People treat the $499 like a down payment on mystery work
It is not. The diagnostic is a scoped, read-only review of an existing QuickBooks or Xero file. You get findings with dollar amounts and a fixed quote to finish the rebuild. The $499 credits toward that rebuild if you proceed. If you do not proceed, you still have the report.
Nothing in production starts until you approve the number in writing. That is the whole point. Pricing already says this. What catch-up bookkeeping costs is why I will not publish fake per-year bands instead.
Files with no living software skip the diagnostic and start with a scope call. A banker's box and a dead login are still in scope. They are just a different intake.
What the diagnostic is actually looking at
I am not recategorizing your bank feed for $499. I am answering whether this file can be rebuilt, what is broken, and what it will cost to finish.
Typical findings:
- Which periods do not tie to the bank
- Which accounts exist in the real world but not in the file
- Owner activity, transfers, and uncleared mess that will move the quote
- Whether someone already "cleaned it up" with estimates
- What records are missing before a rebuild can start
You should walk out knowing the shape of the job, not a vibe. If you want to see the statement set a finished year produces, sample deliverables is a monthly pack. A rebuild includes those statements for each reconstructed year.
What happens after you say yes
- You approve the fixed quote. That number is the number.
- We rebuild from bank and card statements, not from what the old file guessed.
- Unsupported items go in a gap report. We never invent a P&L line so the year "looks right."
- A licensed CPA reviews the file before it leaves. That step does not get skipped.
- Your tax preparer stays in the filing seat. We do not prepare returns and we do not contact the IRS.
Reconstructing books from bank statements is the method. Missing records and gap reports is what happens when a month cannot be supported. IRS guidance on records is still the floor on what should exist.
What does not happen after the diagnostic
We do not start a monthly subscription on a file that is two years behind. Close history first. Catch-up vs monthly is the rule.
We do not give you an open-ended hourly bucket. We do not "see how it goes" through October. Sept 15 and Oct 15 are filing deadlines, not a suggestion to begin the books then.
We do not talk to your clients if you are a firm sending the file under white-label. For CPA Firms is that path. If you are the business owner, tax deadline reconstruction is yours.
How long this takes, honestly
It depends on years, account count, and whether statements have to be ordered. I will not put a marketing number on a file I have not seen. That is why the diagnostic exists.
The calendar is the constraint people ignore. IRS filing dates do not slide because the findings report landed on a Thursday. Send records while there is still time for the preparer to file after the rebuild.
If you already know the books are the bottleneck
Do not ask for a rebuild price over email with no records. Do not pay someone to "catch up" month by month without a written scope.
Get the diagnostic, or get on a scope call if there is no software file. Read the findings. Approve the quote. Then the work starts.
Get a reconstruction quote when you are ready to send the file.