Single-year cleanup
$1,200–$3,000
For: Smaller businesses, 1 year, 2–3 bank accounts, no payroll or simple payroll.
- 12 months of reconciliation
- Categorization & bank rules
- P&L, balance sheet, cash flow
- Written summary of adjustments
Bookkeeping cleanup
Messy books are common. They’re also fixable.
A project-based cleanup that rebuilds accurate, reconciled, CPA-ready books from a messy state. Fixed fee, written scope, named Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Typically 2–8 weeks.
Accounting, cleanup, advisory — we match the right expert to your books.
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.
§The engagement
What a cleanup engagement actually is.
A bookkeeping cleanup is a project-based engagement that reconstructs accurate financial records from a messy or unreconciled state — real bank reconciliation, categorization corrections, cleared undeposited funds, duplicate/missing-transaction resolution, prior-period error correction, payroll and sales-tax verification, and CPA-ready financial statements. Fixed fee, written scope, typically 2–8 weeks.
A bookkeeping cleanup is a project-based engagement that reconstructs accurate financial records from a messy or unreconciled state. It covers QuickBooks file cleanup, real bank reconciliation against actual statements, categorization corrections, clearing undeposited funds, fixing duplicate or missing transactions, correcting prior-period errors, verifying payroll and sales-tax entries, and producing CPA-ready financial statements. Most engagements take 2–8 weeks and are priced as a fixed fee against a written scope.
Cleanup is distinct from catch-up bookkeeping (which brings behind-but-structured books up to date) and from monthly bookkeeping (which is recurring). Many engagements combine cleanup with catch-up — clean up the existing periods, catch up the missing months, then transition to monthly.
When accounts go unreconciled, each new period is built on the errors of the last. A miscategorization or unmatched transaction in January is carried into February’s opening balances; March compounds on February; and the gap between the books and the bank widens period over period. We call this compounding reconciliation drift — and it’s why a cleanup doesn’t just fix the latest month. It unwinds the accumulated drift, account by account and period by period, back to a reconciled baseline your CPA, lender, or buyer can rely on.
Cleanup vs catch-up: cleanup fixes periods that were recorded wrongly; catch-up records periods that were never recorded at all. Many engagements need both. How long: most cleanups run 2–8 weeks — 2–3 for a single year with two or three bank accounts, 6–10 where payroll, inventory or multiple entities are involved. Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
§Is this you
If any of these sound familiar, the answer is yes.
01
You haven’t reconciled in months — or years.
Bank feeds drift over time. Without real reconciliation against actual statements, the books quietly diverge from reality. Cleanup brings them back into agreement, line by line.
02
Your CPA flagged the books before tax season.
A common path. The CPA needs reliable numbers to file accurately. Cleanup produces statements the tax preparer can work from without rework.
03
A lender or buyer asked for clean financials.
SBA loans, lines of credit, business sales, and capital raises all require reconciled books. Cleanups are routinely scoped to a specific lender or buyer deadline.
04
Your previous bookkeeper left things in disarray.
Miscategorized transactions, duplicate entries, broken bank rules, undeposited funds open for months. Cleanup unwinds the mistakes and rebuilds correctly.
05
You switched accounting software and the migration left gaps.
Desktop-to-Online migrations and conversions from Xero or Wave frequently produce data-integrity issues. Cleanup verifies and corrects what the migration left behind.
06
You ran the books yourself and need a professional reset.
Many owners start with their own books, run a year or two, then realize the structure isn’t holding. Cleanup gives you a clean foundation and a real chart of accounts to grow into.
§Quick answers
Cleanup, in five questions.
Is a cleanup fixed-fee or priced by the hour?
Fixed fee against a written scope, never hourly. The diagnostic produces deliverables, timeline, and price in writing before any work begins — so an open-ended mess doesn’t become an open-ended invoice.
Why do books drift out of reconciliation in the first place?
Compounding reconciliation drift: each unreconciled period inherits and amplifies the prior period’s miscategorizations and unmatched transactions, so the gap between the books and the bank widens month over month. A cleanup unwinds that accumulated drift back to a reconciled baseline.
