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Bookkeeping cleanup for QuickBooks and Xero files.

For files that were set up incorrectly, co-mingled, or neglected. We take the mess and get it caught up to the current period: reconciled, re-categorized, and tax-ready.

Request a free consultation

Most projects in 2–6 weeks · Scoped and priced before any work starts

What is bookkeeping cleanup, and how does Poised Books do it?

Bookkeeping cleanup is a one-time project that takes a QuickBooks or Xero file that is wrong, co-mingled, or neglected and makes it accurate, including historical and prior-year periods: every account reconciled to its statements, every transaction categorized correctly, personal spending separated out, duplicates removed, and tax-ready financial statements delivered to you and your CPA.

Poised Books does this work remotely for small businesses nationwide, led personally by Elizabeth Olsen, a QuickBooks Advanced Certified ProAdvisor. Cleanup is billed hourly against a written estimate you approve, with a $2,500 minimum. Most projects land between $3,500 and $7,000 and finish in two to six weeks. Nothing starts until you agree to the estimate, and if your file turns out bigger than we scoped, we stop and ask you before going over it.

How a bookkeeping cleanup works, about a minute. AI voice of Elizabeth Olsen, used with her permission.
Read the transcript

If your books are behind, or tangled up with personal spending, I can help. I’m Elizabeth Olsen, and I clean up books for small businesses.

A cleanup is a one-time project. We take a QuickBooks or Xero file that is wrong or neglected, and make it accurate.

It starts with a free conversation about where you are and what you need.

Then we review your file and send a written estimate. You agree to it before any work begins.

Next comes the cleanup itself. Account by account, month by month, every account is reconciled to its statements, and every transaction is categorized correctly.

Last, you get books that are reconciled, re-categorized, and tax-ready, with year-end adjusting entries made. Most projects take two to six weeks.

Cleanup is billed hourly against that estimate, with a $2,500 minimum. If your file turns out bigger than we scoped, we stop and ask you before going over the estimate. No surprise invoices.

And we work right alongside your CPA.

Request a free consultation at poisedbooks.com.

Situations that usually lead to a cleanup.

You’re years behind on your books

Tax season keeps coming, extensions keep filing, and the shoebox of receipts keeps growing.

Personal and business expenses are co-mingled

One account for everything means your P&L is fiction and your CPA can’t tell what’s deductible.

Your previous bookkeeper left a mess

Uncategorized transactions, missing months, duplicate entries, and reconciliation gaps.

You need clean financials for a loan or investor

The bank or investor wants accurate statements and you need them on a deadline.

QuickBooks is a disaster and you’re afraid to touch it

Nothing matches, categories are wrong, and you’re scared touching anything will make it worse.

You’re facing an IRS notice or audit

You received a letter and your records are not in order, and time is not on your side.

How the cleanup works.

How the work runs, from first call to clean books.

  1. Free consultation

    A free conversation about your situation, how far behind you are, and what you need.

  2. Written estimate

    We review your file or statements and deliver a written estimate, agreed before any work starts.

  3. The cleanup

    We reconcile accounts, re-categorize transactions, remove duplicates, and build accurate statements.

  4. Review & delivery

    We walk you through your clean books, explain what we found, and document everything.

  5. 30-day support

    Questions, additional reports, or CPA coordination, included at no extra cost for 30 days.

What’s included in every cleanup.

  • Full bank account reconciliation (all accounts, all periods)
  • Credit card reconciliation and categorization
  • Transaction re-categorization and proper coding
  • Duplicate transaction identification and removal
  • Chart of accounts cleanup and optimization
  • Personal vs. business expense separation
  • Accounts receivable and accounts payable review
  • Sales tax liability verification
  • Fixed asset review and depreciation entries
  • Year-end adjusting entries
  • Tax-ready financial statements (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow)

Behind but not broken, with no co-mingling, just unrecorded months? Catch-up bookkeeping may be the faster, lower-cost fit.

Cleaning up your books before tax season.

