If your books are months — or even years — behind, you’re not alone. We meet business owners every week who finally hit the wall and admit it “I have no idea what my numbers actually look like.”
It happens to the best people. You got busy. You meant to catch up but never did. You opened QuickBooks, felt overwhelmed, and closed it again. Now tax season is coming, or a loan application is on the table, or you just can’t run the business in the dark anymore.
Catch-up and cleanup bookkeeping is how we fix it. We take whatever shape your books are in — even if “shape” is a generous word — and bring everything current, accurate, and tax-ready.
What Is Catch-Up Bookkeeping?
Catch-up bookkeeping (sometimes called “back bookkeeping”) is the process of reconstructing, reconciling, and organizing your financial records for past months — or past years — so your books are accurate and current.
For most clients, that means we go back to whatever the last clean month was (sometimes the day you opened the business) and work forward, one month at a time, until your books are fully caught up to today.
Cleanup is similar but slightly different — it’s when your books exist, but they’re a mess. Transactions are miscategorized, accounts haven’t been reconciled, balances don’t tie out, or someone (often well-meaning) made changes that just didn’t work. Cleanup is fixing what’s already there so it actually reflects reality.
Most clients need a mix of both. That’s normal.
When You Need Cleanup vs. Catch Up
You need cleanup if:
- Your QuickBooks file exists but the numbers don’t match your bank statements
- You see negative balances that don’t make sense, or balances that look impossibly high
- Transactions are categorized inconsistently or vaguely (everything in “Other”)
- Your P&L looks wrong but you can’t pinpoint why
- A previous bookkeeper left you with something messy
You need catch up if:
- It’s been months since you reconciled
- You’ve fallen behind and stopped opening QuickBooks
- You opened a business account a year ago and never set up books for it
- Tax season is approaching and you don’t have anything to give your CPA
- You’re applying for a loan or selling the business and need clean financials, fast
Either way, the path forward is the same: get the books current and accurate, then keep them that way.
What We Fix
When we start a cleanup or catch up project, here’s what gets handled:
- Bank and credit card reconciliations — every account, every month, brought into balance with your statements
- Transaction categorization — every transaction reviewed and assigned to the right account, consistently
- Chart of accounts cleanup — duplicate accounts merged, unused accounts archived, account structure simplified
- Missing transactions — anything that should be in your books that isn’t, located and entered
- Owner contributions and draws — separated from business expenses (a common mess)
- Loans and credit cards — properly recorded, with balances tying to your real statements
- Year-end adjustments — depreciation, accruals, and anything else your CPA needs to file taxes
- Sales tax review — if applicable, verifying past filings or identifying gaps
When we’re done, you’ll have books that match your actual bank activity, reports you can trust, and a clear starting point going forward.
How Cleanup Works
Cleanup is project-based, not a flat monthly fee. Every business is in a different state of disarray, so we don’t pretend a one-size price exists. Here’s how the process works:
- Free consultation. We talk through what’s happening, how far behind you are, and what you need cleaned up.
- Books review. We get temporary access to your QuickBooks file and your bank statements. We review the scope and give you a clear estimate of hours.
- Estimate approved. You sign off on the scope and the estimate. No surprise bills.
- Cleanup begins. We work through your books month by month, sending updates as we go.
- Final delivery. Once everything ties out and reports are accurate, you get a clean handoff — and a clear option to roll into monthly bookkeeping so you don’t end up here again.
Most cleanup projects take 2–6 weeks depending on how far behind your books are and how complex your business is.
Pricing
Cleanup and catch-up work is billed at $75/hour.
We give you a written estimate before we start, so you know what you’re committing to. We track hours transparently and bill against the estimate. If anything unexpected comes up (and sometimes it does), we’ll flag it and get your approval before we go over.
