Updated · Angel Wallace, Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
A QuickBooks cleanup is priced as a one-time project. National online providers publish starting prices from $175 for a minor cleanup at RemoteBooksOnline, and from $1,000 per project at Bookkeeper360, and one charges $145 to $180 for each month of backlog. How long it takes depends on how many months are behind, how many accounts are involved and whether the statements still exist. Those are other providers' prices, not mine. I quote after a free look at your statements, so the number fits your actual business.
What happens in a QuickBooks cleanup?
- Gather every bank, card and payment app statement for the period.
- Record or correct each transaction and put it in the right category.
- Find and remove duplicates, which are common when bank feeds were reconnected.
- Match app payouts to the client payments and fees inside them.
- Reconcile each account to its statement balance, month by month.
- Fix the chart of accounts so the categories make sense for your business.
- Hand over a clean file and a profit and loss report for the period.
How long does a QuickBooks cleanup take?
A few months of one bank account is a short project. A year or more across several accounts and payment apps is a longer one. The biggest variable is usually missing records: a cleanup moves quickly when every statement is in hand and slowly when months have to be requested from the bank.
Your part matters too. Quick answers to questions like "what was this charge in March?" keep the project moving.
What makes a cleanup cost more?
- More months behind
- More accounts, cards and payment apps
- Business and personal spending mixed in one account
- Missing statements that have to be requested
- A file set up with categories that need rebuilding
Do I need to start a new QuickBooks file?
Usually not. Most files can be corrected in place, which keeps your history and your bank connections. Starting over makes sense only when a file is so damaged that fixing it would take longer than rebuilding, and I'll tell you plainly if that is the case.
What do I need to send for a cleanup?
- Access to your QuickBooks Online file, as an accountant user
- Bank and card statements for every month in the period
- Payout reports from Square, Rover, PayPal or any app you use
- A list of loans, vehicles or equipment the business owns
What would my cleanup cost?
I quote after a free look at your statements. A free consult and a first look at the file tell me how far behind it is and how many accounts are involved, which is everything the price depends on.
After the cleanup, you can keep the books yourself with a clean start, or I can keep them current every month so they never fall behind again.
