Catch-up bookkeeping · Conroe, TX
Months — or years — behind, caught up cleanly.
Whole periods never recorded? A senior operator rebuilds them in priority order — deadline-aware, reconciled to source, and CPA- or loan-ready. Fixed-fee, scoped before any work starts.
Fixed-fee, scoped in writing before any work starts. A long backlog never turns into an open-ended bill — and we don't replace your CPA.
In brief
Catch-up bookkeeping, in plain terms.
What is catch-up bookkeeping?
Catch-up bookkeeping brings books that are behind back to current — recording, categorizing, and reconciling the periods that were never done, in order, until the file reaches the present day. It's the fix when the books simply weren't kept.
How is it different from cleanup?
Catch-up means the books are behind — periods never recorded. Cleanup means the records exist but are wrong — miscategorized, unreconciled, or out of balance. If you're years behind and the old records are also a mess, you need both, scoped together.
How long does it take?
Most catch-up engagements complete in four to ten weeks, depending on how many periods are behind and how many accounts are involved. If you have a tax or loan deadline, the periods you need first are finished first.
How much does it cost?
A one-time fixed fee, scoped in writing after a free diagnostic — never hourly. The number depends on periods behind, number of accounts, and transaction volume, so a long backlog never becomes an open-ended bill.
Behind and messy? Catch-up rebuilds the missing periods; bookkeeping cleanup is the canonical fix for records that are wrong. We scope both as one fixed fee.
Why owners call us behind
Being behind isn't a character flaw — it's a Tuesday.
The books slip while you run the business. Then something forces the issue. These are the reasons Texas owners reach out — each one is fixable.
“A tax deadline is coming and my books aren't done.”
Extension running out, a filing due, and months unrecorded. We work the periods your deadline needs first, so you file on clean numbers instead of guesses.
Free cleanup quote Bookkeeper left“My bookkeeper quit and left a gap.”
Whoever kept the books is gone, and no one picked it up for months. We step in, reconstruct what's missing, and take it forward without losing more time.
Switching to us Years behind“I'm years behind, not just months.”
Multiple years never recorded — sometimes never started. If the older records are also wrong, catch-up and cleanup run together. We scope both as one fixed fee.
Cleanup + catch-up Loan / SBA“A lender or the SBA wants financials.”
An SBA loan, a line of credit, or a buyer needs profit-and-loss statements and a balance sheet you don't have yet. We rebuild the periods they're asking for, loan-ready.
Get loan-ready books Messy, not just late“The records exist but they're a mess.”
If the books aren't only behind but wrong — miscategorized, unreconciled, out of balance — that's cleanup, the canonical fix for broken records. We'll tell you which you need.
Bookkeeping cleanup Stay current after“Once I'm caught up, I don't want to fall behind again.”
The point of catching up is to stay caught up. The natural next step is a reconciled monthly close with the same operator, so the gap never reopens.
Monthly bookkeepingWhatever forced the issue, the path is the same: a free diagnostic, a fixed fee, and a deadline-aware plan to get current.
How catch-up runs at Westgate
A real plan to get from behind to current — in the right order.
Free diagnostic & scope
A senior operator counts the periods and accounts behind, asks what deadline is driving it, and puts a fixed fee and timeline in writing — before any work begins.
Gather the source
Bank, credit-card, loan, payroll, and merchant statements pulled through the secure portal for every period that's missing — nothing rebuilt without the source behind it.
Reconstruct in priority order
Periods rebuilt and categorized against a clean chart of accounts — deadline-critical periods first, then chronologically until the backlog closes.
Reconcile & review
Every period reconciled to source, carry-forward balances resolved, and a senior operator reviews before anything is delivered.
Current & CPA-ready
Rebuilt statements for each period, loan- or CPA-ready, handed back — plus an optional move to a monthly close so you never fall behind again.
What's included
Everything it takes to close the gap — line by line.
Catch-up is a lot of careful reconstruction, done in order. Here's the granular work, grouped the way we run it. Exactly what's in scope is set in writing after your free diagnostic.
Reconstruct the record
Gather source documents
Statements and records pulled for every missing period — the foundation everything else is built on.
Rebuild each period's transactions
Income and expenses entered and dated correctly, period by period, from source — not estimated.
Categorize to a clean chart of accounts
Everything coded against a chart of accounts built for your business, so the rebuilt periods are actually usable.
