Bookkeeping Clean-Up & Catch-Up Services
From a mess in QuickBooks (or no books at all) to tax-ready, fast. For service businesses three months to three years behind — priced per project, not per hour.
If you’ve put off your books, switched bookkeepers mid-year, or inherited a QuickBooks file that looks like a crime scene, you’re not alone — and you’re not beyond help. Our bookkeeping clean-up services specialize in getting service-based businesses caught up and tax-ready, no matter how far behind you are. No judgment. No lectures. Just clean books, on a fixed timeline, at a price you know up front.
Your QuickBooks hasn’t been reconciled in months (or ever).
You’re more than one tax year behind on bookkeeping.
Your CPA has asked for reports and you don’t know how to produce them.
Your chart of accounts has hundreds of line items, duplicate accounts, or “Ask My Accountant” balances in the thousands.
You’ve got uncategorized transactions, negative balances that shouldn’t exist, or “Opening Balance Equity” with a suspicious number in it.
You switched bookkeepers, software, or business structures — and things got messy in the handoff.
You simply never set books up in the first place, and now you need to.
If any of those sound familiar, a bookkeeping clean-up is the fastest way out.
Signs your books need a clean-up:
Common clean-up situations we fix
Catch-up bookkeeping (3 months to 3 years behind). We reconstruct your books from bank statements, receipts, and anything else you’ve got — month by month — until you’re current.
QuickBooks clean-up. Mis-categorized transactions, bloated chart of accounts, duplicate vendors, un-reconciled accounts, and balances that don’t tie to reality — all fixed.
New-business setup + backfill. Starting from scratch? We’ll set up your software, chart of accounts, and processes, then back-fill the months you’ve already been operating.
Software migration. Moving from spreadsheets, FreshBooks, Wave, or desktop QuickBooks into QuickBooks Online — with historical data intact.
Pre-sale clean-up. Getting ready to sell your business? Clean books are the single biggest factor in your valuation.
What a bookkeeping clean-up includes
Every clean-up project includes:
Full account reconciliation. Every bank account, credit card, loan, and merchant account reconciled to statement, for every month in the clean-up period.
Chart of accounts review. Duplicates merged, unused accounts retired, and the structure rebuilt around how your business actually operates.
Transaction re-categorization. Every transaction re-reviewed and properly categorized — including the “Ask My Accountant” black hole.
Opening balance correction. We identify and fix problems hiding in Opening Balance Equity, retained earnings, and prior-period adjustments.
Accounts receivable & payable cleanup. Stale invoices closed, unapplied payments matched, and AR/AP tied back to reality.
Payroll reconciliation. Wages, taxes, and liabilities tied to your payroll reports.
Sales tax reconciliation. Sales tax liability verified against what you’ve actually collected and remitted.
Tax-ready financial statements. Clean P&L and balance sheet for every year in the clean-up, ready for your CPA.
How the clean-up process works
Step 1 — Free discovery call. 30 minutes to understand what’s going on, how far behind you are, and what software you’re in.
Step 2 — Quick-look diagnostic. We request read-only access to your file, spend 1–2 hours assessing the damage, and send you a fixed-fee quote and timeline. No guesswork, no hourly meter.
Step 3 — Clean-up execution. We get to work. Depending on scope, most clean-ups take 1-3 weeks. You get weekly progress updates so you’re never wondering where we are.
Step 4 — Hand-off call. We walk you through your new clean books, the reports, and any carryover items. If you want to continue with monthly bookkeeping, we roll you straight in — no second onboarding.
Timeline and pricing
Every bookkeeping clean-up is priced per project based on four things:
How far behind you are (months or years).
Transaction volume.
Number of accounts to reconcile (checking, savings, credit cards, loans).
Complexity (payroll, inventory, multi-entity, sales tax).
Most service-business clean-ups fall between $500-2,000, and take 1-3 weeks from start to finish. You get a fixed-fee quote before we start so you know exactly what you’re paying — no hourly surprises, no scope creep without a new conversation.
What you’ll have when we’re done
Fully reconciled books for every month in the clean-up period.
Tax-ready P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement for every year cleaned up.
A clean chart of accounts rebuilt for your business.
A written summary of the fixes — what was wrong, what we changed, and why (useful for your CPA and for your own sanity).
A clear set of next steps so you don’t end up here again.
After the clean-up
Most clean-up clients roll straight into our monthly bookkeeping service so the mess doesn’t come back. We offer a seamless handoff: same team, same software, same chart of accounts — we just flip from “clean-up mode” to “monthly mode” the day after your final clean-up report is delivered.
You don’t have to. A clean-up stands on its own. But most people prefer not to do this twice.
Bookkeeping clean-up FAQs
How much does a bookkeeping clean-up cost?
Most service-business clean-ups fall between $500-2,000, depending on how far behind you are and how complex your business is. Every clean-up is priced per project with a fixed quote before we start — no hourly surprises.
How long does a bookkeeping clean-up take?
Most clean-ups take 1–3 weeks. A business 6 months behind with simple operations might take 1 week; a business 2 years behind with payroll and inventory might take 2-4. You’ll have a concrete timeline in your proposal before you sign anything.
Do you do QuickBooks Online clean-ups specifically?
Yes. QuickBooks Online clean-ups are the majority of our clean-up work. We’re certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisors. We also help with migrations from desktop QuickBooks or spreadsheets.
What if I’m multiple years behind?
That’s fine. We regularly catch up businesses 2–3 years behind. The process is the same; it just takes a bit longer and the quote reflects it.
Do I need to have receipts for everything?
Bank and credit card statements are the primary source of truth for most clean-ups. Receipts are helpful for substantiating deductions, but we can work without a perfect paper trail. We’ll tell you where the gaps are and what your CPA will need.
Can you finish a clean-up before my tax deadline?
Often, yes — as long as you come to us in time. If you’re reading this in March or September and you haven’t started, call us today. If we can’t hit your deadline, we’ll tell you up front.
Do you coordinate with my CPA or tax preparer?
Yes. We hand over clean, reconciled books plus a written summary of what was fixed, so your CPA has everything they need to file accurately and defensibly.
Do I have to sign up for monthly bookkeeping after the clean-up?
No. A clean-up is a standalone engagement. Most clients choose to continue with monthly bookkeeping so the mess doesn’t come back — but there’s no obligation. However, we do not do annual clean-ups year after year. Pre-tax deadlines are the busiest time of year, so if we’ve cleaned up your books once we’d prefer you switch to monthly services to keep things running smoothly for all parties.
Stop losing sleep over your books
Get a no-pressure clean-up quote in 48 hours.
Even if you’re years behind, we’ve seen worse — and we know exactly how to fix it.