Bookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up
Stakeville's cleanup service rebuilds behind or unreliable books from original bank statements. Most 6-18 month catch-up projects are completed in 2-4 weeks as a fixed-scope, one-time project, quoted free after a Books Health Check.
Books fall behind for normal reasons: a bookkeeper left, the business grew faster than the process, or tax season exposed problems nobody had time to fix. The mistake most owners make is patching the visible errors while the underlying reconciliations stay broken.
We do it in the right order: verify opening balances against source statements, reconcile every account for every month, audit categorization history for miscoding, and document what changed. When we hand the file back, every balance ties out, and we can show your CPA exactly why.
What's included
Historical reconciliation
Every bank, card, and processor account reconciled month by month against source statements, however far back it goes.
Opening balance verification
Balances traced to statements, not assumed. Discrepancies get found, not plugged.
Miscategorization audit
Historical P&L review that catches personal expenses in business accounts, duplicated entries, and wrong-account postings.
Clearing account cleanup
Payroll clearing, undeposited funds, and suspense accounts resolved to zero with documented entries.
CPA-ready handoff
Adjusting entries documented, workpapers organized, and a summary memo your tax professional can rely on.
How it works
Free scoping
We review your file and statements, then quote a fixed price and timeline, most projects are 2-4 weeks.
Rebuild & reconcile
Month-by-month reconstruction from source documents, with weekly progress updates.
Handoff or continue
Take the clean file to your CPA, or roll straight into monthly bookkeeping so it never falls behind again.
“Our books were 14 months behind when we found Stakeville. Three weeks later everything reconciled and our CPA filed without a single question.”
“The monthly report is one page and I actually read it. What moved, why, and what to watch. That alone is worth the fee.”
Bookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up, frequently asked questions
How long does a bookkeeping cleanup take?
Most projects covering 6-18 months of history are completed in 2-4 weeks. Multi-year or multi-entity cleanups take longer and are scoped precisely up front.
How much does catch-up bookkeeping cost?
Cleanup is quoted as a one-time fixed-scope project based on months behind, number of accounts, and transaction volume, never open-ended hourly billing. The quote is free.
Can you fix books another bookkeeper worked on?
Yes, that's most of our cleanup work. We audit what exists, keep what's right, and rebuild what isn't, with a documented trail of every adjustment.
Will my CPA accept the cleaned-up books?
We deliver documented adjusting entries and organized workpapers specifically so your CPA can rely on the file. Many of our cleanups are referred to us by CPAs.
Find out what your books need, free.
A 20-minute Books Health Check: we review your current setup and tell you exactly what it will take to get clean, decision-ready numbers. No pressure, no credentials requested.