Bookkeeping Cleanup · Senior operators · Texas

Your books, rebuilt from source.

Westgate Financial Services provides structured bookkeeping cleanup for Texas small businesses, nonprofits, and churches. We diagnose the problem, reconcile every account back to source documents, recategorize transactions correctly, and deliver CPA-ready books with a full documented record of every fix — typically in four to ten weeks.

Book a Free Cleanup Diagnostic Book Diagnostic Call (850) 842-6767 Call Us
  • 4–10 weeks Typical timeline
  • Reconciled to source Every account
  • CPA-ready output Fix log included
  • Free diagnostic No commitment
Bookkeeping cleanup — reconciled accounts ledger Structured bookkeeping cleanup ledger showing five business accounts reconciled to source documents with CPA-ready status indicators. Produced by Westgate Financial Services senior operators in Conroe, Texas. Cleanup Review All accounts reconciled to source documents ✓ CPA-Ready ACCOUNT BALANCE STATUS Checking · Business Main Business checking account $47,293 Credit Card · Chase Business Visa Signature ($8,420) Merchant · Square Payment processor deposits $6,340 Undeposited Funds Cleared — root cause resolved $0 Accounts Payable Vendor ledger reconciled $0 Documented fix log included Senior review complete WestgateFS · Conroe, TX
What it is
A structured rebuild of disorganized financial records — every account reconciled back to source.
Who it’s for
Texas businesses with messy, unreconciled, or inaccurate books that need fixing — not just catching up.
Typical timeline
Four to ten weeks, depending on scope. Quoted in writing after a free diagnostic.
What you receive
Reconciled records, corrected P&L and balance sheet, CPA-ready books, and a documented fix log.

What this is

Bookkeeping cleanup, in plain terms.

Bookkeeping cleanup is a structured rebuild of disorganized financial records. Every account is reconciled back to the actual source documents — bank statements, credit card statements, loan statements, merchant account reports. Every transaction is reviewed and categorized correctly. Every discrepancy is investigated and resolved. The output is a set of clean books your CPA can work from without question.

Cleanup is different from catch-up. Cleanup is for books that are wrong — records are present but miscategorized, unreconciled, or inaccurate. Catch-up is for books that are late — months or years of transactions that haven’t been recorded at all. Many clients discover they need both. We’ll tell you which, and in what order, after reviewing a recent month of your file.

Every WestgateFS cleanup is documented. When we finish, you receive a fix log that records what was wrong, what we changed, and why — so your CPA, your board, or any future operator understands exactly what happened to your records.

At a glance

What it fixes
Unreconciled accounts, miscategorized transactions, inflated balances, broken reports, negative undeposited funds, duplicate entries.
Typical timeline
Four to ten weeks, depending on months affected, account count, and complexity. Quoted in writing after the free diagnostic.
Output
Reconciled books, corrected P&L and balance sheet, reviewed chart of accounts, and a documented fix log. CPA-ready.
Platform
Inside your existing QuickBooks Online or Desktop file — or rebuilt from source documents if the file is unusable.

What’s included

What bookkeeping cleanup includes.

Every cleanup engagement covers the full scope below. Nothing skipped. Nothing papered over.

Account reconciliation

  • Bank account reconciliation Every checking and savings account reconciled to bank statements, line by line.
  • Credit card reconciliation Every business credit card reconciled to statements — balances, payments, and charges verified.
  • Loan and line-of-credit reconciliation Balances, interest accruals, and principal payments reconciled to statements.
  • Merchant account reconciliation Processor deposits, fees, and chargebacks reconciled for restaurants, retail, and e-commerce clients.
  • Undeposited funds cleanup Negative or bloated undeposited funds cleared and root cause resolved — not papered over.

Transaction review

  • Transaction recategorization Miscategorized transactions corrected against your chart of accounts and operating reality.
  • Duplicate transaction removal Duplicates identified and removed — common with bank feed imports and manual entry overlap.
  • Missing transaction identification Gaps in the record flagged and recovered from source documents where available.

Reporting rebuild

  • Chart of accounts review Reviewed and corrected for clarity. Redundant or misconfigured accounts consolidated.
  • P&L rebuild Profit and loss statement rebuilt from corrected transactions — by month, by period, by category.
  • Balance sheet cleanup Balance sheet accounts reviewed, corrected, and reconciled. Unknown balances investigated.
  • Documented fix log Complete record of every change — what was wrong, what we corrected, and why.

What cleanup doesn’t include

  • Tax filing or tax advice
  • Payroll processing or payroll tax filings
  • Audit or attestation services
  • Legal or financial planning advice
  • Intuit software support or troubleshooting

We are not a CPA firm. After cleanup, we can refer you to a qualified CPA and coordinate the handoff directly.

Cleanup or catch-up?

Which one do you actually need?

Two different problems. Two different solutions. Many businesses need both — in a specific order.

You’re here

Bookkeeping Cleanup

“My books are wrong.”

Your records are present but inaccurate. Accounts unreconciled. Transactions miscategorized. Reports that don’t reflect reality. The problem is accuracy — not completeness.

