How much does catch-up bookkeeping cost?
Catch-up bookkeeping is priced on a project basis because every situation is different. The biggest factors are how far behind you are and how many transactions need to be recorded each month. A business that’s three months behind with 50 transactions a month is a very different project than one that’s two years behind with 500 transactions a month.
For a small business that’s a few months behind with relatively straightforward finances, you might be looking at a few hundred to $1,500. If you’re a year or more behind, or if there’s significant complexity like multiple bank accounts, credit cards, loans, or mixed personal and business transactions, costs can range from $2,000 to $5,000 or more. Businesses with multiple years of neglected books can run higher depending on the volume.
Several things push the price up beyond just the time gap. Messy records are a big one. If there’s no documentation and everything has to be reconstructed from bank statements, that takes more time than working from organized records. Businesses with lots of cash transactions, inventory, or subcontractor payments add complexity. If prior bookkeeping was started but done incorrectly, sometimes undoing bad entries takes longer than starting from scratch.
The state of your QuickBooks file matters too. A QuickBooks ProAdvisor in Chandler can usually assess pretty quickly whether your existing file is salvageable or whether it makes more sense to rebuild. A file full of uncategorized transactions and unreconciled accounts needs more work than a blank slate.
One thing worth considering is what happens after the catch-up is done. Getting your books current is only useful if they stay current. Most business owners who fall behind once will fall behind again without a system in place. Transitioning into full-service bookkeeping after the catch-up work is complete keeps you from paying for another cleanup down the road.
If you need a specific estimate, the fastest way is to share how many months you’re behind, roughly how many transactions you have per month, and how many bank and credit card accounts are involved. That gives enough information to put together an accurate quote without any guesswork.
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