QuickBooks Online cleanup and catch-up bookkeeping
For US CPA firms and businesses whose books are months (or years) behind: we rebuild the books in your QuickBooks Online file from bank, platform and gateway data, reconcile every account and hand back a file ready for your review, checked by a Chartered Accountant. Cleanup work is quoted separately, upfront, and then we can move the client onto a regular monthly service.
We agree the finish line in writing first
“Clean up the books” means different things to different people, so we write down the period, the deliverable and what’s out of scope before anyone logs in.
A file ready for your review
- Every bank and credit card account reconciled to statement through the period end
- Uncategorized income and expense cleared
- Balance sheet accounts supported
- A trial balance ready for your review
Common QuickBooks Online problems
- Reconciliations that were completed but no longer tie
- Duplicate transactions from bank feeds plus manual entries
- Balances in Uncategorized Income, Uncategorized Expense, Ask My Accountant or Opening Balance Equity
- Old receipts sitting in Undeposited Funds (“Payments to deposit”)
Source documents up front
The biggest cause of delay is waiting on documents. A simple list showing each document, its status and its location keeps the work moving.
Statements and payouts
- Bank and credit card statements for every account, plus the month before the period starts
- Merchant processor and payment platform statements, so gross sales, fees and refunds can be separated
- Loan statements and amortization schedules
Calls only your firm can make
- Chart of accounts: keep the client’s or map to your firm’s standard
- Capitalization threshold and owner activity treatment
- Cash or accrual basis, and a materiality level for “ask client” items
Keep it clean every month
Reconciled, reviewed books
- Transaction categorization, journal entries and a clean general ledger in QuickBooks Online or Xero
- Every account reconciled, weekly or monthly
- P&L, balance sheet and cash reports, reviewed by a Chartered Accountant
Payouts matched correctly
- Shopify and Stripe payouts, gateway fees and refunds matched correctly, so revenue isn’t overstated
- Books tied back to the bank, platform and gateway
Related reading
Books months behind? Accounting firms can start with 20 free hours.
Email info@taxbrewglobal.com. A short call first, then a mutual NDA before any data is shared.
Questions, answered
My client’s books are months behind. Can you help?
Yes. Catch-up and cleanup is one of our core services. We rebuild the books from bank, platform and gateway data, then move the client onto a regular monthly service.
How is pricing decided?
We quote a fixed monthly fee based on transaction volume, the number of bank and card accounts, and the services needed. Cleanup work is quoted separately before we start.
Should we share a QuickBooks login with your team?
No. We recommend inviting each person as a named user with only the access the job needs, so the audit log shows who changed what, and removing those users when the engagement ends.
What should we agree before a cleanup starts?
The exact period covered and whether opening balances are trusted, what “done” means, what’s out of scope (for example payroll filings or amended returns) and the deliverable you want back.