the right level for a foundations course. Every week includes a fraud-spotting prompt: a real pattern I've seen, redacted and built into that week's QuickBooks exercise. By Week 12 your eye will be trained to slow down on the right things, and your capstone includes two fraud-shaped patterns to identify. The deeper forensic work — how to systematically clean up a file when you find fraud, how to document what you find, how to talk to the client — that's the next course in the series: Diagnostic Bookkeeper: Cleanup. Founding students get first access and the locked founding rate when it launches.
What's the time commitment per week?
Plan on about 5 hours per week: one 90-minute live class, one hour with the workbook, and 1–2 hours of QuickBooks exercises. Capstone week (Week 12) is heavier — closer to 8 hours.
Is this for people who want to work for someone else, or start their own thing?
Both. The skills are the same. Weeks 8–11 focus on what you need to take on your own clients — niching, pricing, getting hired, onboarding — but if you'd rather work as a bookkeeper for a firm or in-house, the skills travel.
Most bookkeepers record transactions.
I'll teach you to see what the books are hiding.
12 seats · Closes May 27 · Starts June 2
ASK Bookkeeping Coach®
Co-owned by Loral Langemeier and Bev Ottone
© 2026 · Taught by Bev Ottone · bookkeepingcoach.net