Your Books Have Arrived in Emergency.
Maybe you're months behind. The bank no longer reconciles. BAS is overdue, or you don't trust the figures sitting in Xero.
Payroll may have gone wrong. Old balances don't make sense. Transactions may have been changed, deleted or “fixed” so many times that you no longer know what is right.
Or perhaps the simplest explanation is: you know the books are a mess and you don't know where to start.
First, We Work Out What Actually Happened.
You do not have to clean the books up before you bring them to us.
In fact, if you aren't sure what has gone wrong, we'd rather you didn't start making changes just to make things look better.
We start with the records as they are and work through the problems in the right order.
The aim is to get you back to books that reconcile, reports you can rely on and a bookkeeping system you understand again.
Before We Fix Anything, We Check the Vital Signs.
When your books arrive in Emergency, the first job is not to start changing things.
We need to understand what is actually happening in the file.
That means looking at the areas most likely to tell us whether the bookkeeping is stable, whether there are isolated problems, or whether the issues run much deeper.
Think of this as triage. We are working out what needs attention first before Kee begins treatment.
Tell us what you know. We'll follow the records from there.
Sometimes Your Books Are Healthier Than You Think.
You might arrive convinced that everything is completely broken.
Sometimes it is not.
A handful of transactions, one unfinished reconciliation or a balance that has been carried forward incorrectly can make the entire file feel much worse than it actually is.
Other times, the symptoms are telling us that the problem has been building for much longer.
We look at the records.
🏦 The Bank Doesn't Reconcile 🐰
If it doesn't, we need to establish why before relying on the reports sitting above it.
The cause might be duplicated transactions, deleted payments, incorrect matches, unreconciled items or something that happened much earlier in the file.
📑 BAS Is Overdue or Doesn't Look Right 🐰
If a BAS has already been lodged and you later discover errors, the answer is not necessarily to push everything into the next period.
We need to identify which transactions and periods are actually affected.
🐉 Payroll Has Attracted Pyro 🐰
Pay runs, STP, PAYG withholding, superannuation and the payroll accounts should all tell the same story.
If they don't, we identify the difference and start working out where Pyro got in.
The objective is to fix the payroll problem and banish the dragon.
🧾 The Transaction Exists but the Paperwork Doesn't 🐰
We look at what evidence is available: digital copies, emails, supplier portals, bank records and other source documents.
Where records can be reconstructed, we work from the evidence that exists.
📊 You Don't Trust the Reports 🐰
If the bank, payroll, GST, loans, clearing accounts or Balance Sheet are wrong, the reports may not be telling you what you think they are.
We fix the bookkeeping underneath before asking you to trust the reports above it.
🩹 Someone Already “Fixed” It 🐰
A transaction gets changed to make one balance look right. Then another problem appears. Somebody changes something else.
Eventually, the original problem is buried underneath several layers of repairs.
We need to work backwards and understand what actually happened rather than adding another fix on top of the others.
You might only know: “The numbers don't make sense anymore.”
That's enough to start. Bunny has taken the vital signs. Next, Kee starts the diagnosis.
Now We Find Out What Actually Went Wrong.
Bunny has finished triage. Now Kee needs to get underneath the symptoms and find the cause.
This is where bookkeeping rescue becomes more than simply catching up a pile of transactions.
If something doesn't reconcile, we want to know why. If a balance is wrong, we want to know when it became wrong. And if somebody has already tried to fix it, we need to understand what they changed before we change anything else.
Making a number disappear is not the same thing as fixing the bookkeeping.
What Is Kee Trying to Find?
You don't have to answer all of these questions yourself.
These are the questions we ask of the bookkeeping records.
You might not know why the Balance Sheet is wrong. You might not know which transaction broke the reconciliation. You may not even know how far back the problem goes.
That's okay. That's what the diagnosis is for.
Your Books Don't Get a Treatment Plan Until We Know What Is Wrong.
By this point, Bunny has completed triage and Kee has started working out what is actually happening in your books.
Now we can decide what needs fixing, what needs investigating and what should be left alone.
Your treatment plan depends on what we find in your file. It isn't based on a generic checklist of things we think every business needs.
The important thing is that we don't start performing bookkeeping surgery simply because the patient has arrived at the hospital.
Bank Reconciliation Repair 🐰
Treatment may include:
- tracing unreconciled transactions;
- identifying duplicated or deleted entries;
- checking incorrect matches;
- comparing the accounting records with bank statements; and
- restoring the reconciliation from the last reliable point.
BAS & GST Treatment 🐰
We don't simply move an old problem into the current BAS because that is the easiest place to put it.
Albert likes the right numbers in the right period. Preferably while he still has a pink donut.
Payroll Rescue 🐰
That can include:
- pay runs;
- STP reporting;
- PAYG withholding;
- superannuation;
- payroll clearing accounts; and
- payments actually made from the bank.
