--- title: "Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services in BC: Books Behind?" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/catch-up-bookkeeping description: "Months or years behind on your books? Catch-up bookkeeping and late filings with a CPA, handled calmly and without judgement. Send an enquiry today." type: service-or-info updated: 2026-10-08 summary: "Catch-up bookkeeping means rebuilding your accounting records for periods that were never done, then bringing the filings that depend on them up to date. It is normally reconstructed from bank and credit card statements rather than from your memory, so gaps in your paperwork do not stop it." faq_count: 4 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) Books months or years behind? This is fixable. No judgement · Fully remote · Email enquiry # Catch-up bookkeeping for books *months or years behind* Updated 8 October 2026 If you are on this page, you probably know the feeling: a shoebox of receipts, unreconciled bank statements, an unfiled GST return, and a quiet worry that has sat there a while. It is more common than you think, and none of it is a moral failing. It is an ordinary problem with an ordinary process for fixing it. Here is exactly how that process works. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=catch-up&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=catchup_bookkeeping#enquiry-form) [Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **Quick answer:** Catch-up bookkeeping means rebuilding your accounting records for periods that were never done, then bringing the filings that depend on them up to date. It is normally reconstructed from bank and credit card statements rather than from your memory, so gaps in your paperwork do not stop it. Catch-up bookkeeping is billed from $2,200 for each year of records brought current, and the total is fixed in writing before work begins. It is quoted separately from ongoing work; [published fees](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing) show where each service starts. **Who does the work:** a Chartered Professional Accountant prepares and reviews your file and answers your questions, from the first quote to the filed return. [About EverStone CPA](https://www.everstonecpa.com/about). An ordinary process for an ordinary problem. ## Why books fall behind, and why that is not the story Books fall behind for ordinary reasons: a bookkeeper who left, growth that outpaced the admin, illness, bereavement, divorce, a bad year, software that stopped syncing. Accountants see all of these. For a counselling practice it is usually unmatched Jane or Cliniko reports and insurer deposits; see [practice books for counsellors](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-for-counsellors-bc). If the returns themselves are outstanding, see [what to do when you are behind on taxes](https://www.everstonecpa.com/behind-on-taxes-catch-up). What matters now is that the gap stops growing and someone tells you honestly where you stand. Only avoidance gets more expensive; the work never becomes impossible, just larger. ## What actually happens in a catch-up The process is deliberately unglamorous. There are no surprises built into it: - **An email enquiry.** You explain roughly how far behind you are and what still exists. You will not be asked to justify anything. The point of this call is to size the work, not to assess you. - **A written scope and a fixed quote.** Once the size of the job is clear, you get the scope in writing with a fixed price attached, before any work starts. You decide from there, in your own time. - **Records are gathered.** Mostly bank statements, credit card statements and any payroll or sales records. Missing receipts are normal and are worked around rather than treated as a dead end. - **The ledger is rebuilt.** Period by period, in cloud accounting software, reconciled against the bank so the numbers actually tie out rather than merely looking tidy. - **Filings are brought current.** GST returns, payroll remittances and outstanding year ends are prepared and filed in the right order, oldest first, so the CRA sees a business coming back into compliance rather than one still missing. - **You get told where you stand.** A plain-English summary of what was found, what is now filed, and what is still outstanding, including any balance owing, so there are no unpleasant discoveries later. - **It stays current.** Optional, but this is the part that stops the same conversation happening again in three years: monthly bookkeeping so the ledger never accumulates a backlog. Backlogs clear slower when personal and business spending share an account. [Separating the two](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/separating-business-and-personal-finances) first speeds up the rest. ## Who you are dealing with Credentials **A Chartered Professional Accountant** EverStone CPA Inc. is a CPA firm founded in 2023. It is registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta, and works with owner-managed corporations across BC and in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. Catch-up work, corporate returns and the filings that follow are handled by the same CPA, in the correct order. Remote by design **Nothing to carry anywhere** EverStone is a sole practice run fully remotely. There is no box to drive across town and no meeting where paperwork gets spread across a desk in front of you. Statements go up by secure upload, conversations happen by video call, and you never have to explain your situation twice to a second person. How fees work **A fixed quote, in writing, first** Catch-up work is never quoted before the size of it is understood, and it is never billed by the hour while a meter runs in the background. The scope is written down after we review your enquiry and a fixed price is attached to it. If more periods turn up than expected, that is raised and re-quoted before any extra work is done. ## Questions people ask before they call **How far behind is too far behind?