What is the difference between catch-up bookkeeping and bookkeeping cleanup?
Catch-up bookkeeping means the months were never recorded — a bookkeeper enters and reconciles each open period from bank, card, loan, and processor statements. Cleanup means the months are already in the file but the numbers are wrong: miscategorized expenses, duplicated deposits, personal spending in business accounts, or a balance sheet that doesn't tie to statements. Most real projects need both, which is why we scope them together as one fixed fee.
Is reconciliation the same as cleanup?
No. Reconciliation is the proof step: matching every recorded transaction to the bank, credit card, loan, or processor statement and confirming the ending balances agree. Cleanup is the correction step: fixing how those transactions were classified and recorded. You reconcile to find out what's wrong, then clean up to fix it — and reconciliation continues every month afterward as part of the normal close.
Which one do I need?
If there are months with no transactions at all, you need catch-up. If transactions exist but the P&L doesn't reflect your business, you need cleanup. If your book balance doesn't match your bank balance, you need reconciliation. If a lender or the IRS is waiting, you almost certainly need all three, in that order.
What does each one cost in Houston?
Catch-up work is priced per open month, typically $250–$400 per month behind, so a full year usually lands between $2,500 and $3,500 as one fixed fee. Cleanup of existing but incorrect periods is quoted after a file review and is often bundled into the same engagement. Ongoing reconciliation is part of monthly bookkeeping, starting at $150 per month. You get the total in writing before any work starts.
Do they have to be done in a specific order?
Yes, and skipping the order is the most common reason a DIY attempt fails. Enter the missing months first, reconcile each month to statements before categorizing it, then correct classifications. Starting with the most recent month leaves opening balances wrong, and every reconciliation after it fails.
Can my existing bookkeeper handle a cleanup?
Sometimes — but if the same process produced the errors, a cleanup by the same hands often reproduces them. What matters is whether the work is reconciled against source statements rather than trusting the existing entries, and whether corrections are documented rather than silently overwritten. Ask for the reconciliation reports and the correction schedule.
How long does a catch-up plus cleanup take?
Most projects finish in two to four weeks once we have bank statement access and the last filed tax return. Files with payroll corrections, multiple entities, sales tax issues, or missing statements take longer, and we say so up front rather than discovering it halfway through.
What is three-way reconciliation and who needs it?
Three-way reconciliation applies to law firm trust (IOLTA) accounts: the trust bank statement, the trust book balance, and the total of every client matter ledger all have to agree, monthly, in writing. It's a stricter version of ordinary bank reconciliation and it's what Texas disciplinary rules effectively require firms to be able to produce.