Clean-up & setup

Before there is a monthly rhythm, the books have to be somewhere worth continuing from.

Sometimes that means catching up on months that got away from you. Sometimes it means the books are current but were set up by someone who did not really know the trade, and every report since has been quietly wrong. These are different problems and they need different work.

Getting current

If there is a backlog, we work through it in order, oldest first, until the books meet today. You tell me how far back it goes. I do not need it organised first — bringing me a shoebox is a completely normal way to start, and it is more common than you think.

Getting it right

A chart of accounts built for the work you actually do, rather than the generic one the software suggested. Your bank feeds and any systems you use connected properly. Then the first clean close, done with you rather than handed to you, so you can see how the numbers are put together.

What you leave with

Books that are current, correct, and built to stay that way — and a first set of statements that describe your actual business.

Most people find this is where the relief arrives. Not because anything is fixed, but because for the first time nothing is unknown.