Free tool
Messy Books Cleanup Planner
Eight questions about the state of your books. You get the order to tackle things in, the documents to gather, and the guides that apply to you.
Your books
Count closed accounts and any personal account that carried business activity.
Your cleanup plan
Answer the first two questions and your plan appears here. It updates as you answer the rest.
How to read your plan
The plan has four parts. "Deal with first" lists anything with a clock on it, in the order we would handle it: payroll, then a letter with a response date, then filing, lender and sale deadlines, then sales tax. If that list is empty, nothing in your answers is urgent and the work can simply start at the beginning.
"Order of work" is the sequence the bookkeeping itself is done in. It is built from your answers, so a business with one account and no loans gets a short list and a business with several entities gets a longer one.
"What to gather" is the document list for your situation. Start requesting old bank statements today, whatever else you decide. They take the longest to arrive.
What the planner does not tell you
It gives no price and no number of days. Both depend on the volume of transactions and the state of the records, which a short questionnaire cannot see. You get a figure and a timeline for your own situation before any work begins. What cleanup costs and how long cleanup takes explain what each is based on.
It is also not advice on your specific situation. It describes the usual order and the usual documents. A conversation will change some of it.
Planner questions
Is anything I enter in the planner sent to you?
No. The plan is built in your browser and nothing you tick is transmitted or stored. If you want us to see it, copy the plan and paste it into a message on the contact page.
Why does the planner not give a price?
Because the figure depends on the number of transactions and the condition of the records, which a questionnaire cannot measure. You receive a figure for your situation before work begins. See what cleanup costs.
My plan says a major cleanup. Is that something you take on?
Yes. Several years, many accounts and filings behind at the same time is routine work for us. It is planned in stages, with anything on a deadline handled first. See books that are years behind.
Not the question you had? The full tax FAQ covers more ground, and our client reviews say what the work is actually like.
Read next
What to gather, and how to get it
The full document list, ranked by how much each item helps, and how to replace what is lost.
Learn moreHow a cleanup works, step by step
The seven stages from first call to current books, and what each needs from you.
Learn moreWhich year to start with
Why oldest first is the default, and the four deadlines that change the order.
Learn moreWhat a cleanup costs
What a quote is based on, what waiting adds, and how to keep the figure down.
Learn moreHow long a cleanup takes
The six things that decide the timeline, and the two you control.
Learn moreBooks that are years behind
Two to five years or more with nothing entered. How a multi-year rebuild is ordered and what it needs.
Learn moreTell us what you need
Send a short note about your situation and we’ll come back to you with a straight answer — whether that’s a quote, a next step, or a referral if it isn’t something we handle.
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a consultation and we’ll find a time, in the Easley office or virtually.
Send us the mess. We will send back a plan.
Call (864) 781-4035 or book a consultation, in the Easley office or virtually.