Bookkeeping cleanup fixes what’s wrong in your books, and catch-up enters everything that’s missing, until every account is reconciled and current. Perfectbooks does both for contractors, 1099 workers and small businesses in Aurora, Denver and anywhere else, on QuickBooks, Xero or Digits, however it got this way.
Two months behind or two years, it starts the same way: with your bank and card statements and a free one-hour conversation.
Rather talk now? Call (720) 772-6514
Get your books caught up
Tell me roughly how far behind you are. I read every request myself and reply personally to set up a free consultation.
Nobody decides to fall behind on their books
It happens a week at a time, usually during your busiest stretch. By the time it feels urgent, it’s also started to feel embarrassing. It shouldn’t. This is the most common thing I fix.
The busy season that never ended
You stopped entering things during a crunch and meant to catch up in a quiet month. The quiet month hasn’t come.
The bookkeeper who left
A previous bookkeeper, a spouse or a part-timer used to handle it. Since they stopped, nobody has touched the file.
The DIY file that drifted
You set up QuickBooks yourself and kept it going for a while. Then the categories stopped making sense and the reconciliations stopped matching.
The deadline that’s suddenly close
A tax filing, a CPA asking for numbers, or a lender who wants financials, and the books are nowhere near ready.
The shoebox year
Receipts in envelopes, transactions in three apps, and a vague plan to sort it out in April.
The file nobody trusts
Technically up to date, but the numbers are wrong in ways you can feel and can’t find. That’s a cleanup, not a catch-up.
What is bookkeeping cleanup, and how is it different from catch-up?
Bookkeeping cleanup services repair books that exist but are wrong. Catch-up builds the months that were never entered. Most messy books need some of both, and the free consultation is where we figure out the mix.
The books exist, but they’re wrong
The months were never entered
How a bookkeeping cleanup works, start to finish
Free consultation
We look at how far behind you are, how many accounts you have and what software you’re on. You get an honest scope and a price.
Gather what exists
Statements, logins and whatever records you have. Gaps are normal, and we work around them.
Oldest month first
Each month is entered or corrected and reconciled to its statement before moving on, so errors don’t stack up underneath.
Questions, not guesses
Anything that can’t be placed from the records comes back to you as a question instead of a guess.
Current and reconciled
Every account matches the bank, and you get financial reports you can hand to your CPA or a lender.
Keep it that way
Stay on monthly bookkeeping so you never end up back here, or take the clean file and run it yourself.
What I’ll need from you
Less than most people expect. Your bank and card statements carry most of the weight, and the rest fills in the details.
Bank and credit card statements
Every account, for every month we’re catching up. This is the backbone.
Access to your software
An accountant invite to QuickBooks, Xero or Digits, or nothing at all if we’re starting fresh.
Loan and equipment statements
So payments split correctly between principal and interest.
Payroll reports
If you ran payroll, the reports from your payroll service.
Payment app and sales reports
Square, Stripe, PayPal, Venmo or Zelle summaries, so deposits match the sales behind them.
Whatever receipts you have
Helpful, not required. Missing ones get flagged for you and your CPA rather than guessed.
Ready to stop dreading the books?
One free hour gets you an honest scope, a clear price and a plan. No lecture included.
Get my free consultationWhat you get when the cleanup is done
Catch up bookkeeping services should end with something you can use, not just a file that’s technically up to date. Here’s what you walk away with.
Every account reconciled
Each bank and credit card account matched to its statement for every month we covered, so the balances are ones you can stand behind.
Financial reports you can hand over
Reports built from reconciled books, ready for your CPA, a lender, a landlord or your own planning.
Contractor payment totals
What each sub or contractor was paid across every payment method, so any 1099s that are due can be filed.
A list of open questions
Anything the records couldn’t answer, written down for you and your CPA instead of quietly guessed.
A cleaner chart of accounts
Fewer, clearer accounts set up around how your business actually spends money, so next month is easier to keep current.
