SERVICES / BOOKKEEPING CLEANUP
Bookkeeping cleanupWhen the books exist
but you can't trust them
Cleanup is different from catch-up. Catch-up means the work was never done. Cleanup means it was done wrong — transactions in the wrong places, reconciliations that never tied out, reports that describe a business you do not recognise.
Complete books that
tell you nothing
There is a particular kind of frustration that comes from books which are technically finished and practically useless. Every month has been closed. Every transaction has been recorded. And the profit and loss statement describes a business you do not recognise.
Usually the cause is a chart of accounts that never matched the business. A generic template applied at setup, or one inherited from a bookkeeper who worked in a different industry. Everything gets coded into the nearest available bucket, and after two years the reports are an average of many wrong decisions.
Miscategorisation is the next layer. Owner draws recorded as expenses. Loan repayments recorded as costs rather than split into principal and interest. Equipment purchases expensed instead of capitalised. Each is individually small and collectively enough to make the numbers wrong in ways that also affect your tax position.
Then reconciliations that were never properly completed. A balance that has been off by a few hundred dollars for eighteen months, carried forward each period because finding it was harder than ignoring it. That difference is a symptom of something, and until it is found nothing above it can be relied on.
Cleanup means going back through the affected periods and correcting the structure, not just the surface. It is more involved than catch-up because you are undoing work as well as doing it.
Signs your books need cleanup
- Reports that do not match your sense of the business
- An enormous "miscellaneous" or "other" expense line
- Bank balances that never quite reconcile
- Owner draws and business expenses mixed together
- Negative balances in accounts that cannot be negative
- Duplicate transactions from a bad bank feed import
- A chart of accounts that reads like a different industry
From $500 · Scoped and quoted before we start
What cleanup
actually involves
Fixing the structure, not just correcting the surface entries.
Chart of accounts rebuild
Rebuilt to match how your business actually operates, so future reports answer questions you actually have.
Recategorisation
Historical transactions moved to the right accounts so prior periods become comparable and meaningful.
Reconciliation repair
Long-standing discrepancies traced and resolved rather than carried forward another year.
Duplicate removal
Double-imported transactions and duplicate entries from bad feed connections identified and cleared.
Owner vs business
Draws, personal expenses and loan payments separated and recorded correctly, which affects your tax position.
Opening balances
Balance sheet accounts verified so your starting position is right rather than assumed.
How cleanup
gets done
Diagnostic review
We examine the existing file and produce a written list of what is wrong. You see the problems before committing to anything.
Scope and quote
A fixed price based on how much needs correcting and how far back it goes. No open-ended hourly work.
The rebuild
Chart of accounts corrected, transactions recategorised, reconciliations repaired, period by period.
Walkthrough
We show you what changed and why, including anything that affects prior tax filings.
What clean books
change
Your reports start describing your actual business. That sounds obvious and it is the entire point — a profit and loss statement built on a correct structure tells you which parts of the business earn and which do not.
Prior periods become comparable. Once historical transactions are coded consistently, you can compare this year to last year and the comparison means something. Before cleanup, it usually does not.
Tax position gets corrected. Miscategorised owner draws, misclassified equipment and mishandled loan payments all affect what you owe. Fixing them sometimes reveals overpayment, and occasionally the reverse — we will tell you either way.
And you get a foundation. Monthly bookkeeping on top of a correct structure stays correct. Monthly bookkeeping on top of a broken one simply adds more entries to a system that was already producing wrong answers.
BOOK A FREE CALLEvery client gets
- Replies within 48 hours, guaranteed
- Books closed by the 15th, every month
- Flat monthly pricing, no hourly billing
- A plain-English summary with every report
- The same team every single month
- Cancel any time, files handed over cleanly
Bookkeeping cleanup questions
Catch-up means the work was never done and we are creating records that do not exist. Cleanup means records exist but are wrong. Many businesses need both, and we will tell you which after looking.
Usually to the start of the current fiscal year at minimum, and further if prior years affect your balance sheet or tax position. We will recommend a scope and explain the reasoning rather than defaulting to the largest project.
Sometimes. If cleanup reveals a material error in a filed return, we will tell you and explain the options, including amendment. We will not quietly correct the books and leave a filed return inconsistent with them.
Yes. Migration and cleanup often happen together — we move the data across and correct the structure as part of the same project rather than importing the problems.
From $500, depending on how much needs correcting and how far back. The diagnostic review comes first, so you see the actual problems and get a fixed price before committing.
It happens, and it is usually not personal. We document what we changed and why, in plain terms. If they were right about something, we will say so.
Find out what's actually
wrong with your books
Thirty minutes, no pitch. We will review your existing file, give you a written list of what needs fixing, and quote a fixed price.
BOOK YOUR FREE CALL