Do you clean up inside my own QuickBooks file?
Yes. Your operator works as an authorized accountant-user inside your own QuickBooks file — Online, Desktop, or Enterprise. Your data stays yours, every adjustment is documented, and access is revocable at any time.
What do I actually receive when the cleanup is done?
Reconciled accounts, a corrected chart of accounts, reconstructed P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statements, and a written summary of every adjustment made — CPA-ready and lender-ready, designed to be handed off without rework.
Can the same operator keep my books current after cleanup?
Yes. Cleanup is most clients’ entry point; once the books are clean you can continue with the same named operator on monthly bookkeeping, or hand the clean file to your existing accountant. No lock-in.
§On video
What a cleanup actually fixes, in six minutes.
A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor walks through what a professional cleanup corrects — transaction errors, reconciliations, the chart of accounts, opening balances and historical periods — and where cleanup ends and monthly bookkeeping begins.
QuickBooks file cleanupClearing undeposited fundsCatch-up bookkeepingBook the discovery call
The video’s narration in full, chapter by chapter — readable, searchable and quotable without watching.
00:00
What a cleanup actually is
A bookkeeping cleanup is a project-based engagement that rebuilds accurate financial records from a messy or unreconciled state. It covers categorization corrections, real bank and credit-card reconciliation, cleared undeposited funds, duplicate and missing transactions, prior-period errors, payroll and sales-tax verification, and financial statements you can actually file from. Messy books are common. They’re also fixable, and the work has a defined shape.
00:31
Cleanup, catch-up, monthly
Cleanup, catch-up and monthly bookkeeping are three different engagements. Catch-up brings behind-but-structured books up to date — the transactions were never recorded at all. Cleanup corrects periods that were recorded wrongly. Monthly bookkeeping is the recurring work that keeps a clean file clean. The test is simple: missing is catch-up, wrong is cleanup. Many engagements need both, and cleanup is what monthly bookkeeping starts from.
01:01
If any of these sound familiar
If any of these sound familiar, the answer is yes. You haven’t reconciled in months, or years, and the books have quietly drifted away from the bank. Your CPA flagged the file before tax season and needs numbers they can actually file from. Or a lender or a buyer asked for clean financials, and what you have right now won’t survive the review.
01:23
Three more situations
Three more. Your previous bookkeeper left things in disarray — miscategorized transactions, duplicates, bank rules that never worked properly. You switched accounting software and the migration left gaps in the data behind it. Or you ran the books yourself, got a year or two in, and realized the structure isn’t holding. None of those are unusual, and none of them are a character flaw.
01:48
What it fixes in the file
What a cleanup actually delivers starts with four things. Every bank and credit-card account reconciled against real statements, line by line — not against the bank feed. Every transaction reviewed and categorized to the right account, with the rules rebuilt so it doesn’t regress. Old undeposited funds investigated and cleared. Duplicates removed, and missing transactions reconstructed from statements, receipts and payroll records.
02:18
What it fixes in the accounting
Then four more. Errors in closed prior periods corrected with documented journal entries, mapped for your tax preparer. Payroll liabilities reconciled to the returns actually filed, and sales-tax accruals verified against the filings. The chart of accounts reviewed against how the business really runs — redundant accounts merged, missing ones added. And a full statement set, with a written summary of every adjustment made.
02:47
From first call to clean books
From first call to clean books runs in four phases. A diagnostic and a written scope first — deliverables, timeline and a fixed price, before any work begins. Then reconciliation and correction, which is where most of the hours actually go. Then statements, and a firm-level quality review before anything is delivered. Then handoff, and ongoing monthly bookkeeping if you want the file kept that way.
03:13
Why books drift
Why do books drift out of reconciliation in the first place? Each unreconciled period inherits the last one’s errors, so January’s miscategorization lands in February’s opening balances, and the gap widens month over month. There’s a name for it — compounding reconciliation drift — and a full breakdown of the mechanism linked below. It’s also why cleanup is project work: you’re unwinding accumulated drift, not fixing one month.
