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How businesses fall behind
Nobody plans to stop doing the books. It happens in a busy season. A surf shop in Encinitas gets slammed from June to September and the books wait. A general contractor in Escondido takes on two jobs at once and receipts pile up in the truck. A founder in Sorrento Valley spends a year on product and the bank feed disconnects without anyone noticing.
Then a lender asks for statements, the CPA sends a request list, or a partner wants to know where the money went. That is usually when the call happens.
What a catch-up covers
- Every bank, credit card and loan account for each missing month
- Payment processor payouts split into gross sales, fees and refunds
- Payroll journal entries from your payroll provider's reports
- Owner draws, contributions and personal charges kept out of expenses
- Sales tax collected and paid, tied to the returns you filed
- Contractor payments grouped by vendor so 1099 totals can be pulled
The order of the work
- Find the last good month The bookkeeper finds the last month that is reconciled and matches the bank. Everything after it is the gap.
- Gather statements You download statements for each account in the gap. Feeds alone often miss months, so statements are the record.
- Record oldest month first Each month is coded and reconciled before the next one starts. That keeps one error from rolling forward.
- Ask in batches Unknown transactions are grouped into one list per batch of months, so you answer questions a few times, not daily.
- Close and hand off Each finished month is locked. Your CPA gets reports for the whole period and a list of anything still open.
What to send first
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Bank and card statements for the gap | They are the base for every reconciliation |
| Loan and line of credit statements | They split payments into interest and principal |
| Payroll provider reports | They record wages, taxes and benefits correctly |
| Processor reports from Square, Stripe, Toast or Shopify | They show gross sales, fees and refunds behind each payout |
| Last filed tax return | It confirms the starting balances your CPA used |
For a full checklist, see what to send your bookkeeper.
Catching up in San Diego, specifically
If your business operates inside the City of San Diego, the city requires a Business Tax Certificate, and that includes home-based businesses and self-employed people. A catch-up is a good time to check that the certificate is current and that renewal fees are recorded.
Short-term rental hosts in the city file Transient Occupancy Tax returns monthly. If those returns were filed while the books were behind, the catch-up ties the reported rent to the platform payouts for each month, so any gap shows up early.
When catch-up turns into cleanup
Sometimes the months before the gap are recorded but wrong. Then the job is a catch-up plus a bookkeeping cleanup. The bookkeeper will say which one you need after looking at the file. Once you are current, monthly bookkeeping keeps you there.
Where we work
We keep books for businesses across the City of San Diego, North County, the South Bay and East County.
- Carlsbad
- Chula Vista
- Downtown San Diego
- El Cajon
- Encinitas
- Escondido
- La Mesa
- Oceanside
- San Diego
- San Marcos
- Vista
Questions
Can you catch up more than one year?
Yes. Each year is caught up in order, oldest first, so every year starts from the balance the year before ended on.
I lost some receipts. Is that a problem?
Statements carry most of the work. Missing receipts go on a list, and you and your CPA decide how to handle them.
My CPA's deadline is close. Can catch-up go faster?
Ask on the call. If the deadline is close, see emergency bookkeeping, and ask your CPA about filing an extension.
Do I have to change software?
No. The catch-up happens in the software you already use: QuickBooks, Xero and more. If you have no software yet, one is set up.