Accounts receivable · Cleanup
Accounts receivable cleanup: an aging you can collect from.
When payments sit unapplied, deposits were booked as income instead of against invoices, and the same customer exists three times, the aging report stops meaning anything — and the balance sheet overstates what you are owed. We clean it up in your own QuickBooks file, invoice by invoice, on a written fixed-fee scope.
An accounts receivable cleanup matches unapplied payments and credits to the invoices they paid, corrects deposits recorded as income instead of invoice payments, merges duplicate customers, reviews old open invoices with you and your CPA, and ties the aging report to the receivable balance on the balance sheet. It is done in your own QuickBooks file on a written fixed-fee scope, and it leads into ongoing receivables management if you want it kept clean.
TechBrot Inc. · independent bookkeeping and advisory firm led by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor — not a CPA firm and not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
Intuit certifications
Every engagement is reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QuickBooks Online Level 2, Payroll) — verification on request. Intuit’s ProAdvisor program becomes ProPartner Accountants in early 2027; the certifications continue.
Accounts receivable cleanup, in five questions.
What is an accounts receivable cleanup?
Matching every payment and credit to the invoice it belongs to, fixing deposits recorded as income, merging duplicate customers, deciding old balances, and tying the aging to the balance sheet.
Why does my aging show invoices customers already paid?
Because the payments were recorded as deposits to income or left unapplied instead of being applied to the invoices.
Why doesn’t my A/R aging match the balance sheet?
Entries posted directly to the receivables account bypass the aging. The cleanup finds and corrects them.
Will you write off old invoices?
Only as you decide, with your CPA. We list the old balances and record the write-offs you approve.
What does it cost?
It is priced as a cleanup under the published ranges, fixed fee against a written scope; a receivables-only issue can be a focused cleanup at $1,200–$3,000.
Why a receivables balance drifts.
Accounts receivable is only as good as the matching behind it: every payment applied to the invoice it paid, every credit applied, every write-off decided and recorded. Skip the matching and QuickBooks shows invoices as open that were paid months ago.
The result is an aging report you cannot collect from and a balance sheet that overstates what customers owe. When the aging does not match the balance sheet, the gap is often a set of entries that bypassed the receivables account entirely.
What a receivables cleanup turns up.
Payments sitting unapplied
Customer payments received but never matched to invoices, so both the payment and the invoice look open.
Deposits recorded as income
Payments entered as bank deposits to income, leaving the invoice open and revenue counted twice.
Duplicate customers
The same customer set up more than once, with invoices on one record and payments on another.
Old invoices nobody decided on
Balances years old that will never be collected. Writing them off is your decision, with your CPA; we record what you decide.
An aging that does not match the balance sheet
Journal entries posted straight to receivables, so the aging and the balance sheet disagree.
Invoice by invoice.
Pull the aging and the ledger
Open invoices, unapplied payments and credits, and every entry to the receivables account for the periods in scope.
Match payments and credits
Each payment and credit applied to the invoice it belongs to, against the bank deposit and remittance.
Fix deposits and duplicates
Deposits recorded as income moved against their invoices; duplicate customers merged.
Decide the old balances
A list of old invoices for you and your CPA, then the write-offs you decide recorded properly.
Tie and hand over
The aging tied to the balance sheet, a written summary of every correction, and books ready for monthly management.
What a receivables cleanup costs.
Receivables cleanups are priced as cleanup (published at $1,500–$15,000+) or, when the issue is receivables alone, a focused QuickBooks cleanup ($1,200–$3,000), fixed fee against a written scope.
Deciding what is uncollectible, and its tax treatment, is yours and your CPA’s; TechBrot records the decisions and keeps the records.
Questions about cleaning up receivables.
How much does a receivables cleanup cost?
Do you contact my customers?
Will the cleanup change my revenue?
Can you fix receivables for prior years?
Is TechBrot a CPA firm?
An aging you can’t trust?
Get receivables matched and tied.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call, or start with the free QuickBooks file review. You get a written fixed-fee scope — which periods and what needs matching — within 3 business days.
Tell us what’s wrong with the books. We’ll tell you whether cleanup, catch-up or monthly bookkeeping fits.
Call (877) 751-5575. If we miss you, a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor returns your call within one business day. Written fixed-fee scope within 3 business days. No hourly billing.