Catch-up · 3 minute read

Seven signs your books are behind, and what catching up costs

Your books are behind if any account hasn't been reconciled in the last 60 days, the bank feed has a pile of uncategorized transactions, or you can't say what last month's profit was. Catching up is a one-time project, priced by how many months are behind.

Behind books cost you money every month they stay behind

Behind books don't feel urgent until a deadline hits: a loan application, a bonding renewal, a 1099 deadline, a tax return.

Then everything is urgent at once, and catch-up work done in a rush costs more and catches less. Here's how to tell where you stand.

Sign 1: An account hasn't been reconciled in 60 days

Open the reconciliation screen in QuickBooks and look at the last reconciled date for every bank and card account. Anything older than two months means the books haven't been checked against reality.

Sign 2: The bank feed has a pile waiting

Fifty uncategorized transactions is a busy month. Five hundred is a project.

Sign 3: You can't name last month's profit

Not to the dollar, just roughly. If the honest answer is "I'd have to look at the bank balance," the books aren't telling you anything.

Sign 4: Your CPA sends a long list of questions every year

That list is your CPA cleaning up your books at CPA rates. Our January CPA checklist shows what a clean handoff looks like.

Sign 5: You don't know which subs have W-9s

For payments made in 2026, any unincorporated sub you paid $2,000 or more needs a 1099-NEC by February 1, 2027. If you can't produce that list today, start with the 1099-NEC rules.

Sign 6: The same expense shows up twice

Duplicates happen when the bank feed and a manually entered bill both record the same payment. They make expenses look higher and profit look lower than reality.

Sign 7: Job reports don't make sense

If a job shows 70% margin or a 40% loss, costs are probably landing on the wrong job or no job at all. Job costing only works when the coding is clean.

How a catch-up project works

1. We review your statements and QuickBooks file first, in a free Job Profit Snapshot.
2. You get one quote for the whole project, before any work starts.
3. We work month by month, oldest first: categorize, reconcile, fix duplicates and set up job coding.
4. When the books are current, your monthly plan picks up from the next close.

How catch-up is priced

The math is simple: months behind times the monthly rate of the plan you choose.

Six months behind on the Job Profit plan at $1,097 a month is $6,582. Sign a 12-month agreement and it's 15% off, which brings it to $5,595, and it can be split into three monthly payments of $1,865.

Plug in your own numbers with the catch-up cost estimator.

What to do next

Count the signs that fit. One or two is normal drift. Four or more means a catch-up project will save you money compared with letting it ride into tax season.

If the year is ending and you're behind, the Year-End Rescue combines the catch-up with the year-end close and 1099s. After that, a monthly close keeps it from happening again.