Most cleanups take two to six weeks, and the written estimate comes first, so the timeline is agreed before any work starts. Reports go directly to your CPA. Since your CPA needs finished books before they can file, it helps to start early enough that the cleanup is done by the time they need them.

Not sure what your CPA will ask for? See what your CPA needs from your books before tax season. Behind and watching the calendar? Read behind on your books before year-end, then work through the year-end bookkeeping checklist or the 25-step QuickBooks cleanup checklist. If contractors are in the mix, the 1099 season guide covers it.

Billed hourly, with no surprise invoices.

Cleanup is billed hourly against a written estimate you approve, with a $2,500 minimum. Most projects land between $3,500 and $7,000, depending on the condition of your file, transaction volume, and how many accounts are involved. The estimate is agreed in writing before any work starts.

If your file turns out bigger than we scoped, we stop and ask you before going over the estimate.

Curious where you’d land? Estimate your cleanup cost in under a minute, no email required.

What shapes the price

Time Period
How many months or years need attention.
Transaction Volume
More transactions means more work to review and categorize.
Number of Accounts
Each bank account, credit card, and payment processor adds reconciliation work.
Current File Condition
Starting from scratch differs from cleaning up an existing file with partial data.

An illustrative cleanup, before and after.

An illustrative example of a typical cleanup, composed to show the kind of issues we resolve, not a specific client engagement.

Before cleanup

  • Months of transactions never categorized
  • Bank balances that don’t match the statements
  • Personal groceries coded as business expenses
  • Accounts that have never been reconciled
  • Duplicate vendor entries creating phantom expenses
  • A P&L showing a loss the business never had
  • CPA unable to file an accurate tax return
  • No idea how much the business actually makes

After cleanup

  • Every transaction categorized and verified
  • Every account reconciled to the statements
  • Personal expenses separated and removed
  • All accounts reconciled through the current month
  • Clean vendor list with no duplicates
  • A P&L that matches what actually happened
  • Tax-ready financials in your CPA’s hands
  • A clear view of real business performance

Cleanup by platform.

The process is the same on any platform. The file is what differs, and some problems are specific to the software.

Common questions about cleanup.

Most projects take 2 to 6 weeks depending on the number of years, transaction volume, and accounts involved. We give you a realistic timeline with your written estimate.

Cleanup is billed hourly against a written estimate you approve, with a $2,500 minimum. Most projects land between $3,500 and $7,000, depending on the condition of the file, transaction volume, and how many accounts are involved. The estimate is put in writing after your free consultation and before any work starts. If your file turns out bigger than we scoped, we stop and ask you before going over the estimate. That is how we keep invoices from surprising you. Try the cleanup cost calculator for a starting estimate in hours.

Absolutely. We send reports directly to your CPA, answer their questions, and make any adjustments they request. This coordination is included at no extra charge.

At minimum, bank and credit card statements for every account and every month in the period being cleaned up, plus statements for any loans or payment processors (Stripe, Square, PayPal, Shopify) that move money. If you have an existing QuickBooks or Xero file, we need accountant access to it. Receipts are only needed for specific deductions your CPA wants substantiated, not for every transaction. We work from the statements. If the records are incomplete, we start with what you have and tell you exactly what is missing.

Yes, when it is done the right way. You add Poised Books as an accountant user inside QuickBooks Online or Xero rather than sharing your own password, so you can revoke access at any time and every change is logged under a separate login. Statements are shared through a secure link, with nothing to mail or drop off, and the work happens inside your own file, which stays yours the entire time.

No. Poised Books does bookkeeping and cleanup, not tax preparation. We work alongside your CPA and hand them clean, reconciled books.

No. Poised Books is based in Houston, Texas, but the entire engagement, from the free consultation through the cleanup and the final walkthrough, happens remotely over video and secure file sharing, so clients are located across the United States. Houston businesses get the same remote process; no office visit is required.

Related pages

Every cleanup starts with a free call.

Every engagement starts with a conversation. We’ll review your situation and let you know what it will take.

Request a free consultation

No obligation. No credit card.