Catch-Up Bookkeeping
You don't have to clean anything up before you call.
I'm not going to open your QuickBooks and make a face. Whatever shape it's in, we've seen worse, and we didn't judge that person either.
And the practical version: catching up before you call doesn't save you money. Anything already entered still has to be verified, and verifying is slower than starting fresh. That weekend you were going to spend getting presentable buys you nothing.
The mess is the job. That's what you'd be hiring me for.
How Far Behind Is Too Far Behind
There isn't a number. We've picked up books that hadn't been touched in years, and the work was the same shape as six months — just more of it.
What actually makes catch-up hard isn't the age. It's whether anyone was half-doing it along the way. A file nobody touched is a clean rebuild. A file somebody wrestled with every few months takes longer, because every entry has to be checked before it can be trusted.
Nobody sets out to fall behind. It happens one week at a time, while you're doing the work that actually pays.
What It Costs
Catching you up is a one-time fee, quoted for the period you're behind. It is separate from your ongoing monthly service, and you get both numbers before anyone starts anything.
If you're six months behind, you get a cleanup price for those six months and a monthly price for going forward. The monthly price you agreed to is the monthly price you pay once the cleanup is finished. It doesn't get revisited because you're settled in now.
Never hourly. Not for this, not for anything.
What You Get At The End
- Every account reconciled through to today
- A chart of accounts that will still make sense next year
- Financials for every period we rebuilt
- Books your tax preparer can work from without sending anything back
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I try to catch up myself first?
No, and this is the one place we'll actively talk you out of it. Anything you enter still has to be verified before we can rely on it, and verifying someone else's work is slower than doing it from scratch. You'd spend the weekend and save nothing.
Do I have to sign up for monthly service too?
No. Some people just need to get current and then take it back over. If that's you, we'll get you current and hand you a file that's actually maintainable.
Is my tax preparer going to be upset with me?
In our experience they're relieved. What frustrates a preparer isn't a late client — it's a client whose books come back needing questions answered three times. Getting current is the thing that fixes that.
Let's Find Out How Big The Job Actually Is
Usually it's smaller than the version in your head.
Thirty minutes on Zoom. No cleanup required before we speak.