  • Bank account doesn’t reconcile to the statement
  • P&L shows income or expenses that don’t make sense
  • Hundreds of miscategorized or uncategorized transactions
  • Balance sheet has unknown balances
  • Duplicate transactions inflating numbers
  • CPA flags the same issues every year
Book a cleanup diagnostic

Related service

Catch-Up Bookkeeping

“My books are late.”

Your records are incomplete. Months — or years — of transactions haven’t been entered at all. The problem is completeness, not accuracy. You need someone to record what happened, not fix what was recorded wrong.

  • Months of bank statements sitting unrecorded
  • Behind due to a staff departure or illness
  • Books end in a specific month and were never restarted
  • Tax deadline approaching with no usable records
  • SBA or bank loan requires historical financials
  • QuickBooks file essentially empty or abandoned
Read about catch-up
Not sure which one you need?

Many clients need both — books that are behind and inaccurate. We assess both during the free diagnostic and tell you exactly what’s required, in what order, and why. No cost for the review.

How it works

How bookkeeping cleanup works.

Every cleanup follows the same disciplined sequence. Diagnostic first. Scope agreed in writing. Work documented throughout.

  1. Step 1 of 6

    Free diagnostic review

    We review one recent month of your file — or your most recent available records — and produce a written diagnostic: what’s wrong, what it would take to fix, a realistic timeline, and an honest scope. Free. No commitment required.

    • One month of records reviewed at no cost
    • Written findings within 2–3 business days
    • Honest assessment — including if catch-up is also needed
  2. Step 2 of 6

    Scope and timeline agreement

    We agree on scope in writing before any work begins. Engagement letter signed. Timeline confirmed. Access established securely — accountant access to your QuickBooks file, never shared admin credentials.

    • Written engagement letter — scope, timeline, and cost agreed
    • Accountant-level QuickBooks access only
    • Encrypted document portal for supporting statements
  3. Step 3 of 6

    Account-by-account cleanup

    We work through your chart of accounts systematically — not randomly. Transactions reviewed and recategorized. Duplicates identified and removed. Missing transactions flagged and recovered from source documents where available.

    • Every transaction reviewed for correct categorization
    • Duplicates identified and removed
    • Unknown transactions flagged and resolved with your input
  4. Step 4 of 6

    Reconciliation to source

    Every account reconciled back to the actual source document — bank statement, credit card statement, loan statement, merchant report. Variances investigated and resolved. Nothing assumed, nothing left open.

    • Bank, credit card, loan, and merchant accounts
    • Undeposited funds cleared and root cause fixed
    • Every reconciliation documented and verified
  5. Step 5 of 6

    Senior operator review

    A senior operator reviews all completed work before delivery. P&L, balance sheet, and reconciliations quality-checked against source. No work leaves our desk without a second review.

    • Senior operator quality check on all accounts
    • P&L and balance sheet reviewed for accuracy
    • Fix log reviewed for completeness before delivery
  6. Step 6 of 6

    CPA-ready delivery and fix log

    Clean books delivered. You receive a full documented fix log — every account corrected, every change made, every decision explained. Your CPA gets exactly what they need. If you want ongoing monthly bookkeeping, we transition seamlessly — same operators, no re-onboarding.

    • Clean, reconciled QuickBooks file delivered
    • Written fix log: what was wrong, what changed, and why
    • Optional: transition to ongoing monthly bookkeeping

How it’s priced

Cleanup pricing, honestly explained.

We don’t publish flat rates for cleanup because the scope varies too much to be honest with a single number. A single-location business with six months of disorganization is a fundamentally different engagement from a multi-location operation with two years of unreconciled records.

What we do: review one recent month of your file for free, produce a written diagnostic, and quote a fixed price before any work begins. No surprises.

See our full pricing approach
How many months need cleanup Six months of disorganized records is a very different scope from three years. Timeline and cost scale accordingly.
Number of accounts Each bank account, credit card, loan, and merchant account requires individual reconciliation. More accounts means more scope.
Chart of accounts complexity If the chart of accounts needs significant restructuring, that’s scoped separately before cleanup begins.
Industry and transaction volume Restaurants, contractors, and multi-location businesses carry more transaction complexity than single-service operators.
Whether catch-up is also needed If records are both wrong and incomplete, cleanup and catch-up may run together — scoped as a combined engagement.
Availability of source documents Missing bank statements require additional recovery work. We’ll tell you what we can and can’t recover during the diagnostic.

We never quote without reviewing the file. The free diagnostic tells us what we’re actually working with — not what we estimate from a description. Book a 30-minute review and we’ll give you a written scope and fixed price. Book a free diagnostic →

What changes

What your books look like before and after.

Anonymized from a real engagement. The details vary — the pattern doesn’t.

Before

Disorganized. Unreconciled. Untrusted.

