Messy books
Years Behind on Your Business Bookkeeping
Four or five years without books is work we take on. It is rebuilt one year at a time from the bank and card records, and you do not have to sort anything before you call.
What this usually looks like
The business kept running and the bookkeeping did not. Money came in, bills got paid, and at some point the records stopped being entered. One missed year made the next one harder to face, and now there are several.
Often the tax returns stopped at the same time, or were filed from rough numbers that nobody could support today. Sometimes there is an old QuickBooks file that ends partway through a year. Sometimes there is nothing but bank statements.
None of that is unusual, and none of it needs to be tidied before we look at it. Owners often delay because they want to organize things first. That is the part we do.
How a multi-year catch-up is rebuilt
- Find the last point the numbers can be trusted, usually the last filed return or the last reconciled month, and start from there
- List every account the business used in the period: checking, savings, credit cards, loans, payment processors and any personal account that carried business activity
- Pull statements for all of them, for the whole period, and note any gaps so they can be requested while the work goes on
- Rebuild the oldest open year first, because each year’s closing balances are the next year’s opening balances
- Reconcile every account for every month, so the books agree with the bank to the cent
- Send you one consolidated list of questions per year, instead of a question at a time
- Close the year, produce the financial statements, and move to the next
The order matters. Starting with the most recent year feels sensible, but a year built on opening balances nobody checked has to be redone when the earlier years are finished. Which year to start with covers the exceptions.
What it needs from you
Less than most owners expect. The bank and card statements carry nearly every transaction. What they cannot tell us is what a payment was for, and that is where your answers come in: who a vendor is, whether a transfer was a loan or a draw, which deposits were sales and which were your own money going in.
We ask those in batches, grouped by vendor or by pattern, so one answer usually clears many transactions. What to gather is the full list, including how to get statements the bank no longer shows online.
What you have at the end
- A profit and loss statement and balance sheet for each year
- Every bank, card and loan account reconciled
- Books a tax return can be prepared from, for each open year
- A current file that is kept up monthly, so the gap does not reopen
If returns are outstanding as well, they are prepared from the rebuilt books in the same engagement. See unfiled business returns with no books and our catch-up bookkeeping service.
Frequently asked questions
Is five years behind too far to fix?
No. There is no point at which books become too far behind to rebuild. The period is reconstructed from bank and card statements, which between them capture nearly every transaction. More years take longer, and older records take more chasing, but the method is the same as for one year. See catch-up bookkeeping.
Do I need to organize my records before I contact you?
No. Send what you have in whatever state it is in. Sorting, matching and working out what is missing is part of the cleanup, and it goes faster when we do it against the bank statements than when you try to do it from memory. The document list shows what helps most.
Do you do every year at once or one at a time?
One at a time, oldest first, because each year’s ending balances open the next. Where there is a deadline on a particular year, for example a lender asking for the latest one, the order can change. Where to start explains how that is decided.
What if my old bookkeeping file is unusable?
Then we decide whether to repair it or begin a clean file from the last reliable point. Both are routine. Fix the file or start over sets out how that choice is made.
Not the question you had? The full tax FAQ covers more ground, and our client reviews say what the work is actually like.
Related situations and guides
Unfiled returns and no books
Returns went unfiled because the numbers were never there. Books first, then every open return.
Learn moreWhich year to start with
Why oldest first is the default, and the four deadlines that change the order.
Learn moreWhat 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 long a cleanup takes
The six things that decide the timeline, and the two you control.
Learn moreCleanup Planner
Eight questions, then a plan: what comes first, what to gather, and which guides apply.
Part of Messy Books Help, alongside our catch-up bookkeeping service.
Tell 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.