Short answer: Line up the new bookkeeper first, get copies of your own records before you give notice, and time the switch to a month-end or quarter-end if you can. The awkward conversation is usually much smaller than people expect.
The first thing to be clear about: your financial records are yours. Your QuickBooks file, your chart of accounts, your reconciliations, your payroll reports, your filed returns — none of that belongs to the bookkeeper, regardless of who set it up. If the subscription is in their name, it can be transferred to yours. A firm that treats your own data as leverage is telling you something useful about why you are leaving.
A sensible order looks like this. Talk to the new bookkeeper first and confirm they can take you on and when. Then make sure you have direct ownership of the accounts — QuickBooks, payroll, anything that logs in with a password. Then export or download copies of statements and reports for the periods already closed. Then give notice, with a specific last date rather than an open-ended one.
Timing matters a little. Switching at a month-end or quarter-end gives you a clean boundary: one party closed everything through that date, the next starts fresh after it. Mid-month switches are workable but leave a seam someone has to reconcile later.
Expect the new bookkeeper to review the prior work rather than take it at face value. That is not criticism of your last bookkeeper — it is basic diligence, the same way a new mechanic looks under the hood before signing off on a car. If the prior books turn out to be solid, that review is fast.
If you are switching because you are not sure the current books are right, say that out loud on the first call. It changes what we look at first.
Related: What do I need to give a new bookkeeper to get started? · How far behind on my books is too far behind? · Contact