03:43
How long it takes
Most cleanup engagements take two to eight weeks. Where you land depends on the size of the file and how far back the problems go. A single year with two or three bank accounts sits at the short end. Payroll, inventory or multiple entities push it toward the long end. Either way the timeline is fixed in the written scope before the work starts, rather than discovered along the way.
04:07
How it’s priced
Cleanup is priced by scope, not by the hour. A small single-year cleanup typically runs from twelve hundred to three thousand dollars. A standard engagement — a year or two of history, payroll, several accounts — runs from three thousand to seventy-five hundred. Multi-year work with inventory, multiple entities or multi-state sales tax runs from seventy-five hundred to twelve thousand. Fixed fee against a written scope, so an open-ended mess never becomes an open-ended invoice.
04:39
The three sizes
There are three shapes this usually takes. A single-year cleanup, for a smaller business with two or three accounts and simple payroll. A standard cleanup — a year or two of history, with payroll and sales tax — which is the most common engagement here. And a multi-year cleanup for a business several years behind, often with multiple entities. The diagnostic decides which one you’re in; it isn’t a menu you pick from.
05:06
Your own file, and what you receive
The work happens inside your own QuickBooks file — Online, Desktop or Enterprise — with your operator working as an authorized accountant user. Your data stays yours, and access is revocable at any time. What you receive: reconciled accounts, a corrected chart of accounts, a full statement set, and a written summary of every adjustment. And yes, a file nobody has reconciled in years can still be rebuilt.
05:34
Who does the work
The work is done by a named, credentialed operator — a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, certified in QuickBooks Online Level 2 and Payroll, working to a defined standard with firm-level review behind it. Your CPA gets books reconciled to source documents with every adjustment documented, so they file from them instead of rebuilding them. One call tells you where your books actually stand. Send this to whoever’s been avoiding the file — and subscribe for the rest of the series.
§Scope of work
What cleanup actually delivers.
Bank & credit card reconciliation
Every account reconciled against actual bank and credit-card statements, line by line, period by period. No “reconciliation” against bank feeds alone.
Transaction categorization
Every transaction reviewed and categorized to the correct account. Uncategorized expenses cleared. Bank rules rebuilt to prevent regression.
Undeposited funds & clearing accounts
Old undeposited funds investigated and cleared. Clearing-account balances reconciled to zero or to documented open items.
Duplicate & missing transaction resolution
Duplicates identified and removed. Missing transactions reconstructed from source documents — statements, receipts, payroll records.
Prior-period error correction
Identified errors in closed periods corrected with documented journal entries. Adjustments mapped clearly for your tax preparer.
Payroll & sales tax verification
Payroll liabilities reconciled to filed returns. Sales-tax accruals verified against multi-state filings. Discrepancies escalated and resolved.
Chart of accounts review
Chart of accounts evaluated against the business model. Structure simplified, redundant accounts merged, missing accounts added.
Financial statements & documentation
Reconstructed P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statements. Written summary of every adjustment made, signed off by the operator.
§How it works
From first call to clean books.
STEP 01
Diagnostic & Scope
A 30-minute call to review your file, statements, and payroll records. Within 3 business days you receive a written fixed-fee scope — deliverables, timeline, pricing, the standard we’re holding to.
Typical: 3 business days
STEP 02
Reconciliation & Correction
Real reconciliation against actual statements. Categorization, undeposited funds, duplicates, prior-period corrections, payroll and sales-tax verification. The work happens here.
Typical: 2–6 weeks
STEP 03
Statements & Review
Reconstructed financial statements produced. Firm-level quality review against the operating standard before delivery. Every adjustment documented.
Typical: 3–5 business days
STEP 04 ✓
Handoff & Ongoing
Clean books delivered with a written summary of corrections. Continue with the same operator on monthly bookkeeping, or hand off to your existing accountant.
