Bookkeeping Cleanup and Catch-Up Services in Stoneham, MA
For books that have not been touched in months or years, and the unfiled returns that usually travel with them. We rebuild the record from bank statements and source documents, oldest month first, fix the accounts underneath it, and hand back a clean starting point you can keep up.
Who this fits
Nobody plans to fall behind. A busy season runs long, the bookkeeper leaves, the partner who handled it stops handling it, and six months disappear. It happens to competent people running good businesses. The work does not get harder because you waited. It gets larger.
Certain events force the issue. A lender asks for two years of statements. A buyer's accountant starts due diligence. A partner wants to see the numbers. A notice arrives about a year that was never filed. In each case the clock is now being held by somebody else.
It is better to start before the deadline exists. Cleanup done under time pressure tends to get done twice, once quickly and once properly, and the second pass is the one that costs.
How the work runs
We work from source documents, not from whatever is sitting in the file. Bank and credit card statements, loan statements, payroll reports, merchant deposit records and the returns that were filed for prior years are facts. What is in the accounting file is a claim to be checked against them.
We go in date order, oldest first. Fixing a later month before an earlier one means fixing it twice, because the opening balance keeps moving underneath you. It feels slower for the first week and is much faster by the end. The chart of accounts is cut back to a structure that matches how you run the business and how the return is laid out, and the history is remapped so prior periods stay comparable.
Where returns are unfiled, we pull IRS transcripts and check your Massachusetts account first, so we know exactly what the agencies already have. Then the books for each open year are rebuilt before that year's return is prepared, oldest year first, since carryovers and balances flow forward. That filing work runs through Tax Preparation, on the same rebuilt record.
- Reconcile every account to the statement, month by month, in order
- Remove duplicates and transactions imported twice from two sources
- Correct transfers between your own accounts recorded as income or expense
- Clear suspense, undeposited funds and catch-all holding accounts
- Split personal spending back out of business expense and match deposits to invoices
- Order transcripts, rebuild each open year, file oldest first, request penalty relief where the facts support it
What you get
A reconciled ledger with a support schedule behind every balance sheet line: fixed assets tied to a depreciation schedule, loans tied to an amortization schedule and a current payoff figure, payroll liabilities that match what was filed, receivables and payables that are aged and real, owner equity that separates contributions, draws and prior-year profit.
A written handoff describing what was fixed, what the accounts now mean and the monthly routine that keeps them clean. Most clients move straight onto Monthly Bookkeeping from that point, because twelve short closes are less work than one more reconstruction.
Who leads it
Mike Isaac, EA, leads the rebuild. General ledger cleanup and full-charge bookkeeping were his own work for three years in a Massachusetts public accounting practice, and four years reviewing other people's returns at one of the country's leading CPA firms came after. That is the combination cleanup needs: a firm that can rebuild a record and also knows what the return built on it has to look like. As an Enrolled Agent he is federally licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS, so on unfiled years he can contact the IRS on your behalf and find out where things actually stand before you commit to anything.
Send the last reconciled month and the last filed return. That usually settles how far back the work goes in one conversation.
What getting it wrong costs
Transfers recorded as income are the single most common error we find, and they are costly in both directions. They inflate revenue on the profit and loss, which makes the business look healthier than it is, and they can inflate taxable income on a return that was already filed and paid.
A profit and loss can look fine while the balance sheet quietly holds every unresolved problem in the business: a loan balance that has not moved in three years, payroll liabilities that do not match what was paid, receivables from customers who settled long ago, owner equity blended into one number nobody can explain. Those are exactly the lines a lender, a buyer or an examiner will ask about.
If a return goes unfiled long enough, the IRS can prepare one for you using only the income reported to it, with none of your deductions. Interest and penalties build on an unfiled year whether or not anyone has contacted you, and there is a limited window in which an old return can still produce a refund.
What owners ask before this work starts.
How far back do you have to go?
Far enough to reach a point where the books were actually right, and no further. Sometimes that is last year. Sometimes it is the year the business started, because there was never a clean period to work back to. We check the last reconciled month and the last filed return first, and that usually settles it in one conversation.
I have not filed for a couple of years. How much trouble am I in?
Probably less than you fear, and it does get worse the longer you wait. Interest and penalties keep building on an unfiled year regardless of whether anyone has contacted you. Filing also stops the IRS from preparing a return for you that ignores your deductions entirely. As an Enrolled Agent, Mike Isaac can contact the IRS on your behalf and find out where things actually stand before you commit to anything.
How long does a cleanup take?
It depends on how many months are open, how many accounts are involved, and how complete the underlying records are. A single year with a few accounts and full statements moves quickly. Several years with missing statements and mixed personal and business spending takes longer. We look at the file first and tell you what we are dealing with before any work starts.
Next
05
Entity Strategy
For owners whose profit has grown past the structure they started with. LLC or S corporation decided on your real numbers, with owner pay set at a salary you could defend.