  • 14 months of bank accounts unreconciled
  • Hundreds of uncategorized transactions in “Ask My Accountant”
  • P&L shows revenue 30% higher than actual deposits
  • Balance sheet has $47K in unknown liability
  • Negative undeposited funds balance of $12K
  • Duplicate vendor payments inflating expenses
  • CPA refused to file without a complete cleanup first

Anonymized. Real engagement. Numbers adjusted for confidentiality.

After

Reconciled. Documented. CPA-ready.

  • All 14 months reconciled to bank statements, period by period
  • Every transaction reviewed and correctly categorized
  • P&L accurate to actual revenue — by month, by period
  • Balance sheet cleared, every account explained in fix log
  • Undeposited funds resolved, root cause documented
  • Duplicate payments removed, vendor ledgers corrected
  • CPA received a clean file — filed on time, no back-and-forth

Six weeks from diagnostic to CPA-ready handoff. Same engagement.

A real cleanup

14 months, six weeks, CPA-ready.

Reconciled QuickBooks monthly close report, P&L by location, and documented fix log spread across a desk — anonymized output from a WestgateFS bookkeeping cleanup engagement for a Houston restaurant group

Restaurants · Houston, TX

A 3-location restaurant group, 14 months of disorganized books, rebuilt in six weeks.

A Houston restaurant group came to us with two years of missing reconciliations, mismatched POS feeds across three locations, untracked tip income, and a CPA waiting on clean financials with a tax deadline closing in. The owner described the books as “a disaster I’ve been avoiding.”

We diagnosed the file in three days, agreed on scope in writing, and delivered a clean, CPA-ready file six weeks later. The same operators now run the monthly close for all three locations.

Read the full case study

Outcome

Tax-ready handoff to the owner’s CPA. Filed on time. The same operators now run the monthly close for all three locations — no re-onboarding, same team.

FAQ

Questions about bookkeeping cleanup.

What’s the difference between bookkeeping cleanup and catch-up bookkeeping?

Cleanup is for books that are wrong — records exist, but they’re miscategorized, unreconciled, or inaccurate. Catch-up is for books that are late — months or years of transactions haven’t been recorded at all. Many businesses need both. We assess both during the free diagnostic and confirm what’s required, in what order, before any work begins. More on catch-up bookkeeping.

How long does bookkeeping cleanup take?

Most cleanups complete in four to ten weeks. The timeline depends on how many months need cleanup, how many accounts need reconciliation, the complexity of your chart of accounts, and how available source documents are. We give a written timeline after the free diagnostic — not before we’ve seen the file. Some straightforward cleanups take less than four weeks. Complex multi-location or multi-year cleanups may take longer, which we’ll tell you upfront.

What does bookkeeping cleanup include?

Every cleanup includes bank, credit card, and loan account reconciliation; transaction review and recategorization; duplicate removal; chart of accounts review; P&L and balance sheet rebuild; and a documented fix log recording every change made. Scope is confirmed in writing before work begins. Tax advice, payroll, audit services, and Intuit technical support are not included.

What happens if source documents are missing?

Missing bank statements or receipts are common in cleanup engagements. We identify exactly what’s missing during the diagnostic. Many statements can be retrieved directly from banks or credit card portals. Where documents genuinely can’t be recovered, we document the gaps clearly and work with your CPA on how to handle them. We don’t make assumptions — we document what we find and what we can’t verify.

Do you work inside QuickBooks, or do you rebuild from scratch?

In most cases we clean up inside your existing QuickBooks Online or Desktop file. If the file has fundamental structural problems or would be faster to rebuild from source documents, we’ll say so during the diagnostic and get written agreement before changing approach. We never rebuild without telling you first. QuickBooks-specific cleanup.

Will you coordinate with my CPA during and after cleanup?

Yes. We coordinate with your CPA throughout the engagement — confirming which accounts they need reconciled, preferred format, and what documentation they need at year-end. After cleanup, we provide the fix log and reconciled records directly to your CPA. If the deadline is urgent, we flag that during scoping and prioritize accordingly. We are not a CPA firm and don’t provide tax advice.

What happens after cleanup is complete?

You receive the clean file and fix log and take it from there — hand it to your CPA, an in-house bookkeeper, or another operator. Or we transition directly into ongoing monthly bookkeeping — same operators who did the cleanup, no re-onboarding. Many clients start with cleanup and stay for monthly bookkeeping. Monthly bookkeeping.

How is cleanup priced?

Cleanup is priced based on scope: how many months, how many accounts, the complexity of your chart of accounts, industry-specific factors, and whether catch-up is also needed. We review one recent month of your file for free, produce a written diagnostic, and quote a fixed price before any work begins. See our pricing approach.

Have a question we didn’t answer? Reach out — we respond within one business day.

Ready when you are

Book a free cleanup diagnostic.

A 30-minute conversation with a senior operator. We review one recent month of your file, tell you what we see, give you a written scope and timeline, and quote a fixed price. No pressure. No cost. No commitment required.

Book a Free Cleanup Diagnostic Book Diagnostic Call (850) 842-6767 Call Us
  • Free diagnostic — no commitment required
  • Written scope and fixed price before work begins
  • Reply within one business day