Optional: monthly engagement
Representative schedule, not a guarantee — your written timeline is set from your own file after the diagnostic. A file ~6 months behind typically runs about five weeks (week 1 scope & access, weeks 2–3 categorize & correct, weeks 3–4 reconcile every account, week 5 review, corrected statements, and CPA-ready handoff). Files further behind run longer.
What changes
What changes when the books are clean.
Cleanup unwinds the accumulated compounding reconciliation drift — here is the before and after, dimension by dimension.
● CPA-ready output● Audit-traceable corrections● Fixed fee, no surprises
| Dimension | Before cleanup | After cleanup |
|---|---|---|
| Bank reconciliation | Months behind, drifting from statements | Every account reconciled, every period |
| Categorization | Uncategorized expenses, miscoded transactions | Every transaction in the right account |
| Financial statements | Unreliable, can’t share with CPA or lender | CPA-ready P&L, balance sheet, cash flow |
| Tax filing readiness | Tax season is a fire drill | Books filed-from, not fixed-during |
| Lender / buyer readiness | SBA / lender / due diligence not viable | Statements stand up to lender review |
| Owner confidence | Don’t trust the numbers | Books reflect the business |
§Pricing
Fixed fee, written scope, no hourly billing.
Three tiers; ranges are typical engagements, final pricing follows the diagnostic. See the bookkeeping pricing page for ongoing monthly pricing after cleanup.
Most common
Standard cleanup
$3,000–$7,500
For: Active businesses, 12–24 months, payroll, multiple bank and credit accounts, sales tax.
- 12–24 months of reconciliation
- Categorization, bank rules, undeposited funds
- Payroll & sales tax verification
- Chart of accounts restructure
- CPA-ready financial statements
Multi-year cleanup
$7,500–$12,000
For: Businesses 2+ years behind, multi-entity, inventory, multi-state sales tax, complex payroll.
- Multi-year historical reconstruction
- Multi-entity consolidation
- Inventory & COGS verification
- Multi-state tax reconciliation
- Full statement set per year
§Who performs the work
A named, credentialed local operator. Not an anonymous offshore team.
Every TechBrot cleanup is delivered by a named Certified ProAdvisor — TechBrot’s lead practice, or a partner practice where one is live — an independent bookkeeping practice running under TechBrot’s brand, standards, and infrastructure. You’ll know exactly who is working on your books, how to reach them, and what credentials they hold. Firm-level quality review backs every engagement, and if continuity is ever a question, TechBrot handles the transition without losing the file context.
“They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.”Heidi Schubert · Owner, Beverage Connection · Verified Clutch review
The standard, every file
- Certification. QuickBooks ProAdvisor — Online L2 and Payroll
- Vetting. Credentialed, insured, onboarded against a defined standard
- Accountability. Named operator · firm-level quality review on every engagement
- Independence. Independent ProAdvisor firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
§Around the cleanup
Cleanup is often part of a larger engagement.
Catch-up bookkeeping
Bring backlogged books current. Often paired with cleanup — clean up what exists, catch up what’s missing, then transition to monthly.
Monthly bookkeeping
Once books are clean, ongoing monthly bookkeeping keeps them that way — real monthly close, real reconciliations, named operator.
QuickBooks file cleanup
Specific QuickBooks file issues — broken bank feeds, file size, multi-user mode, version mismatches. ProAdvisor-led resolution.
Multi-year historical cleanup
3+ years of books, often required before a sale, an SBA application, or an IRS issue. Methodical reconstruction at scale.
Cleanup after a prior bookkeeper
Inherited a messy file after a prior bookkeeper left? A ProAdvisor takes over — reconciles, rebuilds, and hands the books back CPA-ready.
Cleanup before monthly bookkeeping
Want monthly bookkeeping but the file is behind? Why a one-time cleanup comes first — a known-good baseline so the monthly close ties out.
Cleanup after buying a business
Inherited a file the prior owner set up wrong? A ProAdvisor re-baselines it with clean opening balances as of the acquisition date.
