What to gather before catching up your books
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Start with the last month you trust, the accounts your business uses and the periods that are missing. You can request a quote before every receipt is found.
Download the checklist · text file
Find a starting point
Write down the last month someone reconciled the books to statements. A bank feed full of transactions does not establish that the month was closed. If you do not know the starting point, say so. A prior year-end report and the accounting file can help us work backwards.
Catch-up work records periods that have not been completed. Cleanup corrects periods that contain errors, such as duplicate sales or a loan posted as income. Your file may need both. We identify the work in the written scope before starting.
Gather these records
When a receipt or statement is missing
Request duplicate statements from the bank and invoices from suppliers. Keep a separate list of what you cannot recover. A payment appearing on a statement may not explain what was bought or how tax should be treated. We flag unresolved items for you; we do not fill gaps with invented expenses.
If a deadline is close, tell us the date and the document it appears on. The order of work depends on the state of the file and the obligations involved. A quote request is not confirmation that a particular deadline can be met.
A fictional catch-up scope
A shop has six unfinished months, one bank account, one card and Shopify payouts. The owner has statements but has only entered net deposits as sales. The work includes collecting payout detail, separating fees and refunds, recording missing purchases and reconciling each account. Six months of bank-feed categorization alone would not complete that job.
What we need for the first quote
Tell us roughly how far behind you are, your software, the accounts involved and your monthly transaction volume. Use the enquiry form for a short description. Keep bank statements, identification numbers and login details out of the form. We agree how to exchange records when we establish the engagement.
How far behind is too far behind?
There is no cutoff. Multiple years is ordinary catch-up work, and it is the most common reason BC owners call us. What changes with the backlog is the scope and the price, not whether the work can be done.
Do I need every receipt before I can get a quote?
No. Tell us roughly how far behind you are, which software and accounts are involved, and your rough monthly transaction volume. That is enough for a written quote. Missing records are identified during the work and listed rather than guessed at.
What is the difference between catch-up and cleanup?
Catch-up records periods that were never completed. Cleanup corrects periods that were completed wrongly — duplicated sales, a loan posted as income, transfers recorded twice. A file that is behind often needs both, and the written scope says which applies to which months.
Can you meet a CRA deadline I have already been given?
Tell us the date and the notice it appears on, and we will say whether it is achievable before you commit. Whether a particular deadline can be met depends on the state of the file, so a quote request is not a commitment to that date.
Want this handled for you
This is the work we do for clients every month. Tell us what you sell and where your books stand, and a written plan and a fixed monthly price follow within one business day.