Diane has been great getting my books all cleaned up and properly set up. She’s very responsive, detailed, and thorough. Thanks for all your help! Highly recommend!
Cleanup services · Guidance, not judgment
Months behind on your books? That’s most of my new clients.
Books fall behind when you’re spending your hours running the actual business, and it happens to a lot of owners. You’ll get a plan from me, never a lecture. I’ve caught up files that were three months behind and files that were three years behind, and I like the long ones best. The whole job runs over Zoom and the phone, in QuickBooks Online or the platform you’re already on, so it goes the same for an owner around Springfield and one on the other side of the country. I rebuild the missing months, reconcile them to the bank, and hand you something your CPA can file from.
Call (417) 323-2629 or have me call you.
Want the whole process in more detail before we talk? My catch-up bookkeeping guide walks through it step by step. If tax season is close, here’s what to do first, by date.
How I catch your books up
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Gather the statements
Bank and credit card statements for every month we’re rebuilding. I’ll tell you exactly which ones, and most come straight out of your online banking.
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Rebuild month by month
I enter and categorize every transaction in your file, one month at a time, in order, so nothing gets skipped or guessed at.
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Reconcile every account
Each rebuilt month gets reconciled to its statement before I start the next one. I don’t call a month finished until it ties to the bank.
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Reports for each year
You get a Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet for every year we covered, so you can finally see what those missing months looked like.
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Handoff to your CPA
Your CPA gets clean, reconciled books and straight answers from me about how things were recorded. Then the returns can move. If you don’t have a CPA yet, I’ll introduce you to one of the firms I work alongside. Here’s how the handoff works.
If you’re more than a year behind, I want to hear from you
A file that’s a few months behind is a tidy job. A file that’s two or three years behind, with unfiled returns stacking up and a CPA waiting on numbers, is the one I want. It’s slow, careful work, one month at a time. Bring me the whole stretch, however long it is, and we’ll go through it in order.
What I’ll need from you
Less than you might think:
- Bank and credit card statements for the months we’re catching up, from every account. Read-only online access is easiest, and downloads dropped in the Google Drive folder we share work fine too. To quote the job in the first place I need three to six months of recent ones.
- Accountant access to your bookkeeping file, or a fresh one I set up if you’ve never had one.
- Answers when I hit something odd, like a deposit I can’t place or a payment to a name I don’t recognize.
That’s most of it. You don’t need to sort receipts into folders or remember what a charge from 2024 was for before we start. Bring me what you have. I’ll tell you if anything is actually missing.
This is part of my cleanup service
Behind and messy usually travel together, so I treat them as one project. The months that were never entered get rebuilt, the entries that were wrong get fixed, and every account gets reconciled to the bank. One fixed quote covers all of it. The cleanup services page covers the messy side. You don’t have to work out which one yours is before you call.
How the pricing works
Cleanup projects, including books that are months or years behind, get a fixed project quote in writing before any work starts. A quote for a file that’s behind is sized by how many months you’re behind, how many accounts those months touch, and how many transactions run through them in an average month. Three busy years across several accounts costs more than one quiet single-owner year. It’s fixed and in writing before I start. The payment schedule goes in the proposal and the engagement letter. On bigger projects I usually offer to split it, half at signing and the balance when the work is done. The pricing page explains how I put project quotes together.
Reviews
5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5 stars
What people say about working with me
Accurate, detailed and personable; three of many qualities that Diane brings to the table every single day. There is no one I would trust more than Diane with my bookkeeping.
Questions
Questions I hear a lot
I haven’t filed taxes for two years, can you help?
Yes, and you’re not the first. I rebuild and reconcile the books for each unfiled year, produce the reports, and hand your CPA a tax-ready file with straight answers about how things were recorded. Your CPA prepares and files the returns. If you don’t have one, I work alongside several CPA firms and I’ll introduce you.
How fast can you catch up a full year?
Gathering statements is usually the slow part. Send me the bank and credit card downloads early and the whole thing moves faster. One quiet year moves faster than a multi-year rebuild. Your written quote comes with a timeline, so you’ll know the finish date before I start.
Is it cheaper to start a new file?
Sometimes. If the old file is thin or badly tangled, a fresh QuickBooks Online file with clean opening balances can cost less than repairing history nobody needs. I’ll tell you on the call, not after, and you’ll see both numbers before you decide.
How is the project billed?
It’s a cleanup project: a fixed quote in writing, under a written engagement letter. The payment schedule goes in the proposal, and on bigger projects I usually offer to split it, half at signing and the balance when the work is complete. If you want me to keep the books current afterward, monthly bookkeeping is a separate flat monthly fee, also quoted in writing.
Do we meet in person or over Zoom?
Either. The work happens in your file online and statements arrive by download, so most of it runs over Zoom and the phone for clients anywhere in the United States. If you’re around Springfield and would rather sit down together, that’s easy.
Will rebuilt books hold up?
Every month I rebuild gets reconciled against the actual bank and credit card statements, so each number traces back to a real document. That’s what your CPA needs to work from, and your CPA reviews the finished books before anything gets filed.
A Form 990 on extension is due November 16, 2026. Your CPA needs reconciled, fund-level books to finish it, and that’s the part I do.
Filed an extension for 2025? Those returns are due October 15, 2026. Your CPA needs a reconciled 2025 file before then, and the sooner I see it the more room we both have.
1099s for your subs and vendors are due February 1, 2027, and they’re built from a full year of entered payments. If 2026 is behind, the last weeks of the year are the time to catch it up.
1099s for your subs and vendors are due February 1, 2027, the same day your payroll provider sends W-2s. If the 2026 books aren’t entered yet, that’s the first thing I’d fix.
S corporation and partnership returns are due March 15, 2027. Your CPA needs a reconciled 2026 file to file on time.
Individual returns are due April 15, 2027. A reconciled 2026 file is what your CPA needs to file, or to file the extension with real numbers.
Talk to me
However far behind your books are, we can get them current.
You don’t have to sort receipts before we talk, and I’ll tell you if anything’s actually missing. Tell me the last month that was up to date, and we’ll work out where to start.
A Form 990 on extension is due November 16, 2026. Your CPA needs reconciled, fund-level books to finish it, and that’s the part I do.
Filed an extension for 2025? Those returns are due October 15, 2026. Your CPA needs a reconciled 2025 file before then, and the sooner I see it the more room we both have.
1099s for your subs and vendors are due February 1, 2027, and they’re built from a full year of entered payments. If 2026 is behind, the last weeks of the year are the time to catch it up.
1099s for your subs and vendors are due February 1, 2027, the same day your payroll provider sends W-2s. If the 2026 books aren’t entered yet, that’s the first thing I’d fix.
S corporation and partnership returns are due March 15, 2027. Your CPA needs a reconciled 2026 file to file on time.
Individual returns are due April 15, 2027. A reconciled 2026 file is what your CPA needs to file, or to file the extension with real numbers.
I’ll call you back within 15 to 20 minutes during the day.