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You’re not the only business behind on their Books

If your bank and credit card accounts haven’t been reconciled since Spring, your receipts are living in a shoebox (digital or literal), or you genuinely don’t know what your last quarter’s numbers look like — you’re not alone. Bookkeeping is one of the first things to get neglected when a business gets busy, and it has a way of staying that way until something forces the issue like a loan application, a tax deadline, or a bank statement you can’t make sense of.

A Bookkeeping Cleanup follows a repeatable process, whether you’re three months behind or three years behind.

What a Bookkeeping Cleanup actually involves

  1. Gathering source documents — i.e. bank/credit card statements, prior tax returns, and payroll records
  2. Creating Journal Entries to enter the numbers from the tax filings from the year before the Cleanup — getting a good foundation in your accounting software using the numbers from the previously filed taxes
  3. Creating Payroll Journal Entries using the payroll reports from the Payroll Company
  4. Categorizing bank and credit card transactions, fixing miscategorized expenses, and adding missing vendor names to transactions
  5. Reconciling all unreconciled bank and credit card accouns — be sure to remove any duplicate entries and enter any missing transactions
  6. Rerunning financial statements to see accurate P&L and Balance Sheet Reports, often for the first time in a while

What it typically costs to Cleanup the Books

Pricing is driven by how many months (or years) need cleaning up and how messy the starting data is. Most firms — P&L Business Solutions included — do the cleanup on an hourly rate since there is no way to tell how much time it will take until the bookkeeper has delved into the Books. If you haven’t done your bookkeeping for a year or so, you should expect to pay for more than a year’s worth of bookkeeping services.

Why it’s worth doing before tax season, not during it

A Bookkeeping Cleanup done in October is a calm, methodical project. A Bookkeeping Cleanup done in March, two weeks before a filing deadline, is a fire drill and may cause the taxes to be delayed a lot longer and more fees to be paid.

What to expect once you’re caught up

A Bookkeeping Cleanup is a one-time project, but the goal is to not need it again. Once current, staying current is a much lighter lift — monthly reconciliation instead of a year-long reconstruction.

Ready to get current?

If your books have gotten away from you — whether it’s a few months or a few years — P&L Business Solutions can take a look and tell you honestly what it’ll take to get caught up. Call us at 804-561-1600 or book a free consult.