Honest file review — second opinion
Not sure the books even need a cleanup? A ProAdvisor reviews reconciliation, the chart of accounts, and balance-sheet integrity, then tells you straight.
The complete QuickBooks cleanup guide
Every cleanup step in order — opening balances, reconciliations, undeposited funds, the chart of accounts — and how to tell what your file needs.
5 signs your books need a cleanup
The symptoms that separate a file that needs bookkeeping from one that needs a cleanup first.
§Talk to a ProAdvisor
Talk to a ProAdvisor
One call tells you exactly where your books stand.
No form, no sales script. You speak with a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who has looked at files like yours — and you get a written fixed-fee scope within three business days.
(877) 751-5575Available 24/7 · we reply within one business day
Certified ProAdvisorIndependent firmNo obligation
What happens when you call
- You talk to a ProAdvisorA real Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor — not a call center.
- We review your fileWe look at what’s actually in your QuickBooks and what it needs.
- You get a written scopeA fixed fee in writing within 3 business days. Then you decide.
§Prefer email
Scope your cleanup.
Send a few details and a Certified ProAdvisor replies within one business day. Or just call (877) 751-5575.
§Questions
What people ask before scoping a cleanup.
What is bookkeeping cleanup?
Bookkeeping cleanup is a project-based engagement to reconstruct accurate financial records from a messy or unreconciled state. It typically includes categorization corrections, real bank and credit-card reconciliations, clearing undeposited funds, fixing duplicate or missing transactions, correcting prior-period errors, verifying payroll and sales tax entries, and producing reliable financial statements suitable for tax filing, lending, or sale of the business.
How long does QuickBooks cleanup take?
Most cleanup engagements take 2 to 8 weeks. Single-year cleanups for small businesses with 2 to 3 bank accounts typically take 2 to 3 weeks. Multi-year cleanups for businesses with payroll, inventory, or multiple entities can take 6 to 10 weeks. The diagnostic call produces a written timeline before work begins.
How much does bookkeeping cleanup cost?
Cleanup is priced by scope, not by hour. Small single-year cleanups typically range from $1,200 to $3,000. Standard 12 to 24 month cleanups fall between $3,000 and $7,500. Multi-year cleanups involving payroll, inventory, or multi-entity structures typically range from $7,500 to $12,000. Every cleanup engagement is fixed-fee against a written scope — for a quote, book a free diagnostic or call (877) 751-5575.
Can my books be fixed if they have not been reconciled in years?
Yes. Multi-year cleanups are one of the most common engagements. Even when a QuickBooks file hasn’t been reconciled in 3+ years, an experienced ProAdvisor can reconstruct accurate books using bank statements, payroll records, and source documents. The process is methodical and the outcome is reliable financial statements you can file taxes from.
What is the difference between cleanup and catch-up bookkeeping?
Catch-up bookkeeping brings behind-but-structured books up to date — entering missed transactions, completing reconciliations through the current month. Cleanup is a deeper engagement that corrects errors, fixes categorization, resolves reconciliation discrepancies, and reconstructs accurate records from a messy or unreliable state. Many engagements include both.
Who actually performs the cleanup work?
A vetted local TechBrot operator — an independent bookkeeping practice running under TechBrot’s brand, standards, and infrastructure. Every operator is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, credentialed, insured, and onboarded against a defined quality standard. You’ll know who is working on your books and how to reach them.
Will my CPA or tax preparer accept books cleaned up by TechBrot?
Yes. TechBrot cleanup engagements produce CPA-ready, lender-ready financial statements — reconciled to source documents with documented adjustments. The deliverable is designed to be handed directly to a tax preparer, lender, or buyer without rework. Many of our cleanup engagements are referred by CPAs whose clients arrived at tax season with unreliable books.
Let’s see what your file actually needs.
Book a free 30-minute diagnostic call. We’ll review your QuickBooks file, scope the work honestly, and tell you what cleanup will cost — in writing — before any work begins. No pitch, no obligation.