Do not put a behind file in the monthly queue
A cleanup file is not monthly work. If the client is a year or more behind, or the existing file does not tie to the bank, that engagement is a cleanup with its own quote. Putting it in the monthly queue is how a close that should have been a review becomes a rebuild.
Firms send that file to bookkeeping cleanup for CPA firms. It starts with a $499 diagnostic, credited toward the cleanup if you approve the quote. The package comes back under your brand. A licensed CPA reviews it before you do.
A current monthly client is a different offer. That one starts with a Pilot Client on For CPA Firms.
How to tell which file you have
Read the last month that was actually closed. If it ties to the statements and the open items are ordinary, you have a monthly file. If the last closed month is last year, or nobody can say which month ties, you have a cleanup.
Catch-up versus monthly bookkeeping is the same split written for the owner. The firm version is operational: do not let a staff calendar hide a historical file inside "this month's close."
Fall catch-up before tax season is the inventory pass. List the behind files on their own. Do not wait until January to discover which clients were never current.
What the client should see
The client sees your brand on both jobs. They should not see two different scopes priced as if they were one. A cleanup has a fixed quote for the periods that are behind. Monthly delivery, if they want it after the file is current, is a separate engagement. Say that on the engagement letter before the work starts.
We do not publish a monthly rate. Monthly delivery is quoted on the call. The cleanup diagnostic is the only published fee on that path, and it is $499.
Where each file goes
- Behind, incomplete, or a dead file: bookkeeping cleanup
- Current month, ready for a test: Pilot Client
- Owner calling about their own books, not a firm client: catch-up bookkeeping with a tax deadline
Schedule a call if you already know which clients are the cleanup pile.