Every year, business owners discover their books are months behind, riddled with misclassifications, or built on a foundation of errors their previous bookkeeper never caught. The statements don’t reconcile. The balance sheet doesn’t balance. And no one really knows what the numbers mean.
At Westport Financial, we provide financial clean-up services that untangle disorganized, inaccurate, or severely backlogged books — and rebuild them to a standard you can trust. We work systematically, period by period, with a documented audit trail of every correction made.
We serve small and mid-sized businesses across all industries — companies that have outgrown their bookkeeper, changed accounting staff, or simply let the books slide during a period of rapid growth. Revenue range typically $500K to $20M.
Bottom line: If you can’t produce clean, reconciled financial statements on demand — or if you genuinely don’t trust what’s in your books — a financial clean-up engagement will give you a foundation you can actually build on.
Why Business Books Get Into Trouble
The most common situations we encounter when a new clean-up client comes to us:
Misclassified transactions that have compounded across multiple periods
Balance sheets that don’t balance, with equity accounts and suspense items no one can explain
Payroll liabilities that haven’t been reconciled to filings in years
A prior bookkeeper’s system that never matched how the business actually operated
Year-end pressure from a CPA who can’t file until the books are corrected
These problems compound quickly. A missed reconciliation in January becomes a chain of errors by December. A misclassified expense throws off the P&L for every month that follows. By the time most businesses call us, what started as a small gap has grown into a significant remediation project.
Our Financial Clean-Up Services
We provide a complete, structured clean-up engagement that addresses every layer of your accounting — from individual transactions to final financial statements.
Historical Bank and Account Reconciliation
Reconciliation is the foundation of every clean-up engagement. We go back as far as the records require and reconcile every bank account, credit card, loan, and line of credit — month by month — until every account ties to the penny.
- Full reconciliation of all bank and credit card accounts by period
- Loan and line of credit balance reconciliation to lender statements
- Identification and correction of duplicate transactions and missed entries
- Outstanding items cleared and documented
Transaction Review and Reclassification
Every transaction in the system gets reviewed for proper categorization. Misclassified expenses, incorrectly coded revenue, and uncategorized items are corrected — with a documented log of every change made and why.
- Line-by-line review of transaction coding against chart of accounts
- Reclassification of misposted expenses and revenue
- Removal of duplicate entries and correction of split transaction errors
- Chart of accounts cleanup and rationalization where needed
- Full audit trail maintained for every correction
Accounts Receivable and Payable Clean-Up
Stale A/R and A/P balances are among the most common and most damaging problems we see. Unapplied payments, phantom invoices, and uncollected balances distort cash flow and working capital analysis.
- Review and clearing of open A/R balances against payment history
- Identification of uncollected invoices, unapplied payments, and write-off candidates
- Vendor account reconciliation and clearing of stale A/P items
- Aging report cleanup to ensure accuracy
Balance Sheet Correction
A balance sheet that doesn’t balance — or that carries unexplained equity adjustments, uncleared suspense items, or improperly recorded assets — is not a usable financial tool. We correct it from the bottom up.
- Equity account reconciliation and correction
- Clearing of suspense accounts and unidentified postings
- Fixed asset schedule reconciliation and depreciation review
- Loan and liability balance verification against external statements
- Retained earnings reconciliation across periods
Payroll and Liability Reconciliation
Payroll liabilities are among the most frequently mismanaged accounts in small business accounting. We reconcile payroll tax liabilities, accrued wages, and benefit withholdings against payroll records and filed returns.
- Payroll liability account reconciliation to payroll processor records
- Payroll tax account verification against filed 941s, state returns, and W-2s
- Accrued compensation and PTO liability review
- Clearing of over/under-accrual positions
Clean Financial Statement Delivery
At the end of every clean-up engagement, you receive a complete set of corrected, GAAP-compliant financial statements — ready to hand to your CPA, your bank, a potential lender, or a buyer.
- GAAP-compliant income statement (Profit & Loss)
- Corrected balance sheet with fully reconciled accounts
- Statement of cash flows
- Management summary explaining key corrections and their impact
- Go-forward bookkeeping process recommendations
Our goal: deliver corrected financial statements you can hand to your CPA, bank, or board without qualification or asterisk.
What Clean Books Make Possible
Financial clean-up is not just about fixing the past. It creates the foundation for decisions you cannot make reliably when the numbers are wrong.
When Businesses Need Financial Clean-Up Services
These are the clearest signals that the books need professional remediation:
- Your bank reconciliations haven’t been completed in two or more months
- You recently parted ways with a bookkeeper and don’t know the state of the books
- Your CPA is asking for corrected records before they can file your return
- Your balance sheet has accounts you can’t explain or balances you know are wrong
- You are preparing to apply for a loan, bring in a partner, or sell the business
- Your financial statements don’t reflect what you know is happening in the business
- You’ve never had a proper reconciliation performed and want to start fresh
If two or more of these describe your current situation, a financial clean-up engagement will almost certainly deliver a measurable return — in tax savings, financing access, or simply in the confidence to make decisions with accurate data.
Why Businesses Choose Westport Financial for Clean-Up Engagements
Structured and auditable. Every correction we make is documented. You receive a complete log of what changed, which period it affected, and why — so your CPA, bank, or any future reviewer can follow the trail.
Fixed-rate engagement. We scope the project after a free diagnostic and give you a flat project price before we start. No hourly billing, no scope creep, no surprises.
GAAP-compliant output. Clean books are not just organized books. Every adjustment we make follows GAAP accounting principles — so the finished product meets the standard your CPA, lender, or buyer expects.
QuickBooks Online specialists. We perform all clean-up work inside QBO with a structured workflow and period-by-period reconciliation. If you’re not on QBO, we assess the best path forward during the diagnostic.
Go-forward process included. Every clean-up engagement ends with a documented go-forward bookkeeping process and recommendations — so the books stay clean after we hand them back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Work With Westport Financial
If your books are behind, inaccurate, or simply not something you trust — Westport Financial can help. Our financial clean-up process is structured, flat-rate, and built to deliver financials you can actually use.
Contact Westport Financial to schedule a complimentary diagnostic assessment. We will review your current records, identify the scope of the clean-up required, and provide a fixed project price before any work begins.