Reconcile each period
Bank, credit-card & loan reconciliation
Each account reconciled to the statement for every caught-up month — the proof the rebuild is real.
Catch up missed reconciliations
Months — or years — of unreconciled periods worked through in order until the account ties out.
Resolve carry-forward balances
Opening and closing balances tied period-to-period so the timeline is continuous, not stitched together.
Bring current & report
Rebuild P&L & balance sheet per period
A profit-and-loss statement and balance sheet for each caught-up period, so the history finally reads cleanly.
Loan- & CPA-ready financials
The exact periods your lender, the SBA, or your CPA is asking for, reconciled and ready to hand over.
Hand off to a monthly close
An optional move to monthly bookkeeping so the backlog never reopens once you're current.
Scope is specific to your file — a few months of one account and several years across many accounts are different jobs. The free diagnostic tells you exactly which lines apply and what the fixed fee is.
Catch-up vs cleanup
Behind is not the same as broken — and the difference sets the scope.
Owners use the words interchangeably; the work isn't. Here's the honest distinction, so you ask for the right thing.
Catch-up — the books are behind
Whole periods were never recorded and need to be built from scratch and brought current. If you're mostly just behind, this is the page — we reconstruct the missing months in priority order. That's this page.
Cleanup — the records are wrong
The transactions exist but are miscategorized, unreconciled, duplicated, or out of balance. That's bookkeeping cleanup — the canonical fix for broken books. Years behind usually means a bit of both.
Not sure which you need? You don't have to be — the free diagnostic scopes catch-up and cleanup together into one fixed fee, then a reconciled monthly close keeps you current for good.
Who this is for
Catch-up for the way real Texas organizations fall behind.
Small businesses
$250K–$15M in revenue. Owners who ran flat-out and let the books slide, now facing a tax deadline, a loan application, or a buyer who wants to see clean financials for the last few years.
Nonprofits
Small Texas nonprofits whose books fell behind between treasurers or grants — restricted balances and designated giving reconstructed period by period for the board and the Form 990.
Churches & ministries
Faith-based organizations where the volunteer who kept the books moved on and months went unrecorded. Designated funds rebuilt properly, so the board can trust the history again.
David spent six years at a resort hotel — spa, restaurants, and golf course — and five with a church before founding the firm — so a stack of unrecorded months on a hospitality file or a church's gap between treasurers is familiar ground. More on who we work with →
Why operator-led
A backlog is judgment work — not a data-entry sprint.
Reconstructing periods you barely remember takes someone who knows what a transaction should have been. That's the part that gets you genuinely current.
| The common option | The Westgate approach |
|---|---|
| Cheap data entry that just types it all in | A senior operator who reconstructs from source and reconciles every period to prove it's right. |
| Whatever order the documents happen to arrive | Priority order — the periods your tax or loan deadline needs are finished first. |
| An hourly meter that grows with the backlog | One fixed fee, scoped before work starts — a long backlog never becomes an open-ended bill. |
| Caught up once, then behind again by spring | An optional monthly close with the same operator, so the gap never reopens. |
Behind because a provider walked away? See how we switch you over without losing a period →
Operational standards
Four things every catch-up holds to.
Fixed fee, scoped first
One number, in writing, before any work starts — a long backlog never turns into an open-ended bill.
Deadline-aware sequencing
The periods your tax or loan deadline needs are reconstructed first — not whatever arrives first.
Secure document handling
Encrypted portal, MFA on every system, least-privilege access. No shared logins, no statements over email.
Reconciled, not estimated
Every caught-up period reconciled to source and documented — defensible to a CPA, a lender, or an auditor.
No marketing badges. Just the standards we work to.
Nobody falls behind on purpose. You ran the business and the books waited. Our job is to rebuild the history in the right order — calmly, from source — so you walk into that deadline with numbers you can stand on.
Twenty years with a national nonprofit. Six years at a resort hotel — spa, restaurants, and golf course. Five years with a church. He has seen these books from the inside.
Catch-up bookkeeping FAQ
Direct answers to what behind-on-the-books owners ask.
However far behind you are, the first step is the same. Get a free cleanup quote — we respond within one business day.
Ready when you are
Get a free cleanup quote.
Tell us how far behind you are and what's driving the deadline. A senior operator reviews it, tells you honestly what it'll take, and gives you a fixed-fee scope and timeline — no pressure, no open-ended bill.