A file ready for what’s next
Stay on monthly bookkeeping, or take the clean file and run it yourself. Either way, you’re starting from solid ground.
Catching up construction books
A contractor’s catch-up has one extra job: putting costs back on the jobs that caused them. Supply runs, sub invoices and labor get tied to the right projects as far as the records allow, which is what makes job profit visible again.
It’s also where money tends to surface. Retainage that was never collected and change orders that were never billed show up when the books are rebuilt one month at a time. I’ve spent my career inside construction-based businesses, so I know where to look. More on how construction books work on the construction bookkeeping page.
Can I clean up my own books?
Sometimes, if you’re a month or two behind on a single account. Past that, these are the places a do-it-yourself cleanup usually stalls.
Starting at the wrong end
Fixing this month first feels productive, but errors from earlier months keep breaking every reconciliation after them.
Transfers that look like income
Money moved between your own accounts gets counted as sales or expenses, and the profit and loss stops making sense.
Deleting instead of correcting
Removing old entries to make a balance match can hide the real problem, and makes the next fix harder to trace.
Running out of evenings
The most common one. A cleanup is many hours of careful, unglamorous work, and the business doesn’t pause while you do it.
What does a QuickBooks cleanup fix?
A QuickBooks cleanup fixes the problems that make a file untrustworthy: transactions in the wrong place, reconciliations that don’t match, and leftover balances from setup mistakes. The same work applies in Xero and Digits, with each platform’s own quirks.
Once the file is clean, monthly QuickBooks bookkeeping keeps it that way, so the cleanup only happens once.
The usual suspects in a messy QuickBooks file
What I look for first.
What a six-month catch-up looks like
Picture a small remodeling company, six months behind, with one checking account, one business credit card and a Square account for card payments. The numbers below are made up to show the shape of the work, not a real client.
The first month always takes longest, because that’s where the chart of accounts gets fixed, bank rules get set up and the opening balances get confirmed. Each month after that goes faster, since the same vendors and customers keep showing up and the rules start doing some of the sorting.
The questions list is short in this kind of job: a handful of transfers, a couple of large deposits and a few payments to a person rather than a business. Once those are answered, the books are reconciled through the current month and handed back with reports.
The catch-up, month by month
Illustrative only.
Cleanup in QuickBooks, Xero or Digits
I’m certified in all three, so the cleanup happens in whatever you’re already using. If the old file is beyond saving, or you’re on spreadsheets, we can also start fresh in the platform that fits you best.
QuickBooks Online
The most common cleanup by far: uncategorized transactions, Payments to deposit that never cleared, Opening Balance Equity and broken reconciliations.
Xero
Usually unreconciled bank lines and duplicate transactions from imported statements, plus tracking categories that were never set up consistently.
Digits
Automation handles a lot, but it still needs someone to check the categories it chose and reconcile the accounts behind them.
How to stay caught up for good
The cleanup only matters if the books stay clean. You have two good options, and both are fine.
Run the clean file on your own
Monthly bookkeeping from $0.75 per transaction
How much does bookkeeping cleanup cost?
Cleanup and catch-up is $50 an hour. On the free consultation we look at how far behind you are and how many accounts you have, and I give you an estimate before any work starts.
An illustrative example, not a quote. Your hours depend on the accounts, the volume and what records exist. After cleanup, monthly bookkeeping is $0.75 per transaction if you want to stay current without doing it yourself, or you can take the clean file and run it on your own. See the full price list.
How long does a bookkeeping catch-up take?
It depends on four things more than on how far behind you are. We look at all four on the consultation, so the timeline you get is a real one.
Number of accounts
One checking account moves fast. Several accounts and cards that pay each other take longer to untangle.
Transaction volume
Fifty transactions a month and five hundred a month are different jobs, even over the same stretch.
Missing records
Statements we can download are quick. Statements that have to be requested from the bank add waiting time.
What’s already there
A blank file is often faster than a file full of wrong entries that need to be found before they’re fixed.
