You avoid opening the report
Opening the P&L feels like wasted time, because you know you will argue with the number instead of deciding with it.
Books in order · Clean-up and catch-up
Bookkeeping clean-up service for books that are behind or wrong
You already know the numbers are off. What is missing is knowing where the fixing starts.
A bookkeeping clean up service puts the books back in order when a company is behind on bookkeeping or has been recording the wrong way. The work gathers statements, records what is missing, corrects what is wrong, reconciles every bank and card account and closes the period with a checked P&L and Balance Sheet. It covers messy books, missing months and the scramble before tax season. GS Brasil does this in QuickBooks Online, remotely, for small businesses in Florida and Massachusetts.
In order means something you can check: statement and system showing the same balance, every amount in a category that makes sense, and reports you hand over without apologizing for them. Calculating and filing the tax after that is your CPA's job.
Warning signs
When a clean-up stops being optional
Every decision runs through the account balance
Pricing, hiring and equipment purchases get decided by what is in the bank today, not by the month's result.
Every new month makes the job bigger
While the past stays wrong, the current month repeats the same error and the work only grows.
Where to start
Which case is yours, and what a clean-up does with it
Four cases, four routes
Books out of order are not all alike. Before anyone talks about timing or price, it helps to know which of four cases your business is in.
- The file is in use, but the numbers do not tie. Someone records every month and the result still looks wrong. The route is a QuickBooks cleanup.
- Whole months are missing. The system stopped at some month, or never existed. The route is catch-up bookkeeping.
- The year needs to be closed. The months are recorded and the year still has to reach your CPA. The route is year-end bookkeeping.
- You do not want to end up here again. What is missing is a routine that closes every month. The route is tax ready bookkeeping.
The most common case is the mixed one
In practice almost nobody has only one of the two problems. The common case is both at once: the company stopped recording somewhere in the year and, before stopping, was already recording in a way nobody checked. Fixing only the backlog leaves the old error in place. Fixing only the error leaves holes in the middle of the year.
In that case a bookkeeping cleanup and catch up bookkeeping become one project. First a correction pass over the months that exist, then the missing months are filled in, using the same categories in both. People who run the two jobs separately usually end up recording the same transaction twice.
What makes a clean-up take longer
- A bank account or card closed during the period, with statements only the bank still holds.
- A lot of cash payments, which leave no trail on any statement.
- A single account for the business and the family, where every line needs a decision.
- Two companies living inside the same QuickBooks file.
- A year already filed, where any correction has to be agreed with your CPA first.
Fixing the past without stopping the present
A clean-up stalls when the business waits for the past to be finished before it has numbers again. So the project runs on two tracks. On the first, the current month already closes with the new structure, and the backlog stops growing. On the second, the agreed period is corrected, with a cut-off date set at the start.
The cut-off date is a decision, not a detail. It sets how much of the past enters the project and how much stays as it is. You decide it with your CPA, because they know which period still affects a return.
The queue gets fuller before tax season
Between October and March everyone looks for the same thing at the same time. Whoever starts in October sets the pace of the project. Whoever starts in March works against the clock and depends on the CPA asking for an extension. The work is the same either way, the room to breathe is not. If your problem is reaching next year without the rush, the article on books that fall behind shows the step by step, and the three month financial diagnosis goes further than putting the books in order.
How it works
From the mess to the first closed month
01
Call
Twenty minutes to find the route
You describe what is wrong and what is missing. By the end of the call you know whether your case is backlog, error or both. At no cost.
02
Scope
Cut-off date and work order
With access to QuickBooks Online and the statements, we set how far back to go, what comes first and what your CPA needs sooner.
03
Fix
Past in order, current month moving
The agreed period gets recorded, corrected and reconciled, while the current month already closes under the new structure.
04
Handoff
Reports and a routine set
You get the reports for the period and an agreement on what has to arrive every month. If it makes sense, the routine continues in Strategic Bookkeeping Basic.
Deliverables
What you hold at the end of the project
A before and after picture
The balances and reports as the file was, next to the corrected ones, so you can see what changed.
A closed period with a set date
From the cut-off month to the last closed month, everything recorded and reconciled, with no grey area in between.
Personal split from the business
Household spending paid by the company becomes an owner draw, and business costs paid on a personal card become a reimbursement.
A chart of accounts for your industry
A structure fitted to construction, restaurants, law firms or services, with names your team recognizes.
Material ready for your CPA
Reports, reconciliations and documents in the format they ask for, with the questions only they can answer kept on a separate list.
An agreed routine for next month
Who sends what, on which day, and what has to arrive for the month to close without falling behind again.
Where the clean-up ends and your CPA begins.
The clean-up fixes the books and hands over organized material. Returns, extensions, depreciation and the decision to amend a year already filed belong to your CPA. GS Brasil does not prepare or file taxes, does not open companies and does not obtain ITINs or EINs.
Frequently asked
Questions before starting a clean-up
Clean-up or catch-up, which one is mine?
If entries exist and they are wrong, it is a bookkeeping cleanup. If months are missing, it is catch-up. Most businesses that reach this page have both, and then it is a single project, with correcting and filling in running together.
Can it be ready before tax season?
It depends on when you start and how long the period is. When the deadline is close, your CPA decides whether to file an extension and which part they need first. The project order is built from that answer.
Does my previous bookkeeper have to take part?
No. What solves it is admin access to QuickBooks Online and statements for every account and card. If they can explain an old choice, it helps, but the work does not wait for that.
Is it worth fixing old years, or only the current one?
For management, the recent period is what changes decisions. For filing purposes, your CPA says how far back to go. When the two answers differ, the cut-off date follows the older of the two.
How much does a bookkeeping clean-up cost?
Pricing is quoted per business, because it moves with the period, the number of accounts and cards and the transaction volume. It comes after the first call, together with a reference timeline. What moves the price is in the article on what a bookkeeper costs.
Keep reading
Pick the page for your case
QuickBooks cleanup
When QuickBooks is in use but the numbers are wrong.
Catch-up bookkeeping
When the books are months behind, with or without QuickBooks.
Year-end bookkeeping
The October to April calendar to close the year before tax season.
Tax-ready bookkeeping
A monthly routine that keeps the books ready for your CPA all year.
Diagnosis and Strategy
A three month project to get the house in order.
Article: books behind
The step by step of a clean-up that does not stall.
First step
Start with the first conversation
Twenty minutes, no commitment, to understand where your company is and point the way.