Catch-Up and Cleanup Bookkeeping for Businesses.
A diagnostic review first, a fixed price second, and books that finally tie out. No lectures.
Behind on Your Books Is a Common Problem. Not a Character Flaw.
Books fall behind for the most ordinary reasons. The business got busy. A bookkeeper left mid-year. The person handling it was doing it on top of three other jobs. Growth outran the system that used to work fine.
We're not going to make you explain yourself. We've picked up files that were six months behind and files that were four years behind, files with no reconciliations since 2021, and files where the previous provider left no notes at all. None of it surprises us, and none of it changes how we treat you.
What we care about is the same thing you do: getting to a set of books that's accurate, tied out, and something you can actually rely on — then keeping it that way so this doesn't happen again.
What we hear most often
- "I don't even know how far behind we are."
- "Our last bookkeeper left and I don't know what they did."
- "My CPA says the books don't tie and I don't know what that means."
- "We need financials for a loan and I have nothing to give them."
- "I've been meaning to deal with this for two years."
- "I'm embarrassed to show anyone."
Something Usually Forces the Issue
Almost nobody cleans up their books because they felt like it. There's a deadline, a decision, or a person asking for something.
Tax Deadline Pressure
Your CPA needs something they can work from, and what exists right now isn't it. Extensions bought time, and the time is running out.
A Loan or Line of Credit
The bank wants two years of financials that tie. Underwriting doesn't accept "the numbers are roughly right."
Bonding or Prequalification
A surety or general contractor needs a WIP schedule and a balance sheet that holds up. For contractors this is usually the trigger.
Your Bookkeeper Left
They resigned, went quiet, or you parted ways — and now you're holding a file nobody has explained to you.
The Numbers Stopped Making Sense
The P&L says you made money and the bank account disagrees. You've stopped trusting the reports, so you've stopped using them.
You're Selling or Bringing in a Partner
Due diligence is coming, and messy books either kill valuation or kill the deal. Clean history is worth real money here.
You'll Know the Scope and the Price Before We Start
The thing that makes people put this off is not knowing what they're walking into. So we take the unknown out first — a diagnostic review, then a fixed scope you approve before any work begins.
Diagnostic Review
We get read-only access and actually look — how far back the gaps go, which accounts have never reconciled, what's miscategorized, what's missing entirely. Usually a few days.
Scope and Fixed Price
You get a written summary of what we found, what it takes to fix it, how long it will take, and what it costs. One number, agreed up front. No open-ended hourly meter.
The Cleanup
We work period by period — reconciling, recategorizing, correcting, and documenting what we changed and why. You get progress updates, not radio silence for six weeks.
Tie Out and Hand Off
Balances tied, financials that hold up, a written summary of what was wrong and what we corrected, and coordination with your CPA so they can work from it directly.
If the diagnostic turns up something bigger than expected — an unfiled payroll issue, sales tax that was never remitted, a second set of records nobody mentioned — you hear it immediately, not in the final invoice.
Cleanup Isn't Just Categorizing Old Transactions
Anyone can assign categories to a bank feed. Making the books actually correct means fixing the things underneath.
Reconciliation & Balances
- Every bank, credit card, and loan account reconciled back through the gap
- Beginning balances traced to a defensible starting point
- Undeposited funds and clearing accounts cleared out
- Duplicate and missing transactions identified and resolved
- Transfers untangled from income and expense
Categorization & Structure
- Miscategorized history corrected, not just reclassed forward
- Chart of accounts rebuilt where it's unusable
- Personal spending separated from business expense
- Owner draws and contributions posted properly
- Loan payments split correctly between principal and interest
The Part Most Cleanups Skip
- Accounts receivable scrubbed — what's real versus what's stale
- Accounts payable reviewed for bills already paid or never entered
- Fixed assets and depreciation schedules rebuilt
- Credit card and loan balances agreed to statements
- Equity and retained earnings brought back to something explainable
Payroll Tied to Filings
- Payroll expense agreed to actual quarterly filings
- Tax liability accounts reconciled instead of accumulating
- Contractor payments reviewed for 1099 reporting
- Benefit and deduction accounts cleaned up
- Gaps flagged for your payroll provider or counsel where needed
Contract & Project Work
- Costs allocated back to the correct jobs and phases
- Retainage separated from collectible receivables
- Progress billings and over/under billing straightened out
- WIP schedule rebuilt for bonding or lender review
- Committed costs and open commitments captured
A Record of What Changed
- Written summary of every material correction and why
- Supporting schedules your CPA can tie to
- Items that need a tax professional's judgment flagged clearly
- Prior-year comparatives restated where the history was wrong
- Documentation retained in your secure client portal
We don't file tax returns or provide tax advice. Where a correction has tax consequences, we document it plainly and hand it to your CPA — and we'll talk to them directly so you're not relaying messages between two parties.
The Honest Answer on "How Long and How Much"
Nobody can quote a cleanup accurately without looking first. Here's what actually drives it.
How far back it goes
A few months behind is a short project. Three years with no reconciliations is a different scale of work. More periods means more reconstruction, and the further back you go, the harder documentation is to find.
How much is actually there
Transaction volume, number of accounts, entities, payroll, job costing, inventory. A single-account service business and a three-entity contractor with 40 open jobs are not the same job.
What condition it's in
Sometimes the data is all present and just coded wrong — that's fast. Sometimes statements are missing, receipts are gone, or someone was "fixing" things with journal entries. That takes longer, and we'll say so before we start.
The Point Isn't Clean Books. It's Not Ending Up Here Again.