Tax season is closer than it looks
The earlier the catch-up starts, the calmer your CPA’s deadline becomes. Book the free hour and get a date the books will be ready.
Book my cleanup consultationGetting caught up before tax season
Most catch-ups I’m asked about have a deadline behind them, and it’s usually taxes. Your CPA can’t prepare a business return from bank statements alone. They need reconciled books and reports, and the longer the catch-up waits, the more it collides with their busiest months.
If you paid subcontractors, there’s an earlier date too. Form 1099-NEC is due to the IRS and to each contractor by January 31, so sub payments need to be totaled well before then. A catch-up that starts in the fall can handle both. One that starts in March usually means an extension.
I don’t file business returns or give tax advice. I get the books right so your CPA can, and I send them clean reports and a list of anything they should know about.
What your CPA needs from a catch-up
So they can start your return without sending it back.
One bookkeeper, start to finish
I’m Holly Kuehn, a certified bookkeeper in Aurora. I’ve studied accounting since 1994 and spent my career inside construction-based businesses, where I’ve seen every way a busy owner can fall behind on the books. None of them shock me, and none of them are a moral failing.
I’m fully insured and certified in QuickBooks, Xero and Digits, and every cleanup is done personally, by me. More about Perfectbooks on the homepage. More about Holly.
Bookkeeping cleanup and catch-up, answered
How much does bookkeeping cleanup cost?
Cleanup and catch-up is $50 an hour. How many hours it takes depends on how far behind you are, how many accounts you have and what records exist, so you get an estimate on the free consultation before any work starts.
How long does a cleanup take?
It depends on how many accounts you have, how many transactions run through them and whether any statements are missing. We scope it together on the consultation, so you get a real timeline instead of a guess.
How far back can you go?
As far back as your records go. Most catch-ups cover the current year and sometimes the one before. If you’re further behind than that, tell me on the consultation and we’ll work out the right approach together.
What if I’ve lost receipts?
Your bank and card statements are the backbone of a catch-up, so lost receipts rarely stop the work. Anything that can’t be confirmed from the records gets flagged for you and your CPA instead of guessed.
Can ChatGPT or software clean up my books?
Not on its own. Software can import transactions and suggest categories, but it can’t tell that a transfer was a loan payment, that a deposit was two invoices, or that a reconciliation went wrong in March. Those calls need a person reading the statements.
Do I have to sign up for monthly bookkeeping afterward?
No. Plenty of people take the clean file and run it themselves. If you’d rather never fall behind again, monthly bookkeeping starts at $0.75 per transaction.
Will you work with my CPA if I have taxes due?
Yes. Getting the books current is usually the first thing a CPA needs before they can file. I’ll get them reconciled and send your CPA clean reports, and they handle the return and any filing questions.
Is it cheaper to just start my books over?
Sometimes, yes. If the old file is full of errors and you only need clean books going forward, starting fresh can cost less than repairing every month. If your CPA needs past years corrected, a cleanup is the way. We decide on the consultation.
Do you clean up books for businesses outside Colorado?
Yes. I’m based in Aurora, but cleanup is done virtually from your statements and software access, so the work is the same wherever you are.
Can you get my books ready before my tax deadline?
Usually, if we start early enough. Tell me the deadline on the consultation and I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s realistic. If it isn’t, your CPA can file an extension while the catch-up finishes, so nothing is rushed or guessed.
Will a cleanup change numbers my CPA already filed?
It can. If corrections touch a year that’s already been filed, I’ll show your CPA exactly what changed and why, month by month. They decide whether anything needs to be amended. My job is to make sure the books are right and the changes are easy to follow.
What if my previous bookkeeper made the mess?
That’s more common than you’d think, and it doesn’t need to be a fight. I’ll document what was wrong and what I changed, so you have a clear record if you ever need it, and then we move forward with books you can trust.
Your books, current again. No lecture.
Tell me roughly how far behind you are. I’ll reply personally to set up a time, and you’ll come away with a scope, a price and a plan.
Free consultation first. I scope the hours before I start.