** There is no cut-off. Several years is a larger job than one missed quarter, but the same job. Records are rebuilt from bank and card statements, which the bank can usually supply even if your paperwork is gone. [Ask about your case →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **Am I going to be judged for this?** No. Books fall behind for ordinary reasons, and small-business accountants see it regularly. The first call sizes the work and tells you where you stand; you are solving a problem, and you will be treated that way. **What about the CRA — am I in trouble?** Filing late is a common situation with an established process behind it, and coming forward voluntarily is treated differently from being found. Interest and penalties may apply depending on what is outstanding, and in some cases the Voluntary Disclosures Program is the right route. You will be told plainly which applies to you before anything is filed. **How far back can the books be rebuilt?** As far back as the bank and card statements go, usually seven years online. Each year is rebuilt and its returns filed before the next starts, so the CRA sees steady progress. ## Related reading Guides and tools that go deeper on what this page covers. [Score the state of your books in ten questions](https://www.everstonecpa.com/bookkeeping-health-check) [Whether to keep the books in-house](https://www.everstonecpa.com/in-house-vs-outsourced-bookkeeping) [QuickBooks, but no accountant?](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quickbooks-but-no-accountant) [Bookkeeper, accountant or CPA?](https://www.everstonecpa.com/bookkeeper-vs-accountant-vs-cpa) ## The forms and the dates Deadlines set the order: overdue [GST/HST returns](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-filing-services) first, since the CRA withholds refunds and assesses unfiled periods; then T2s, with a 5% plus 1% a month penalty; then T4 and T5 slips. For unassessed late years, the Voluntary Disclosures Program can remove penalties if the disclosure is complete and made before the CRA asks. ## Who this is for in the Fraser Valley The catch-up files are Fraser Valley businesses: an Abbotsford contractor whose bookkeeper left, a Chilliwack shop that outgrew its spreadsheet, a Langley or Surrey corporation that never filed, a Mission owner with three years of statements in a drawer. Each gets the same work: periods rebuilt in order, reconciled and filed, quoted first. ## What a catch-up usually has to file at the end Catch-up books usually lead to catch-up filings: GST/HST returns for every missed period, with input tax credits only where an invoice survives; overdue T4 and T5 slips; a T2 for each unfiled year; sometimes a reply to a CRA letter. We file them in order once the books reconcile, and check each notice of assessment as it arrives. ## What sets the fee Catch-up is quoted per period after a free look at the bank statements, which shows how many months, accounts and entries are involved. Transaction volume and how far back the unfiled returns go set the fee. The quote is written, fixed and separate from the monthly fee that starts once the books are current. ## Other bookkeeping and accounting work The rest of what this covers, and the page each one is on. [Monthly bookkeeping Monthly bookkeeping for Canadian incorporated businesses: reconciled books, sales tax filed, payroll…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/monthly-bookkeeping-services) [Payroll Remote payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-services-canada) [Year-end statements Clear, lender-ready year-end financial statements for incorporated Canadian businesses](https://www.everstonecpa.com/financial-statement-preparation-canada) [All bookkeeping and accounting Monthly bookkeeping, payroll, year-end financial statements and catch-up work for incorporated…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accounting-services) ## The gap stops growing the day you make one call. Thirty minutes, no charge, no judgement. You will know where you stand by the end of it. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=catchup_bookkeeping) [Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) ★★★★★ “…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.” Heather Powers · Google review Once you are current, the next decision is cadence — [monthly vs annual bookkeeping](https://www.everstonecpa.com/monthly-vs-annual-bookkeeping) sets out what breaks under each approach. ### Starting fees Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins. - **Catch-up bookkeeping** from $2,200 per year of records *This page* - **Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing included** from $325 a month - **Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEs** included in monthly bookkeeping - **Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together** $500–$700 a month - **Corporate year-end and T2 return** fixed fee, quoted in writing - **Personal tax return (T1)** from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500 - **Controller or CFO support** controller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month - **One-off advice call with a CPA** $225 plus GST [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=catch-up#enquiry-form) --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/catch-up-bookkeeping Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online