Bookkeeping Clean-Up & Catch-Up

Behind on your books

Bookkeeping Clean-Up & Catch-Up

If your books are months or years behind, you are in more common company than you think. It usually starts the same way — a busy season, a bookkeeper who left mid-year, a software migration that went sideways — and then the backlog gets big enough to feel unapproachable, so it keeps growing.

Clean-up is the work of making that backlog go away. We reconstruct the missing periods, correct what was recorded wrong, reconcile every account against the actual bank statements, and hand you back books you can file a return from.

You probably need clean-up if

• You have unfiled tax returns because the books were never ready
• Your bank balance and your accounting software have not agreed in months
• A bookkeeper left mid-year and nobody picked it up
• Your profit & loss shows numbers you know are wrong but cannot explain
• There is a pile of uncategorized transactions sitting in QuickBooks
• A lender, a buyer, or the IRS has asked you for financials
• You switched accounting software and the history came across wrong

How a clean-up runs

1. Diagnostic review

   Before quoting anything, we look at what actually exists — which accounts are connected, how far back the last clean reconciliation goes, what is sitting uncategorized, and which years were filed. This tells us the real size of the job, which is often smaller than owners fear and occasionally larger.

2. Written scope and fixed quote

   You get the scope and the price before any work starts. Clean-up is quoted as a project, separately from ongoing monthly work, so you are not signing up for an open-ended hourly meter on a job nobody has measured.

3. Reconstruction

   We pull bank and credit card statements for every month in scope, rebuild the transaction record, and categorize it against your actual business. Where documentation is genuinely missing, we tell you exactly what we need rather than guessing and moving on.

4. Correction and reconciliation

   Duplicates removed, misclassifications fixed, opening balances and equity accounts corrected, and every account reconciled month by month until the books agree with the statements. This is the part that makes the numbers trustworthy.

5. Handoff and prevention

   You get corrected financials for every period, a written summary of what was wrong, and a system set up so it does not happen again. Most clients move onto monthly service at this point. You are not obligated to.

Common questions

• How far back can you go?

  As far as you need. We have taken on multi-year backlogs — one recent client was three years behind and audit-ready in under 90 days. The limiting factor is documentation, not elapsed time. If the bank statements exist, the books can be rebuilt.

• How long does a clean-up take?

  Most clean-up projects finish within 2-4 weeks, depending on the volume and complexity of your records. Multi-year projects take longer, and you get a timeline in writing before work begins.

• What if I don't have all my receipts?

  Bank and credit card statements are the backbone of a clean-up; receipts support them. We work with whatever records exist and tell you specifically what is missing, rather than leaving you to guess at it.

• Will you work with my CPA or tax preparer?

  Yes, and the handoff is built for it. With 17 years of experience inside a CPA office, we know what tax preparers need and how they want it structured.

• What does clean-up cost?

  Clean-up is quoted per project after the diagnostic review, separately from monthly service. The price depends on how many months are involved, how many accounts, and the transaction volume in each.