Your books, back to a reliable starting point.
Books that are months behind, or current but hard to trust, make every financial question harder than it should be. Wolf Pine Bookkeeping organizes, reconciles, and corrects QuickBooks Online records for small businesses as a defined project: a review of the file first, a written scope and fee, each reopened month reconciled to its statements, and an organized handoff to you and your CPA. Based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, working with businesses locally and virtually throughout the United States.
Reviewed before any quoteOne fee agreed before work beginsQuestions grouped and sent oncePortsmouth, NH · serving businesses nationwide
- Reconcile 4 accounts to statements
- Tie 24 payroll runs
- Reclass the loan
- Questions grouped, sent once
- Opening balance to the CPA
Sample data.
Signs your books need cleanup
A file falls behind one month at a time, or it stays current while the balances quietly stop matching the bank. Either way, the questions get harder to answer. There is no minimum size to work with Wolf Pine Bookkeeping, and a cleanup project may be the right next step when any of these sound familiar.
The result is a dependable accounting record: reconciled balances, consistent treatment, and a clear list of anything that still needs information from you or another professional.
Catch-up bookkeeping and corrective cleanup
Most files need one or the other, and many need both. The work is the same either way: each affected month is reopened and reconciled to the statements.
Catch-up bookkeeping
Completing months that were never fully recorded or reconciled. The transactions exist at the bank, and often in the bank feed, but the months were never finished.
Corrective cleanup
Fixing books that have entries but cannot be relied on, because transactions, reconciliations, accounts, or balances were handled incorrectly.
The distinction matters for the file review, because ten missing months with complete statements can be more straightforward than two completed months with unclear opening balances, duplicated transactions, or unsupported adjustments. Each month is reopened once, however many accounts it touches, and both kinds of work are priced the same way.
The project, month by month
The file review sets the scope: which months have to be reopened, and which accounts each one touches. Below is the record for the sample company, four accounts, payroll, and a loan across the twelve months of 2025, as it stood at the review and as it was handed off. Select either view.
- Updated reportsProfit and loss for the reopened period and a balance sheet at its end, built on reconciled accounts.
- A summary of the workWhat was categorized, reconciled, corrected, or removed, month by month.
- Open itemsAnything that still needs a statement, an answer from you, or guidance from your CPA, with a note of what would resolve it.
Scroll sideways to see every month.
| Account | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Open months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank accounts | |||||||||||||
| Operating checking ···2210 · last reconciled Dec 2024 | 120 | ||||||||||||
| Payroll account ···7781 · last reconciled Jun 2025 | 60 | ||||||||||||
| Credit cards | |||||||||||||
| Business Amex ···3005 · never reconciled | 120 | ||||||||||||
| Fleet Visa ···4410 · last reconciled Sep 2025 | 30 | ||||||||||||
| Payroll and loans | |||||||||||||
| Payroll journals 24 pay runs, tied to provider reports | 120 | ||||||||||||
| Vehicle loan ···0917 · principal and interest split | 120 | ||||||||||||
| Months reopened in the project | Each month once, however many accounts it touches | 1212 of 12 | |||||||||||
Two views of the same record. Select a view to switch.
What a cleanup engagement can include
Scope depends on the condition of the books and the records available, and it is written down before work begins.
The file
- Reviewing the QuickBooks Online setup and chart of accounts
- Identifying incomplete or unreconciled periods
- Categorizing or correcting historical transactions
The reconciliation
- Reconciling bank and credit-card accounts to statements
- Reviewing transfers, duplicate activity, and unresolved balances
- Reviewing loan and payroll entries against available source records
- Grouping questions that need your input so they can be answered in one pass
The handoff
- Preparing updated profit-and-loss and balance-sheet reports
- Creating an organized handoff for your CPA or tax preparer
- Setting up a practical transition into ongoing monthly bookkeeping, if you want one
Wolf Pine Bookkeeping provides bookkeeping, recordkeeping, and financial reporting. A cleanup engagement does not include an audit, tax-return preparation, tax advice, legal advice, financial planning, or investment advice. Some balances or transactions may require guidance or entries from your CPA or another appropriate professional.
Why Wolf Pine Bookkeeping
Wolf Pine Bookkeeping is owner-operated, so you work directly with the person reviewing and correcting your books. Peter Ankeny began his career designing industrial engineering systems before moving into wealth planning and financial services, and that background shapes a systematic approach to a cleanup: establish what the records need to support, trace balances to source information, document open questions, and leave behind a process that stays reliable after the cleanup is done.
