Your First Bookkeeping Offer: Catch Up, Clean Up, or Both?

Oct 15

When you’re just starting your bookkeeping business, one of the first questions you’ll run into is:

👉 “What exactly am I offering?”

You might know how to reconcile transactions and categorize expenses like a pro, but packaging those skills into clear services clients understand is another story. Two of the most common types of services you’ll provide are Catch Up and Clean Up work.

They sound similar—but they’re actually quite different. And being able to clearly explain (and price!) these services is one of the best ways to set yourself up as a confident, credible bookkeeper from the start.

Let’s break it down. 👇

Catch Up Bookkeeping: Filling in the Gaps

Catch Up bookkeeping is all about bringing a client’s books up to date when they’ve fallen behind.

Think:

A small business owner who hasn’t touched QuickBooks since last April.
Someone who tried DIY bookkeeping for a few months, then gave up.
A brand-new client who never had a bookkeeper before.

Your job in a catch-up project is to enter, categorize, and reconcile transactions for past months so that the books reflect the business’s actual financial activity up to the current date.

👉 In other words, you’re filling in missing history.

Key Tasks May Include:

Importing bank feeds and past statements
Categorizing uncategorized expenses and income
Reconciling each month to ensure accuracy
Setting up opening balances correctly if needed

Pro Tip: Create a clear timeline and scope before you start. If you’re catching up 12+ months, consider breaking the project into phases and billing accordingly.

Clean Up Bookkeeping: Fixing What’s Messy

Clean Up work, on the other hand, happens when the books are up to date but full of errors.

This could be:

A client who’s been using QuickBooks incorrectly for years.
Books that have duplicate transactions, miscategorized income, or unbalanced accounts.
Previous bookkeepers (or business owners) who didn’t follow proper workflows.

Your job here is to correct existing data so that the financial reports are accurate going forward.

👉 You’re not catching up on time—you’re untangling a mess.

Key Tasks May Include:

Reviewing past transactions for errors
Re-categorizing income/expenses
Fixing reconciliation discrepancies
Correcting misapplied payments or journal entries
Rebuilding the Chart of Accounts if necessary

Pro Tip: Clean Up work often takes longer than clients expect. Always do a diagnostic review before quoting a price. This is where your expertise shines—and where your boundaries matter.

Why Defining These Services Matters

When you’re new to bookkeeping, it’s tempting to say “I do everything!” and figure it out as you go. But defining Catch Up vs. Clean Up early in your business has real benefits:

🧠 Clarity for You: You’ll know exactly what tasks are included in each service, making quoting and scoping projects easier.
💬 Clarity for Clients: Your clients will understand what they’re buying—and why it costs what it does.
💸 Better Pricing: Catch Up work can often be billed as a flat project fee, while Clean Up typically requires hourly or diagnostic-based pricing.
💪 Confidence: You’ll feel more professional and less like you’re “making it up as you go.”

How to Talk About It with Clients

Here’s a simple way to explain the difference when you’re on a discovery call:

“Catch Up work is about bringing your books up to date when nothing’s been entered or reconciled for a while. Clean Up work is about fixing errors in books that have been maintained, but not accurately. Sometimes, clients need both — and that’s totally normal.”

That one sentence can save you hours of confusion (and scope creep!) later.

The Bottom Line

As a new bookkeeper, learning to distinguish between Catch Up and Clean Up work is one of the smartest moves you can make. It helps you set clear expectations, price your services appropriately, and present yourself as a pro — even if your business is brand new.

📣 Ready to Launch Your Bookkeeping Biz with Clarity?

If you’re ready to package your services confidently, set boundaries with clients, and build a bookkeeping business that works, check out my QuickBooks Beginner’s Guide 👉 [https://shebuiltitanywaycom.thrivecart.com/quickbooks-online-beginners-guide/] or grab the Bookkeeping Biz Starter Kit for step-by-step templates.