Catch-Up Bookkeeping for Vancouver Businesses
Whether you're a few months behind or haven't dealt with your bookkeeping in several years, xBooks can help get everything organized, reconciled and up to date.
We'll figure out where things stand, deal with what needs attention and give you a clear path forward.
Behind on your books? We’ll help you get caught up and move forward.
A Simple Business Can Still Have Important Questions
Consulting and professional service businesses can look simple from the outside. There may be no inventory, storefront or expensive equipment. Often, the business is built around your time, expertise and relationships with clients.
But there are still important decisions behind the numbers.
The bookkeeping may be straightforward.
The decisions around it aren't always.
How should you pay yourself?
Know if your business can comfortably support another salary before making the commitment.
Should you incorporate?
Understand the full financial and tax impact before making a major purchase.
Which expenses belong in the business?
See what's really driving your cash flow—not just your profit.
What happens when you pay something personally?
Avoid surprises at tax time by planning throughout the year.
How much should you be setting aside for tax?
Get clear, accurate financial information so you can measure real progress.
Built for Consultants & Professionals
We work best with established service-based businesses looking for reliable support throughout the year—not just help during tax season.
Typical Business Size: We are generally the best fit for established businesses generating between $200,000 and $2 million in annual revenue.
Marketing Consultants
IT & Technology Consultants
HR Consultants
Engineering Consultants
Management Consultants
Business Consultants
Don’t see your profession listed? We work with many types of established consultants and professional service businesses.
There Are Lots Of Reasons
Books Fall Behind
Running a business tends to come first. Bookkeeping doesn't always.
Sometimes the books slowly fall behind. Sometimes they've been maintained inconsistently. And sometimes everything has been entered, but you're no longer confident it's right.
Whatever brought you here, the first step is simply figuring out where things stand.
The Books Haven't Been Updated.
A few busy months turned into six months, a year or several years, and now there's a backlog that needs to be dealt with.
The Bookkeeping Was Started but Never Finished.
Some transactions are entered, others aren't. Accounts haven't been reconciled and it's difficult to know what's complete.
You're Not Sure the Books Are Right.
The bookkeeping may appear current, but balances don't make sense, accounts don't reconcile or you don't trust the financial statements.
Something Has Triggered the Need to Get Caught Up.
A tax deadline, CRA request, year-end, financing application or another requirement means the books can no longer wait.
No judgment. Just a plan to get you back on track.
How We Get Your Books Caught Up
We Figure Out Where Things Stand.
We review the existing bookkeeping and determine which periods need attention, what has already been completed and what information is missing.
We'll give you a clear list of anything we need from you, including bank and credit card statements that may need to be requested from your financial institutions.
We Work Through the Books Period by Period.
Once we have the records we need, we work through the outstanding bookkeeping, categorize transactions, reconcile the accounts and correct issues we find along the way.
We don't simply enter transactions and call the job finished. Each period needs to reconcile and the resulting balances need to make sense.
We Get Everything to a Reliable Starting Point.
Once the bookkeeping is caught up and reconciled, we can produce reliable financial information and deal with whatever comes next — outstanding GST/PST, payroll issues, year-end accounting or tax.
Then, if you'd like us to continue, we'll recommend an ongoing bookkeeping schedule that keeps everything from falling behind again.
Catch-Up & Cleanup Bookkeeping Done Properly
Catch-up bookkeeping isn't simply about entering old transactions into QuickBooks. Depending on where things stand, the books may need to be caught up, cleaned up, corrected or partially rebuilt.
The goal is the same: reliable books that accurately reflect the business and are ready for whatever comes next.
Rebuild the Bookkeeping
We work through the outstanding periods, organize the available information and properly categorize the business activity.
Where bookkeeping has already been done, we review what's there rather than assuming it's correct.
Reconcile and Correct the Accounts
Bank and credit card accounts are reconciled to the statements, and we review important balances to identify anything that doesn't make sense.