A cleanup that hands you a tidy file and walks away has solved half the problem. The reason the books fell behind is still sitting there.
You Can Stop Here
Plenty of clients use us for the cleanup only and take it from there — either in-house or with their existing bookkeeper. That's a legitimate outcome and we'll set you up to succeed at it.
Or We Keep It Current
Most clients move onto ongoing bookkeeping with us. Transactions coded weekly, reconciled and closed monthly — so nothing accumulates into a second cleanup two years from now.
Systems That Hold
We fix the process, not just the data — receipt capture that actually happens, a chart of accounts people can use, and a close calendar so the work has a defined owner and date.
Reports You'll Use
Once history is clean, comparatives mean something. Job profitability, trends, and cash flow become real tools instead of numbers you don't trust.
Cleanup Work Looks Different by Industry
What's broken — and what has to be rebuilt to fix it — depends entirely on the kind of business.
Construction & Contracting
Job costs allocated to the wrong phases, retainage counted as collectible, and no WIP schedule at all — usually surfaced when a bonding agent asks.
Trades & Field Services
High volume of small transactions, material purchases never tied to jobs, and months of card activity sitting uncategorized in a bank feed.
Medical & Healthcare
Deposits from multiple payers never applied to the right patients or periods, and receivables that were written off in practice but never in the books.
We also clean up books for restaurants and hospitality, real estate and property management, and professional services firms. See all industries we serve.
Cleanup Bookkeeping Across Texas — and Nationwide
We take on cleanup and catch-up work for businesses in San Antonio, Bulverde, Spring Branch, Boerne, and New Braunfels, plus Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Houston. Outside Texas, we work remotely through secure cloud systems and our encrypted client portal.
See All Locations We Serve →Cleanup & Catch-Up Bookkeeping — Answered
The questions people ask before they pick up the phone.
How far behind is too far behind?
There isn't a point where we turn work away for being too messy. We've cleaned up files that were a few months behind and files that hadn't been reconciled in four years. What changes with age isn't whether it's possible — it's how much reconstruction is involved and how hard the supporting documentation is to find. Older gaps take longer and cost more, which is a reason to start now rather than a reason not to call.
How long does a cleanup take?
A few months of catch-up on a straightforward set of books is often a couple of weeks. Multiple years, multiple entities, payroll issues, or job costing that has to be rebuilt can run a couple of months. You'll get a specific timeline in writing after the diagnostic review, before you commit — and if a hard deadline is driving this, tell us up front and we'll tell you honestly whether it's achievable.
What does cleanup bookkeeping cost?
It's quoted as a fixed price after a diagnostic review, not billed as an open-ended hourly project. That's deliberate — cleanup is exactly the kind of work where hourly billing goes wrong for the client. The drivers are how far back the gaps go, how much volume and complexity is in there, and what condition the records are in. Anyone quoting a cleanup without looking at the file first is guessing.
Do I have to commit to ongoing bookkeeping afterward?
No. Cleanup is a standalone engagement and you're free to take the books back in-house or to another provider when it's done. Most clients do stay on with us because the same gap that caused the problem is usually still there, but that's your call and we won't make the cleanup contingent on it. See our ongoing bookkeeping service.
Can you file our back taxes once the books are clean?
No. BBS provides bookkeeping and financial operations services — not CPA, tax, or attest services. We don't prepare or file returns. What we do is get the books to a state where your CPA can file accurately, hand them a documented package with supporting schedules, and flag anything with tax implications so they can make the call. If you don't have a CPA, we can point you toward ones our clients work with.
What if you find something serious?
You hear about it right away and in plain language. Unremitted sales tax, payroll taxes that weren't paid, transactions that look like they need a professional's judgment — we don't bury that in a report or quietly work around it. We'll tell you what we found, what it appears to mean, and who you should be talking to about it. We're not a law firm or a tax practice, and we'll say so when something crosses that line.
Our previous bookkeeper left no notes. Is that a problem?
It's common, and it's workable. We don't assume prior work was right — we verify against source documents like bank and credit card statements, payroll filings, and loan statements rather than taking the existing file at face value. That's slower than accepting what's there, and it's the only way to end up with books you can actually stand behind.
Do you do bookkeeping and payroll together?
Yes. Payroll is one of the most common places cleanup uncovers problems, since payroll expense has to agree to what was actually filed each quarter. We handle payroll processing and HR compliance support alongside bookkeeping, and for clients who want everything under one roof there's a Full-Service package at one flat monthly price. See our payroll and HR compliance services.
Can you rebuild a WIP schedule for our bonding agent?
Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons contractors call us. That means allocating historical costs back to the right jobs, separating retainage from collectible receivables, sorting out over- and under-billing, and producing a work-in-progress schedule a surety or general contractor will accept. We're a Knowify Certified Advisor and hold Intuit ProAdvisor Elite certification. See our construction services.
Is our information secure while you're in our books?
Documents move through Canopy, a SOC 2-compliant client portal with encrypted transfer — nothing sensitive travels over email. We carry General Liability, Professional Liability (E&O), and Cyber Liability insurance, which most solo bookkeepers do not. Download our vetting checklist and ask any provider the same questions before you grant access.
Keeping It Clean Is the Full-Service Package
Once the history is fixed, the Full-Service package puts bookkeeping, payroll, AP/AR, and reporting under one team at one flat monthly price — so the books stay current instead of drifting back toward another cleanup.
You Don't Have to Know How Bad It Is Before You Call.
That's what the diagnostic review is for. Give us read-only access and we'll tell you exactly what we found, what it takes to fix, and what it costs — before you commit to anything.
Start With a Diagnostic Review →