To give you a rough sense:
- A simple solo business that’s 6 months behind on a single bank account: usually 8–12 hours
- A growing business that’s a year behind with multiple accounts and some categorization issues: usually 20–35 hours
- A multi-year cleanup with payroll history, sales tax issues, and prior bookkeeper mistakes: usually 40+ hours
You won’t get pressured to over-buy. We’ll tell you honestly what the books actually need.
How Long It Takes
Most catch-up projects wrap in 2–6 weeks from kickoff. Faster if you’ve got everything organized and ready to hand off; slower if we have to chase down statements, missing records, or unclear transactions.
We work month-by-month and send you progress updates so you always know where we are. If you’ve got a tax deadline or a loan application driving the timeline, tell us during the consultation — we’ll set a target end date and work toward it.
What You’ll Have When We’re Done
At the end of a cleanup or catch up project, you’ll walk away with:
- Accurate, reconciled books — every account matched to its statements
- A clean Profit & Loss statement — for whatever period we cleaned up
- A clean Balance Sheet — with balances that actually tie to reality
- Year-end reports ready for your CPA — if you’re cleaning up for tax season
- A clear starting point for going forward
- Recommendations for how to keep things clean from here
You’ll know your numbers. Your CPA will be able to file your taxes. And you won’t be carrying a year of dread anymore.
From Cleanup to Monthly Bookkeeping
Most clients who come in for cleanup roll directly into one of our monthly bookkeeping plans once the cleanup is done — and we strongly recommend it.
Here’s why: the reason most cleanup projects exist is that the business owner tried to keep up with the books themselves, got busy, and fell behind. Once you’re caught up, the easiest way to make sure you never end up in cleanup mode again is to hand the monthly work to someone whose job it is to never let it fall behind.
We’ll talk through which monthly plan makes sense for you (Starter at $425/month, Growth at $625/month, or Premium at $895/month) before cleanup wraps up, so the transition is seamless.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is catch up bookkeeping?
Catch up bookkeeping is the process of reconstructing and reconciling your past financial records — sometimes months, sometimes years of history — so your books are accurate and current. It’s the fix when you’ve fallen behind, your QuickBooks is a mess, or you’re heading into tax season without clean numbers.
How much does catch-up bookkeeping cost?
Cleanup and catch-up work is billed at $75/hour. We give you a written estimate before we start so you know the scope and the cost. Simple catch-up projects often run 6–10 hours; larger or messier projects can take 30+ hours. You’ll never get a surprise bill.
How far back can you go?
As far back as you need. We’ve taken on cleanup projects covering multiple years. The longer the time period and the more accounts involved, the bigger the project — but there’s no time horizon we won’t tackle. If you have records (even messy ones), we can rebuild from them.
How long does catch-up bookkeeping take?
Most projects wrap in 2–6 weeks from kickoff. The timeline depends on how far behind you are, how complex your business is, and how quickly you can get us bank statements and answers to questions. If you have a tax deadline, we’ll plan the timeline around it.
My QuickBooks is a mess. Can you fix it?
Yes. Messy QuickBooks files are most of what we see in cleanup work. Miscategorized transactions, duplicate accounts, balances that don’t tie, broken reconciliations — all of that is normal and all of that is fixable. We’ve never opened a file we couldn’t clean up.
Will I get a clean starting point after cleanup?
Yes. When cleanup is done, your books will reconcile to your bank and credit card statements, your reports will reflect reality, and you’ll have a clean Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet for the period we covered. You’ll know your numbers, and your CPA will be able to file your taxes without scrambling.
Can I move into monthly bookkeeping after cleanup?
Yes, and most clients do. It’s the best way to make sure you never end up needing cleanup again. We’ll talk about which monthly plan fits before your cleanup project wraps so you can transition straight into ongoing monthly bookkeeping without any gap.
What if I don’t have all my records?
We work with what you have and help you find what you don’t. Most banks let us pull historical statements digitally. For missing receipts or older records, we’ll show you what’s still needed and how to retrieve it. Even partial records are usually enough to rebuild accurate books — we’ll tell you honestly if something isn’t.