If they aren't telling the same story, we find out why.
Bookkeeping Clean-Up 🐰
In that case, treatment may be a targeted clean-up rather than a full rescue.
Not every patient needs intensive care.
Historical Bookkeeping Rescue 🐰
From there, we can work forward carefully rather than trying to repair years of bookkeeping all at once.
Balance Sheet & Report Repair 🐰
We work underneath it.
Bank accounts, loans, payroll, GST, clearing accounts and other Balance Sheet items may need to be checked first.
Reliable reports come from reliable books.
🐉 And If We Find Pyro?
Then we don't feed him and hope he goes away.
Pyro appears when payroll errors have made their way into the books. If we find his footprints, we trace the payroll problem back to its source.
Find the error. Repair the records. Banish Pyro.
If we need information, we'll tell you what we're looking for. If something doesn't make sense, we'll explain why we're investigating it.
And if we find something that changes the scope of the rescue, you should know about it before we simply charge ahead.
Now comes the part that matters most: actually repairing the books without creating another problem somewhere else.
💚 Kee is taking the patient into treatment.
Time to Start Repairing Your Books.
We know what the symptoms are. We have investigated where they came from. Now Kee can start treatment.
This is the point where we begin correcting the bookkeeping itself.
But there is an important rule in this room: we don't change something just because it looks strange.
Every correction needs a reason. Otherwise we risk fixing one number while quietly breaking another one somewhere else.
🏦 Rebuild the Reconciliation 🐰
We may need to correct matches, restore missing transactions, deal with duplicates or work backwards to the last point that reconciled.
The goal is not a green tick. The goal is a correct reconciliation.
🧾 Repair the Transaction History 🐰
We follow the available records and correct what can be supported.
We don't invent a transaction simply because a balance would look nicer with one there.
📊 Repair the Balance Sheet 🐰
We may need to investigate clearing accounts, loans, payroll liabilities, GST accounts, old receivables and other balances.
We want to know what a balance represents before deciding what to do with it.
🕰️ Repair the Right Period 🐰
Where the timing matters, we identify when the transaction or error actually occurred.
That becomes particularly important when BAS, GST, payroll or previously reported periods are involved.
🍩 BAS Mentioned. Albert Has Entered the Room.
Albert doesn't need to be frightening. He just becomes considerably more interested when the treatment involves GST, BAS or previously lodged figures.
If we find an error connected to an earlier BAS, we work out which period the problem belongs to before deciding how it should be corrected.
Right transaction. Right treatment. Right period.
Pink donut supplies remain adequate. Albert may stay.
🐉 Oh No. We Found Pyro.
If the problem involves payroll errors, Pyro may already have left scorch marks through more than one part of the books.
A payroll problem can affect the pay run, STP, PAYG withholding, superannuation, payroll liabilities and the payment sitting in the bank.
So we don't just fix the first thing Pyro burned.
We follow his trail.
Find where the error began. Repair every affected record. Then banish the dragon.
Not Everything Strange Needs Surgery.
This matters.
Sometimes a balance looks unusual because nobody has explained what it represents. Sometimes a transaction is correct even though it wasn't coded the way you expected.
And sometimes the safest treatment is to leave something alone until we have enough information to know what it is.
Bookkeeping rescue is not a competition to see how many transactions we can change.
If we need an invoice, bank statement, payroll record or explanation from you, we'll ask for it.
You may know something about a transaction that isn't obvious from the accounting file. That information can be important.
This is your business. We're repairing its financial story with you, not disappearing behind a curtain and handing you back a mysterious set of numbers.
The bank is beginning to reconcile. The strange balances are starting to make sense. Albert has his donut. Pyro is being shown the door.
But before your books can leave the hospital, there is one more thing we need to know:
are they healthy enough to go home?
Are Your Books Healthy Enough to Go Home?
Treatment is not finished just because the file looks cleaner.
Before your books leave Emergency & Rescue, we want to know that the work completed actually makes sense and that you are not being handed back another mystery.
Can the books be relied on again? Can you understand what was fixed? And do we know what, if anything, still needs attention?
Discharged Does Not Mean “Nothing Will Ever Go Wrong Again.”
Your business will keep moving. New transactions will happen. Payroll will run again. BAS will come around again. Ook will continue making decisions.
Healthy books are not books that never need attention.
They are books where problems are spotted early, understood properly and dealt with before they become another emergency.
What Happens After Emergency & Rescue?
Once the books are stable, the next step depends on your business and how much help you want going forward.
The aim is to get your books back to a place where you understand what is happening, you can trust the numbers, and the next bookkeeping problem does not automatically become an emergency.
🩺 Patient Status: Improving.
The vital signs are stronger. The records are making sense again. Albert has returned to his pink donut. Pyro has been escorted out of the payroll department.
And your books are almost ready to leave Emergency & Rescue.
Next stop: your discharge summary.
