Bookkeeping goes wrong in a small number of predictable ways. Accounts that were never reconciled. A chart of accounts that grew to two hundred lines because every new vendor got one. Owner spending mixed into cost of sales. Loan payments expensed in full instead of split between interest and principal. Sales recorded from the deposit rather than the invoice, so half the revenue is missing and the other half is in the wrong month.
All of that is repairable, and all of it is cheaper to prevent. Because we also file the return, the books are kept from the start in the shape the return needs, which is the main practical argument for having one firm do both.
Included every month
Transaction coding
To a chart of accounts sized for your business, not the software default.
Full reconciliation
Every bank, credit card, loan and merchant account agreed to the statement.
Sales and deposits
Tied to the point-of-sale or invoicing system so revenue lands in the right month.
Vendor and customer ledgers
Kept properly, so the AP and AR reports mean something.
Owner and inter-company transactions
Identified and coded rather than buried.
Month-end review by a CPA
Somebody licensed looks at it before you do.
Catch-up and cleanup
If you are three quarters behind, or four years behind, that is a normal engagement here and not a confession. We quote it by the month of backlog after looking at the file, so you know the number before we begin.
Reconstruction from statements
Where the file is gone or was never kept.
Re-reconciliation of prior years
Common before a sale, a loan application or an audit.
Chart of accounts rebuild
Collapsing two hundred accounts into thirty that report usefully.
Opening balance correction
Fixing what a prior migration got wrong, which is more often than you would think.
General information, current for the 2026 filing season and not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Tax law changes, and the answer for your situation may differ. Speak to us before acting on anything you read here.
Questions
Bookkeeping — the questions we are asked most
How far behind can I be before it is hopeless?
It is essentially never hopeless. We have reconstructed six years from bank statements and merchant reports. It costs more than keeping up, but the alternative — unfiled returns accruing failure-to-file penalties — costs far more.
Do you work in QuickBooks Online?
Yes, and in QuickBooks Desktop and Xero. If you have no system yet we will set one up and train whoever will be entering.
Can I keep doing my own data entry?
Many clients do. We take the review, the reconciliation and the month-end journals, which is where the errors that matter actually live.
Is bookkeeping included in your tax preparation fee?
No — they are separate engagements with separate fees, so you can see what each costs. Clients who use both usually find the return is quoted lower, because clean books take less time to file from.
Related
Often needed alongside this
Business
Business Tax Returns
Federal and New York returns for S corporations, C corporations, partnerships and LLCs — prepared, reviewed and e-filed by a CPA.
Read more
Business
Small Business Accounting
A finance department for a business too small to hire one: monthly closes, management reporting, and a CPA on the phone when a decision needs one.
Read more
Business
Payroll
Payroll run, filed and paid on time — federal, New York State and New York City — with the quarterly forms handled as part of it.
Read moreThe first conversation is free
Talk to a CPA before you decide anything
Twenty minutes on the phone or across a desk on Roosevelt Avenue. Bring last year's return if you have one — most of what we need in order to quote you is already in it.