Catch-up & cleanup bookkeeping in Lethbridge
Sound familiar?
- You haven’t reconciled a bank account in months
- QuickBooks says one balance and the bank says another
- There’s an “uncategorized” pile you’re scared to open
- A GST return or payroll remittance is overdue
- Your tax preparer sent back questions you can’t answer
- You changed bookkeepers or software, and things got lost in the move
What catch-up bookkeeping actually involves
Catch-up bookkeeping is for books that are simply behind: months of transactions that were never entered or reconciled. Cleanup is for books that look current but aren’t right: wrong categories, duplicates, balances that don’t match the bank. A project is often a bit of both.
Either way, the method is the same. I start from the most reliable record you have, your bank and credit card statements, and work forward from the oldest month that needs attention. Each account gets reconciled month by month, so every number in your books ties back to something real.
As I go, I fix miscategorized transactions, remove duplicates, record what’s missing and keep a running list of questions for you. When I’m finished, every account is reconciled to the latest statement and your reports actually mean something.
Why falling behind costs more than time
Being behind doesn’t just make year-end stressful. It can cost real money, and the cost grows the longer it sits. A few CRA rules worth knowing:
- Late GST returns and late payroll remittances both carry penalties that grow the longer they sit (the details are on my GST filing and payroll pages).
- You can only claim input tax credits (the GST you paid on business purchases) when you have the supporting documents in hand.
- The CRA generally expects you to keep business records for six years after the end of the tax year they relate to.
Honest about what I find
If something doesn’t add up, I’ll tell you. Sometimes the answer is a missing statement. Sometimes it’s a decision only you can make, like whether a transfer was a loan to the business or money you took out for yourself. Instead of guessing, I’ll bring you a short, plain list of questions.
And if I don’t know the answer to something, I’ll say so and find out. That’s what you’re paying for: books that are right, not books that look finished. (Prefer to try it yourself first? Here’s my step-by-step catch-up guide.)
What I’ll ask you for
You don’t need to organize anything before we start. Here’s what helps most:
- Bank and credit card statements for every month that’s behind (your bank can supply old ones)
- Access to your current bookkeeping file, whether that’s QuickBooks, Sage or a spreadsheet
- The receipts and bills you have, in whatever shape they’re in
- Copies of any GST returns or payroll remittances already filed with the CRA
- Loan, lease and vehicle paperwork, if you have business loans or financed equipment
What’s included
- Bank & credit card reconciliation
- every account matched to its statements, month by month
- Transaction cleanup
- miscategorized, duplicate and missing entries fixed
- Opening balance review
- the starting numbers checked, so everything after them holds up
- Missing-document list
- exactly what to request, and from whom
- Overdue GST support
- returns prepared once the books behind them are right
- Handover summary
- a plain-English note on what changed and what’s left
How a catch-up project works
Step 1
A free review
We talk through what happened and I look at what you’ve got: statements, your file, the shoebox. Then I confirm the quote, so you know the cost up front.
Step 2
Oldest month first
I reconcile each account forward, month by month, fixing what I find and keeping a running list of questions for you.
Step 3
Current, then level
You get caught-up books, a summary of what changed, and the option to keep them current with monthly bookkeeping.
The free review of your books costs nothing. Tell me where things stand.
Catching up in Lethbridge
If you’d like to start a year clean, it helps to know the dates that cluster early in it. City of Lethbridge business licences run January 1 to December 31, T4 and T4A slips are due the last day of February, and sole proprietors who file GST annually with a December year-end file by June 15. Getting the previous year caught up turns those dates back into routine.
If your business is seasonal, we can plan the catch-up around it. Haulers and suppliers tied to the fall sugar beet campaign (the 2021 campaign ran about 150 days from early September), or contractors whose busy season leaves no time for paperwork, can schedule the work for the months that suit them.
Most of the work is remote, so it doesn’t matter whether your office is in north Lethbridge or out in Coaldale. If it helps to go through a box of paper together, I can come to you.
From $250 per month of records
Catch-up and cleanup work is priced by the month of records, based on how many months are behind, how many accounts need reconciling and how busy they are. Every quote is confirmed after a free review of your books. You’ll know the price before I start, with no open-ended hourly bill.
How pricing worksKeep exploring
Questions about catching up
How long does catch-up bookkeeping take?
It depends on how many months are behind, how many accounts there are, and how quickly missing statements turn up. After a free review of your books I’ll confirm the quote and give you a realistic timeline, and I’ll keep you posted as each month is reconciled.
What if I’m missing receipts or statements?
That’s normal. Banks and card companies can provide past statements, and I’ll give you a specific list of what to request. Receipts matter most for GST: you need supporting documents to claim input tax credits, so I’ll flag which missing ones are worth chasing.
Will I get in trouble with the CRA for being behind?
I can’t predict what the CRA will do, and I won’t pretend to. What I can tell you is that correct books come first, because any late filing has to be built on them, and that penalties for late GST and payroll grow over time. That’s why I deal with anything overdue first.
Can you fix my existing QuickBooks file, or do I need to start over?
I’ll look at the file first. If it can be fixed in place, I’ll fix it. If starting fresh with checked opening balances would be faster and cleaner, I’ll tell you why before we decide.
Do you work with Sage, QuickBooks Desktop or spreadsheets?
Yes. I’ve worked in QuickBooks Desktop, Sage, Excel and Google Sheets as well as QuickBooks Online. If you’d like to move to QuickBooks Online as part of the cleanup, I can do the setup and migration too.
What happens once I’m caught up?
That’s up to you. Some owners take their clean books and carry on themselves. Others choose monthly bookkeeping so they never fall behind again.
Let’s get your books level.
Tell me where things stand, even if it’s messy, and I’ll tell you honestly what it’ll take to catch up and keep it that way. Every quote is confirmed after a free review of your books.
Leave a message and Vanessa will call you back.