Catch-up and cleanup bookkeeping
Whether your books are three months or three years behind, or full of entries nobody trusts, we rebuild them from source documents and hand back a clean, reconciled set ready for taxes or a lender.
What is included in catch-up & cleanup bookkeeping
Books fall behind for ordinary reasons: a busy season, a bookkeeper who left, a DIY setup that stopped scaling. The longer it goes, the harder it gets — and the IRS deadline does not move.
We start with your bank and credit card statements as the source of truth, rebuild every month in order, reconcile each account, and fix the entries that were coded wrong the first time. You get a written summary of what we found, a reconciled set of books, and financial statements for every period we cleaned up.
Backlog catch-up
Missing months entered from statements, receipts and invoices, in order, with every month reconciled before the next.
Cleanup of existing books
Duplicate entries, uncategorized transactions, unreconciled balances and messy opening balances found and fixed.
Prior-year tax prep support
Clean books for each unfiled year, ready for your CPA or Enrolled Agent to prepare the returns.
Software migration
Moving from spreadsheets or one system to another as part of the cleanup, with history carried over.
Signs you need catch-up & cleanup bookkeeping
- 1You have unfiled tax returnsYour tax professional cannot file without books, and penalties grow each month.
- 2Your previous bookkeeper left a messBalances do not match the bank and nobody knows why.
- 3You need financials for a loan or saleA lender or buyer wants statements you can stand behind.
- 4You are switching to a new systemMoving software is the perfect time to fix what was wrong in the old one.
What you receive
- Reconciled books for every period cleaned up
- Written cleanup report: what was wrong and what we changed
- Profit and loss and balance sheet for each year
- List of missing documents and questions, if any
- Year-end packages ready for your tax professional
- Option to move straight into monthly bookkeeping
$15 per hour, with an hours estimate based on months behind, number of accounts and transaction volume. See pricing or what bookkeeping costs.
Catch-up & cleanup bookkeeping FAQ
Most cleanups of up to a year finish within two to four weeks once we have statements. Multi-year projects are scheduled in phases, most urgent tax year first.
Bank and credit card statements for the period, access to your accounting software if you have one, and payroll reports. We will tell you if anything else is needed.
We prepare the books for each unfiled year. A CPA or Enrolled Agent then prepares and files the returns — we can work with yours or you can bring them in once the books are ready.
At $15 per hour. After a quick look at the statements we estimate the hours based on the number of months, accounts and transaction volume, so you know the likely total before we start.
Get a free quote — $15 per hour
Reply from Jay within one business day with a written scope and an estimate of hours at $15 per hour. No obligation.
Catch-up & cleanup bookkeeping in every US state
We work with businesses in all 50 states and DC. Each state page covers its own income tax, sales tax and business filing rules.
Accountant in Alabama · Accountant in Alaska · Accountant in Arizona · Accountant in Arkansas · Accountant in California · Accountant in Colorado · Accountant in Connecticut · Accountant in Delaware · Accountant in Washington DC · Accountant in Florida · Accountant in Georgia · Accountant in Hawaii · Accountant in Idaho · Accountant in Illinois · Accountant in Indiana · Accountant in Iowa · Accountant in Kansas · Accountant in Kentucky · Accountant in Louisiana · Accountant in Maine · Accountant in Maryland · Accountant in Massachusetts · Accountant in Michigan · Accountant in Minnesota · Accountant in Mississippi · Accountant in Missouri · Accountant in Montana · Accountant in Nebraska · Accountant in Nevada · Accountant in New Hampshire · Accountant in New Jersey · Accountant in New Mexico · Accountant in New York · Accountant in North Carolina · Accountant in North Dakota · Accountant in Ohio · Accountant in Oklahoma · Accountant in Oregon · Accountant in Pennsylvania · Accountant in Rhode Island · Accountant in South Carolina · Accountant in South Dakota · Accountant in Tennessee · Accountant in Texas · Accountant in Utah · Accountant in Vermont · Accountant in Virginia · Accountant in Washington · Accountant in West Virginia · Accountant in Wisconsin · Accountant in Wyoming
Often combined with this
Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction categorized, every account reconciled, a clean P&L by the 15th of the month.
Open →A2r2Bank & credit card reconciliation
Every account tied to the statement, every discrepancy explained.
Open →A2r3QuickBooks bookkeeping & cleanup
QuickBooks Online and Desktop setup, cleanup, migration and monthly bookkeeping.
Open →Get a free estimate for catch-up & cleanup bookkeeping
Twenty minutes is usually enough to understand your books and estimate the hours at $15 per hour. No obligation.