An accounting clean up is the job of bringing books that were never kept, or were kept badly, up to a reconciled state so that a monthly engagement can start from a known position. It is priced apart from the monthly fee because it is a different job: instead of coding this month's transactions with the paperwork to hand, the bookkeeper is reconstructing months from statements, chasing receipts that may not exist, and undoing entries somebody else made. This page explains what the work is, why it costs what it does, and how to estimate it, and the pricing calculator on this site sizes each backlog month from your own counts.
What a clean-up actually does
Every backlog month gets the same treatment a current month would: transactions coded, accounts reconciled to the statement, invoices and bills recorded, and the month closed. On top of that, the bookkeeper finds and fixes what is already wrong: duplicated entries, deposits booked as revenue that were transfers, personal spending in the business account, and balances that never agreed. The output is a set of books that reconcile from the start of the backlog to today, which is the only state a monthly engagement can be quoted from.
Why it is priced apart from the monthly fee
A monthly fee is priced for a month with the paperwork to hand and the owner available to answer questions. A backlog month has neither: receipts are missing, memories are vague, and the bookkeeper spends time on questions that a current month would not raise. Providers price clean-up as a one-off, usually by the hour or by the backlog month, so that the monthly fee stays honest. A quote that includes catch-up inside the monthly fee is either overcharging the monthly for years or undercharging the catch-up and hoping.
Sizing the backlog before you ask for a quote
The estimate is months behind, multiplied by the hours a normal month takes, plus a margin for reconstruction. Run the pricing calculator on this site for one month of your counts at the provider's hourly rate, multiply by the months behind, and add a third to a half for the missing paperwork and the fixing. If the books were kept but never reconciled, the margin is smaller; if nothing was recorded at all, larger. The figure will not be exact, but it tells you whether a quote is in the right range.
What to have ready, and what you cannot recover
Bank and card statements for every month of the backlog are the one thing a clean-up cannot do without, and the bank will provide them. Sales invoices, supplier bills and payroll summaries come next. Receipts for cash spending that were never kept are usually gone, and the bookkeeper will record what the statements show and flag what has no support, because a return filed from books that reconcile to the bank is defensible in a way that one built from memory is not.
Questions people ask about accounting clean up
How much does an accounting clean up cost?
Hours times rate, and the hours depend on months behind and transaction counts. There is no standard price; size a backlog month with the pricing calculator on this site and multiply, then compare that with the quote.
Should the clean-up be done by the same bookkeeper who will keep the books?
Usually yes, because they then start the monthly engagement knowing every account. Ask for the clean-up quote and the monthly quote separately, even from the same provider.
Can I do the catch-up myself and outsource from now on?
You can, and some owners do it to save money. The risk is that the bookkeeper inherits a reconstruction they did not do and spends the first months fixing it anyway. If you do it yourself, reconcile every month to the bank before handing over.
How long does a clean-up take?
Weeks rather than days for a year of backlog, because the bookkeeper is waiting on statements and answers as much as working. The provider should give a timeline with the quote, and the timeline should name what they need from you and by when.