If we find errors or inconsistencies along the way, we deal with them as part of getting the books back to a reliable position.
Deal With What Comes Next
Falling behind on bookkeeping can also mean falling behind on GST/PST filings, payroll reporting, year-end accounting or tax.
Once the underlying books are reliable, we can determine what else needs attention and take care of the process from there.
What If My Bookkeeping Is Really Behind?
That’s okay.
We work with businesses that are a few months behind, several years behind, or where bookkeeping has been started but needs to be corrected.
The first step is figuring out exactly where things stand. We determine which periods need to be completed, what records are available and what information is missing.
Bank and credit card statements are an important part of that process. If older statements are missing, we'll identify exactly what we need so you can request them from your bank or credit card provider. Older records aren't always immediately available, but having complete statements is necessary for us to properly work through and reconcile the books.
Once we have the information we need, we can work through the bookkeeping methodically and get the business back to a reliable starting point.
You don't need to have everything organized before contacting us. We'll tell you what we need and help you figure out where to start.
Support That Goes Beyond the Books
Good bookkeeping isn't just about getting transactions into QuickBooks. It's about making sure nothing important gets missed.
We’re thorough in how we work. We look for business expenses paid personally, transactions that may have been missed, balances that don't make sense and other details that deserve a closer look.
That matters at tax time. A legitimate business expense that never makes it into the books is a deduction that may never make it onto the tax return.
We want the books to be right — and we don't want you paying more tax simply because something was overlooked.
Sometimes you also just need someone to call.
Should I buy this through the company? Can I deduct this? What happens if I hire someone? Why is my tax bill higher this year?
We get to know your business over time, so when questions come up, you can call us, talk them through and get practical advice based on what's actually going on in your business.
The goal is simple: once you're caught up, you shouldn't have to get caught up again.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Qualifying counselling therapy and psychotherapy services became exempt from GST/HST in 2024. But that doesn’t necessarily mean everything a practice does is exempt. The services provided and how the practice operates still matter.
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It depends. If your practice only provides exempt services, you may no longer need to remain registered. If you also have taxable activity, the answer can be different. We can look at what your practice actually does and help make sure it’s being handled properly.
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This is one of the important consequences of the exemption. GST paid on expenses related to exempt services generally can’t be recovered in the same way as GST associated with taxable activity. We make sure the bookkeeping is set up to handle this properly.
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Yes. We work with practices using Jane and can reconcile the activity and payments back to the bookkeeping so the income recorded in QuickBooks agrees with what actually happened in the practice.
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Yes. We generally prefer QuickBooks Online for counselling practices. We’ve found that it gives us the flexibility to deal with the GST changes, different types of activity and practice-management systems without making the bookkeeping unnecessarily complicated.
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Yes. Group practices can have additional bookkeeping around money collected for associates, payments to practitioners, payroll or contractor arrangements and expenses paid by the practice. We set the bookkeeping up around how your particular practice operates.
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Common expenses can include clinic rent, software, professional dues, insurance, supervision, training and other costs incurred to earn business income. What is deductible depends on the particular expense and circumstances, so we make sure expenses are recorded properly rather than relying on a generic list.
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There isn’t one revenue level where incorporation automatically makes sense. We look at how much the practice earns, how much money you need personally, whether profits can remain in the business and your longer-term plans before discussing the accounting and tax implications.
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That’s common. We make sure legitimate business expenses paid personally are captured in the bookkeeping rather than missed because they didn’t pass through the business bank account or credit card.
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That’s fine. We can catch up the outstanding bookkeeping first and then determine what level of ongoing support makes sense.
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For incorporated practices, we look after the bookkeeping and year-end preparation and work with a CPA partner for the corporate tax return when required.
Let’s Talk About Your Practice.
If you’re looking for bookkeeping, accounting and tax support from people who understand how counselling practices actually work, let’s have a conversation
No pressure. Just a conversation.