Behind on Your Bookkeeping? Here’s What Needs to Happen Before Tax Filing
Updated: 19 hours ago
Catch-up Bookkeeping
October 12, 2026 - 4 mins read
From unorganized books to accurate and complete records.
Falling behind on bookkeeping happens more often than many business owners realize. Between managing clients, running day-to-day operations, and keeping up with expenses, financial records can easily get pushed aside. Sometimes the bookkeeping hasn’t been touched in months. Other times, transactions have been entered into QuickBooks, but the accounts haven’t been reconciled or reviewed properly. The problem usually becomes more urgent when tax season approaches, your CPA requests financial statements, or you receive a notice from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). If that sounds familiar, here’s what needs to happen before your business records are ready for tax preparation.
Why Catch-Up Bookkeeping Matters Before Tax Filing
Your business tax return relies on accurate financial information.
Revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities, and other financial activity must be properly recorded to determine what needs to be reported. Having bank statements, receipts, and access to QuickBooks doesn’t necessarily mean your bookkeeping is complete. For example, a business might have all its bank transactions imported into QuickBooks but still have missing sales, duplicate expenses, incorrect transaction categories, or accounts that haven’t been reconciled. These issues can affect the financial figures used to prepare a tax return. The CRA requires businesses to maintain records that support their reported income and expenses. Proper bookkeeping helps turn those individual documents into complete financial records.
What Happens During Catch-Up Bookkeeping?
Catch-up bookkeeping involves reviewing and completing the financial records for periods that haven’t been properly maintained.
The amount of work depends on how far behind the business is and the condition of its existing records.
1. Reviewing Your Existing Records
The first step is understanding what’s already been completed and what still needs attention. This may involve reviewing the accounting software, bank and credit card accounts, previous reconciliations, and available financial documents.
Sometimes the records are simply incomplete. In other situations, transactions were entered incorrectly and need to be reviewed or corrected.
2. Recording Outstanding Transactions
Missing financial activity needs to be recorded and categorized appropriately.
This includes reviewing business income, expenses, transfers, loan payments, and other transactions that affect the financial records.
It’s particularly important to distinguish between business expenses, personal transactions, and transfers between accounts.
3. Reconciling Bank and Credit Card Accounts
Reconciliation is one of the most important parts of catch-up bookkeeping.
It involves comparing transactions recorded in the accounting system against actual bank and credit card statements to identify discrepancies.
An account can appear up to date in QuickBooks while still containing missing, duplicated, or incorrectly recorded transactions. Until the accounts have been properly reconciled, the balances may not accurately reflect the business’s financial position.
4. Reviewing Errors and Outstanding Balances
Once transactions have been recorded and reconciled, other areas may need attention.
For example, outstanding invoices, unpaid bills, loan balances, payroll liabilities, and GST/HST accounts may require review.
The goal is to identify discrepancies and ensure the financial records accurately reflect the business’s activity.
5. Preparing Financial Reports for Tax Filing
After the bookkeeping has been completed and reviewed, financial reports can be prepared for the relevant accounting period. These reports help support year-end adjustments and tax preparation.
Depending on the business, additional information may still be needed by the person preparing the tax return.
What If You’re Missing Receipts or Bank Statements?
You don’t need to have every document perfectly organized before contacting a bookkeeper. However, missing records can affect the work required and how quickly the project can be completed. Bank statements help verify financial activity, but they don’t always provide enough information to determine the nature of an expense or support a tax claim. A professional bookkeeper can review the records you already have, identify missing information, and explain what additional documentation is needed.
How Long Does Catch-Up Bookkeeping Take?
There’s no single timeline that applies to every business.
A company that’s six months behind with relatively few transactions may require less work than a business that’s two years behind with multiple bank accounts, employees, and outstanding corrections. The condition of the records and availability of supporting documents also affect the timeline. At Pivotal, we review the scope of the work before providing a quote and estimated completion timeline.
Ready to Get Your Bookkeeping Caught Up?
Being behind on bookkeeping doesn’t mean you need to spend your evenings sorting through years of transactions yourself. At Pivotal, we provide catch-up bookkeeping services for small businesses based in Edmonton and across Alberta and Ontario. We review outstanding records, reconcile accounts, correct bookkeeping errors, and bring financial records up to date for year-end and tax preparation. Whether you’re a few months or several years behind, we’re here to help you get your books back in order.
Book a Discovery Call to discuss your catch-up bookkeeping needs.
Nathlyne Gboway | Founder
Bookkeeping and tax for individuals and businesses, handled with care.
Based in Edmonton, Alberta, serving small businesses across Alberta and Ontario. Want more bookkeeping and tax insights in your inbox?
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