The person who reviews the file is the person who writes the proposal, reconciles the months, and answers your questions, and he understands both the details in QuickBooks and what your CPA needs from the finished books.
- QuickBooks ProAdvisor Gold
- QuickBooks Online Levels 1 and 2
- QuickBooks Online Payroll Certification
- Intuit Certified Bookkeeping Professional
- Intuit Client Advisory Services Foundations
- BILL Expert Certified
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional
- Based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
A clearly scoped cleanup process
Five steps from the first look at the file to the handoff, with the scope, the fee, and your responsibilities agreed before work begins.
1
Review the current file
Wolf Pine Bookkeeping reviews the QuickBooks file, the periods involved, account statements, payroll activity, available supporting records, and the reason the cleanup is needed.
2
Define the project
You receive a proposed scope that identifies the periods and accounts covered, the records Wolf Pine Bookkeeping needs from you, your responsibilities, known exclusions, and the project fee.
3
Reconcile and correct
Transactions and balances are checked against source records. Questions are grouped and sent together so you can resolve them efficiently instead of one at a time.
4
Deliver the updated books
At completion you receive updated reports, a summary of the work performed, and a list of any unresolved items or matters to raise with your CPA or tax preparer.
5
Decide what happens next
Some clients need only the cleanup project. Others move into ongoing monthly bookkeeping so the books stay reconciled and current.
How cleanup is priced
Cleanup is billed per month of books that has to be reopened, whether that month was never recorded or was recorded but cannot be relied on. Each month is billed at 75% of the monthly bookkeeping rate that would apply to your business, and the file review determines how many months there are.
The file review weighs
- The number of months involved
- Transaction volume
- The number of bank, card, loan, payroll, and payment-processor accounts
- The availability and quality of statements and records
- Whether prior periods were ever reconciled
- The number and type of errors to correct
- How many questions need your input or your CPA’s
- The reporting deadline, if there is one
Wolf Pine Bookkeeping reviews the file before proposing a scope and fee. That protects both sides from an estimate based only on the number of months.
Included
- A review of the file before any scope or fee is proposed
- Every reopened month reconciled to its statements
- Updated profit and loss and balance sheet at handoff
- A summary of the work and a list of open items for you and your CPA
Not included
- An audit, or assurance on the finished books
- Tax-return preparation or tax advice
- Legal advice, financial planning, or investment advice
- Entries that need a CPA's guidance, which are identified and handed off
Questions owners ask
The short version: a review of the file first, one fee agreed before work begins, each reopened month reconciled to its statements, and an organized handoff to you and your CPA.
Can you clean up books that are several years behind?
Often, yes. The first step is a review of the periods involved, the quality of the available records, and why the work is needed. A long backlog may be split into phases so priorities and dependencies are clear.
How much does bookkeeping cleanup cost?
Each month of books that has to be reopened is billed at 75% of the monthly bookkeeping rate that would apply to your business. At the $400 starting rate, that is $300 per month, or $3,600 for a full year. The file review determines how many months are involved and flags anything outside the monthly work before a fee is proposed.
How long does a cleanup take?
It depends on the number of months, the transaction volume, how quickly statements and answers arrive, and current capacity. The proposed scope includes an expected timeline, and most delays come from missing records or unanswered questions, so gathering those early helps.
What will you need from me to get started?
Typically: accountant access to QuickBooks Online, bank and credit-card statements for the periods involved, loan and payroll records, and a short conversation about the business and why the cleanup is needed. The scope lists anything else required.
Do you work with QuickBooks Desktop or other software?
QuickBooks Online is Wolf Pine Bookkeeping’s primary platform. If your records are in another system, the initial review can help determine whether a conversion, a historical cleanup, or a different provider is the most appropriate path.
Can you guarantee every old transaction will be resolved?
No. Some historical items cannot be resolved without statements, receipts, an explanation from you, or guidance from a CPA. Wolf Pine Bookkeeping identifies those items clearly rather than making unsupported assumptions.
Can cleanup be finished before a tax deadline?
Possibly, depending on the condition of the file, the records available, the deadline, and current capacity. Wolf Pine Bookkeeping does not prepare tax returns but can organize the bookkeeping for your tax professional.
Do I need ongoing bookkeeping after cleanup?
Not necessarily. Cleanup can be a stand-alone project. If you want the books maintained afterward, Wolf Pine Bookkeeping can propose a separate monthly bookkeeping engagement.
Get your books back to a reliable starting point
If your books are behind, unreconciled, or hard to trust, schedule a consultation to talk through the periods involved, the current QuickBooks file, the records you have, and what the finished books need to support.
