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QuickBooks Cleanup & Catch-up

Books behind? Out of structure? We get them clean.

A controller-guided reset of your QuickBooks Online — reconciliations, structural cleanup, and a CPA-ready handoff. Scoped as a fixed-price project after a brief diagnostic call.

Request a diagnostic → See the process
Most cleanups $1,500–$9,000 Fixed-price after diagnostic
Written quote 3–5 business days From the diagnostic call
Diagnostic Stand-alone deliverable No obligation past it
Signs you need a cleanup

If two or three of these sound familiar, it's time.

a.

Bank or credit card accounts that haven't been reconciled in months — or ever.

b.

A chart of accounts that has grown to hundreds of categories nobody can navigate.

c.

Negative balances, duplicate transactions, or numbers that don't match your bank statements.

d.

Reports that don't tie out to what you can see in your own accounts.

e.

A previous bookkeeper who left mid-year — or never quite caught up.

f.

Tax season, a loan, or a sale coming up, and books your CPA or lender can't use yet.

The process

From diagnostic to clean handoff.

Every cleanup is scoped after a diagnostic call. You'll know up front what's broken, what it'll take to fix, and what it'll cost — in writing, before any work begins.

i.

Diagnostic & written quote

A 30-minute call and short read-only access to your QuickBooks file. You receive a written diagnostic — what's clean, what's broken, what's structural, what's a one-time fix — and a fixed-price quote with a defined timeline.

ii.

Reconcile & restructure

Bank and credit-card reconciliations brought current. Duplicates and miscategorized transactions resolved. Chart of accounts redesigned for clarity and reporting. Payroll, sales tax, and inter-company entries mapped correctly.

iii.

CPA-ready package

A clean trial balance, reconciled accounts, and workpapers organized for your CPA or tax preparer. Documentation of decisions made and adjusting entries. A first clean month of reports to confirm the foundation holds.

What's included

A complete reset, not a patch.

Reconciliations

  • All bank accounts
  • All credit card accounts
  • Merchant processor accounts
  • Loan & line-of-credit balances

Structural cleanup

  • Chart of accounts redesign
  • Duplicate & miscategorized transactions
  • Opening balance corrections
  • Negative balance investigations

Payroll & tax

  • Payroll provider mapping
  • Sales tax liability reconciliation
  • Payroll tax liability reconciliation
  • Owner draws & distributions

Handoff

  • Reconciled trial balance
  • CPA-ready workpaper package
  • Adjusting entry documentation
  • First clean month of reports
Before / after

What changes when the cleanup is done.

Before
After
Bank reconciliations

Unreconciled or partially reconciled for months. Balances drift from statements.

Bank reconciliations

All accounts reconciled through the most recent month-end. Statements tie out to the penny.

Chart of accounts

Grown to hundreds of categories, mislabeled, with duplicates. No reporting structure.

Chart of accounts

Restructured for clarity and reporting. Mapped to your industry, your CPA, and your tax structure.

Monthly reports

Don't tie out. Numbers move when you re-run the report. Can't be sent to a lender or board.

Monthly reports

Reliable P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow. Repeatable, defensible, lender-ready.

CPA handoff

Tax season scramble. Repeated back-and-forth. Surprises at filing.

CPA handoff

Organized workpaper package. Adjusting entries documented. Your CPA's job gets easier.

Your visibility

You manage cash from the bank balance. Decisions made on instinct.

Your visibility

You know what the business made, what it spent, and what's coming — on a standing rhythm.

Pricing

Fixed price, quoted in writing, after the diagnostic.

Most cleanups land in the $1,500 – $9,000 range depending on scope, the number of entities, and how far behind the books are. You'll have a written quote before any work starts.

Request a diagnostic →
Timeline

How long does a cleanup take?

It depends on how many entities you have and how far behind the books are. The diagnostic gives you a real timeline before you commit.

Diagnostic3–5 business days
Single-entity3–5 weeks
Multi-entity5–10 weeks
Catch-up (2+ years behind)8–14 weeks
Not a fit

When cleanup isn't the right step.

Not a fit
  • You need tax preparation or a CPA opinion
  • You're on Xero, Wave, or NetSuite and staying there
  • You need audited or reviewed financial statements

On QuickBooks Desktop? Migration to QuickBooks Online is included in the cleanup.

Common questions

A few things people ask first.

How far back can you go?
As far back as the records allow. Most engagements clean up the current year and the prior year. If you need a multi-year catch-up, we'll scope it phase by phase and prioritize the periods your CPA needs most.
Will my existing CPA need to be involved?
No — but they're welcome to be. Cleanup is designed to deliver a CPA-ready package, so your tax preparer can pick up clean books at the end. If they have specific workpaper or schedule preferences, we'll coordinate.
What do you need from me to get started?
A short scoping call, read-only access to QuickBooks, and a few months of bank/credit card statements to spot-check reconciliations. That's enough to produce the diagnostic and quote.

Ready to get the books back in shape?

Start with a diagnostic. Written quote, defined timeline, no obligation past that.

Request a diagnostic →