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 · Fixed quote, free review
Messy books, or books that are years behind? I fix both, often in the same file.
I fix messy books for a living. Duplicate deposits, balances that match nothing, accounts nobody has reconciled since the file was set up, and months that were never entered at all. I’ve seen most versions of it. Most of what lands on my desk is QuickBooks Online, and I work in other platforms too. Send me three to six months of recent bank and credit card statements and give me a free 30-minute call, and I can usually tell you how yours got this way and what it’ll take to fix. You get an estimated range on that call, then a written proposal we go through together, with a fixed price, before I touch anything. The work happens over Zoom, so it makes no difference whether you’re around Springfield or three states away. I work with clients across the United States from the Springfield, Missouri area.
Call (417) 323-2629 or have me call you.
Signs your file needs a cleanup
None of these mean anybody did anything wrong:
- The bank balance and the QuickBooks balance don’t match, and nobody knows why.
- Undeposited funds keep piling up instead of clearing.
- The same transactions show up twice from overlapping bank feeds or manual entry.
- The last reconciliation was months ago, or it never happened at all.
- Your CPA sent the file back with a list of questions.
Want to try it yourself first? My cleanup checklist walks through the same steps I take, in order. Some people work through it and get their file where it needs to be. Others get partway in and call me. If it’s your CPA asking, here’s what they mean by getting your books in order.
If your books are years behind, that’s the kind of job I want
If nobody has reconciled your file in two or three years, or the last bookkeeper left in June and nobody picked it up, that’s the project I want on my desk. Those need the missing months rebuilt and the wrong entries fixed, and I do both in the same project, one account at a time, until every balance ties to a statement. It’s slow work. You’ll get a plan from me, never a lecture. If your file is mostly behind rather than messy, my catch-up page walks through how I rebuild it.
What a cleanup includes
- Account-by-account review of the whole file, so a fix in one account doesn’t break something in another.
- Missing months rebuilt, entered in order and reconciled one at a time, when the file is behind.
- Recategorization of transactions that landed in the wrong accounts.
- Bank and credit card reconciliation, every account tied to its statements.
- Corrected historical balances, so prior years finally agree with the statements.
- An organized chart of accounts sized for your business instead of a template’s.
- A CPA-ready file your tax preparer can work from without sending it back.
How it works
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Free file review
Send me three to six months of recent bank and credit card statements, every account, and I’ll look through the file. Thirty minutes on Zoom or the phone. I tell you honestly what shape it’s in and give you an estimated price range on that call.
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A proposal we go through together
If the range works for you, I write it up with the price and the timeline in it, and we go through it on Zoom, or in person if you’re near Springfield. Then it comes to you by email and you reply approving the price. That price is fixed, so there’s no hourly meter running.
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Engagement letter and access
You sign the engagement letter, make the first payment it calls for, and grant me accountant access to QuickBooks Online and read-only access to every bank and credit card account. If you carry inventory or run another system that feeds the books, I get into that too.
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I do the work in your file
Your data stays in your own file the whole time. I fix, reconcile, and document as I go.
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Walkthrough of what changed
We go through the cleaned file together so you know what was wrong, what I did, and what the numbers say now. Anything still owing on the project is due when the work is complete.
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Monthly service, if you want it
If you’d rather the books never slide again, monthly bookkeeping keeps them clean from here.
How cleanup pricing works
Cleanup projects, including books that are months or years behind, get a fixed project quote in writing before any work starts. The quote is sized by how many accounts and how many months need work. It’s fixed, so the price doesn’t grow if the job takes longer than I guessed. 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. All of it is spelled out in a written engagement letter before I start. Before I put a range on anything I’ll ask for three to six months of your most recent bank and credit card statements. That’s what shows me an average month. The pricing page has more on how I quote projects.
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
How long does a cleanup take?
It depends on how many accounts and how many months. One messy year moves faster than a multi-year rebuild, and the multi-year ones are the projects I want most. Your written proposal comes with a timeline, so you’ll know the price and the finish date before I start.
Will you work in my existing file or start over?
Almost always your existing file. Your history is worth something, and I’d rather repair it than throw it out. Starting over is rare. If the file really is past reasonable repair, I’ll tell you on the call and explain why a fresh start is the better path.
Do you only clean up QuickBooks files?
No. Most of what lands on my desk is QuickBooks Online, and I hold Intuit’s ProAdvisor certification there, but I work in other bookkeeping platforms too. Tell me what you’re on. If you’re on QuickBooks Desktop, I can move the file into QuickBooks Online and do the cleanup there, so you end up in a version I can keep maintaining for you.
Is catch-up different from cleanup?
Not on my desk. A file that is a mess and a file that is a year behind get the same treatment: I go through it account by account, rebuild what is missing, fix what is wrong, and reconcile every month to the bank. One project, one fixed quote. If your books are mostly behind, this page walks through how I rebuild them.
How is a cleanup billed?
The payment schedule goes in the proposal and the engagement letter, which spell out the scope, the price, and the timeline. On bigger projects I usually offer to split it, half at signing and the balance when the work is complete. Either way the price is fixed. It doesn’t grow if the job takes longer than I guessed.
Do you do the taxes once the file is clean?
Your CPA files the return. What they need is a reconciled, tax-ready file, and that’s what the cleanup produces. The finished file comes to you, I’ll send it to your CPA directly if you’d rather, and I answer any question about what changed and why. If you don’t have a CPA, I’ll introduce you to one I work with.
What happens after the cleanup?
You get a walkthrough of what changed and a file your CPA can work from at tax time. If you want the books to stay clean, monthly bookkeeping picks up right where the cleanup ends, with its own flat fee quoted in writing. Plenty of clients take the clean file and carry on themselves. That’s fine too.
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
Whatever shape your file is in, a free call tells you what it needs.
There’s no obligation, and you won’t be judged for how far it’s slipped. If you go ahead, you’ll have a fixed project quote in writing before I touch anything.
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.