Expert Catch-Up Bookkeeping & Bookkeeping Cleanup Services

Catch up bookkeeping represents the systematic process of reconstructing and organizing neglected or messy financial records to bring your business books current and accurate. Our comprehensive bookkeeping cleanup services address months or years of unrecorded transactions, unreconciled accounts, and disorganized records that compromise your ability to make informed business decisions and meet CRA compliance requirements. Professional Canadian bookkeeping expertise ensures your cleaned-up books withstand scrutiny.

Our approach to catch up bookkeeping begins with understanding how far behind you are and what specific problems exist in your financial records. Some businesses need simple bookkeeping cleanup for a few months of neglected data entry, while others require comprehensive reconstruction spanning multiple years. Whether you need to fix messy books from incomplete records or perform systematic QuickBooks cleanup, our team delivers accurate, audit-ready financial statements.

The catch up bookkeeping process we've developed over 15+ years serving Canadian businesses is thorough yet efficient. We recognize that you must continue operating your business while we clean up your books, and we've engineered our approach accordingly. Our Canadian bookkeeping professionals work with whatever records you have—incomplete, disorganized, or non-existent—and reconstruct accurate financial statements that meet CRA requirements.

Recognizing when your business needs professional catch up bookkeeping is the first step toward regaining financial control. Common indicators include unreconciled bank and credit card accounts where balances in your accounting system don't match actual financial institution statements, leaving you uncertain about your true cash position. Many businesses need bookkeeping cleanup when they have boxes or digital folders full of unorganized receipts and invoices that haven't been recorded in their accounting system.

Other critical signs include missed GST/HST filing deadlines, late filing penalties from CRA, or filing extensions because books aren't ready. You might need catch up bookkeeping if you can't answer basic financial questions about profitability, margins, or cash flow. The "Ask My Accountant" account in QuickBooks being filled with uncategorized transactions indicates you need professional QuickBooks cleanup services.

When your tax accountant complains about disorganized records, charges extra for cleanup work, or declines to prepare returns until books are in order, you need comprehensive bookkeeping cleanup. Our Canadian bookkeeping team specializes in these exact situations, delivering the organized, accurate records that tax professionals require and CRA expects.

The foundation of our catch up bookkeeping services is comprehensive reconciliation of all bank accounts and credit cards used for business purposes. We systematically review the entire historical period you need cleaned up, reconciling each month methodically and ensuring every transaction is properly recorded. This thorough bookkeeping cleanup approach identifies discrepancies, errors, and omissions accumulated over time.

During the catch up bookkeeping process, we investigate every unreconciled transaction and unexplained difference. Our experienced Canadian bookkeeping professionals have encountered virtually every type of accounting error—duplicate entries, transposed numbers, misclassified transactions. We also reconcile payment processor accounts like Stripe, Square, or PayPal that many businesses overlook during QuickBooks cleanup.

For businesses with multiple accounts across different financial institutions, our catch up bookkeeping includes consolidating the reconciliation process. We identify transfers between accounts, prevent double-counting, and ensure a complete, accurate picture of your business finances. This comprehensive reconciliation during bookkeeping cleanup provides confidence that your books match reality to the penny.

Missing or misclassified transactions represent one of the most common issues requiring catch up bookkeeping services. Businesses often record some transactions while neglecting smaller, routine entries. Others record transactions but categorize them generically, creating problems during bookkeeping cleanup. Our systematic approach to fix messy books addresses both issues comprehensively.

Our bookkeeping cleanup team identifies gaps in transaction records by comparing bank statements against accounting entries to find missing deposits and unrecorded expenses. We reconstruct entries using available documentation—bank memos, vendor communications, and your knowledge of business activities. Proper categorization during catch up bookkeeping transforms generic data into useful management information.

Categorization receives equal attention during QuickBooks cleanup. Generic categories provide little value for decision-making and can complicate tax preparation. We recategorize transactions according to a customized chart of accounts tailored to your specific business structure and industry. Proper categorization during bookkeeping cleanup supports both tax optimization and business management.

Our catch up bookkeeping services include thorough GST/HST review and correction. We analyze all historical sales and purchases to ensure GST/HST has been calculated correctly, collected where required, and claimed appropriately as input tax credits. Errors in GST/HST accounting can accumulate significant liabilities over time, making proper bookkeeping cleanup essential for CRA compliance.

During catch up bookkeeping, we verify that your accounting system has correct tax codes configured for your province. HST rates vary across Canada—13% in Ontario, 15% in Atlantic provinces. We check PST applicability in provinces with separate provincial sales tax systems. Our Canadian bookkeeping expertise ensures your cleaned-up books address all Canadian tax requirements.

The bookkeeping cleanup process includes reconciling GST/HST filings against actual accounting records. We identify discrepancies between what you reported to CRA and what your books show. Common issues we discover during catch up bookkeeping include misclassified exempt sales, incorrectly claimed input tax credits on non-deductible expenses, and missed reporting requirements.

For businesses with employees, catch up bookkeeping often includes significant payroll records work. Payroll involves complex calculations—federal and provincial income tax, CPP contributions, EI premiums, employer health tax in applicable provinces. Our bookkeeping cleanup services verify all payroll has been recorded accurately and statutory deductions calculated correctly.

Many businesses outsource payroll to providers like ADP, Ceridian, or QuickBooks Payroll, yet still need catch up bookkeeping to properly integrate payroll data. We reconcile payroll registers against general ledger entries, ensuring payroll expenses and liabilities are recorded correctly. Proper integration during QuickBooks cleanup prevents payroll errors from compounding.

Our bookkeeping cleanup for payroll includes preparation of year-end payroll summaries. We review employee earnings, deductions, benefits, and taxable allowances, ensuring CRA reporting requirements will be met when annual payroll filings are prepared. This preparation is invaluable during comprehensive catch up bookkeeping projects.

The culmination of our catch up bookkeeping services is delivery of comprehensive financial statements covering the cleaned-up period. These are professional, analysis-ready financial statements meeting Canadian accounting standards (GAAP) and suitable for business decision-making and tax preparation. We prepare balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements during bookkeeping cleanup.

Our catch up bookkeeping financial statements include comparative data showing current period performance against prior periods. We prepare statements at multiple levels—by month, quarter, and year—giving you flexibility in analyzing performance. For businesses with multiple locations or product lines, our QuickBooks cleanup includes segmented statements showing performance by business unit.

Beyond standard statements, our bookkeeping cleanup deliverables include customized management reports tailored to your specific business needs. We identify key performance indicators that matter most—profit margins, cash conversion cycles, inventory turnover—and provide Canadian bookkeeping insights relevant to your industry.