Bookkeeping & Monthly Accounting
Monthly bookkeeping means every bank and card account is reconciled, transactions are categorised consistently, and you receive financial statements shortly after each month closes. Clean books make the tax return a formality, support a loan application, and are the only reliable way to know whether the business is actually making money.
What's included
- Monthly reconciliation of every bank, card, and loan account
- Consistent categorisation with a chart of accounts built for your industry
- Profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement each month
- Accounts receivable and payable tracking
- Payroll journal entries and reconciliation to filings
- 1099 contractor tracking through the year, not in a January scramble
- Prior-period cleanup and catch-up bookkeeping, quoted separately
- Books kept in a format your tax return can be prepared from directly
Who this is for
Owners who are still categorising transactions themselves at 11pm, businesses whose books are a shoebox and a bank feed, and anyone who has been told their records need cleanup before a return can be filed.
It is also for businesses whose books technically exist but do not reconcile. A file that has never been reconciled against a bank statement will produce a profit figure, but not a correct one, and every decision made from it inherits the error.
Deadlines and rules worth knowing
| Item | What applies |
|---|---|
| Reconciliation | Every account matched to its statement, every month. This is what separates bookkeeping from categorising. |
| Monthly statements | Profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow, delivered after each month closes |
| Chart of accounts | Structured for your industry so the reports answer questions you actually have |
| 1099 tracking | Contractor payments tracked through the year, with W-9s collected before January |
| Payroll | Journal entries reconciled to the quarterly filings, so wages on the return match wages reported |
| Cleanup | Prior periods brought current before ongoing work starts. Quoted separately from the monthly fee. |
| Handover | Books stay yours. If you leave, you take the file with you. |
How we work
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Review what exists
We read last year’s return and whatever records you have. Most of what needs fixing is visible quickly.
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Fixed quote in writing
Scope and price before anything starts, counting entities, states, and any cleanup needed.
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File and maintain
Returns prepared and filed, notices answered, and a projection before year end.
Questions
What is the difference between bookkeeping and accounting?
Bookkeeping records and reconciles transactions as they happen. Accounting interprets the result u2014 preparing statements, applying tax treatment, and advising on what the numbers mean. In practice the two need to connect, because a tax return prepared from unreconciled books inherits every error the books contain.
My books are years behind. Can that be fixed?
Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping rebuilds prior periods from bank statements, card statements, and whatever records exist, then reconciles them. It is quoted separately from ongoing monthly work because the volume varies enormously. It is usually the first step before back returns can be filed accurately.
Do I need monthly bookkeeping or is annual enough?
Annual bookkeeping can produce a filed return, but it cannot tell you anything useful during the year u2014 which is when decisions are made. Monthly reconciliation also catches errors while they are still traceable. If you take estimated tax payments, borrow, or plan around profit, monthly is the practical minimum.
Last reviewed 11 September 2026 by Fahadun Nabi, Founder, Blue Sage Tax and Accounting Inc.. General information, not advice for your specific situation.
Related
Talk it through before the deadline, not after.
A free consultation call, no obligation, and a fixed quote if you want to go further.