# Plan a catch-up bookkeeping project for neglected books

Scopes and sequences cleanup of months or years of unreconciled books, with a document list, estimate, and quality checks.

- Topic: Finance & Accounting
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Finance, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/plan-a-catch-up-bookkeeping-project-for-neglected-books

## Prompt

```text
Help me plan catch-up bookkeeping for a business whose books are behind.

**Business:** [type, entity type, size, transaction volume per month]
**How far behind:** [e.g. "nothing reconciled since last March", "last tax return filed for 2023"]
**What exists:** [bank feeds imported but uncategorized / partial spreadsheet / nothing]
**Accounts involved:** [bank, credit cards, loans, merchant processors, payroll]
**Deadline driving this:** [tax filing, loan application, sale of business, investor request]
**Last known good balances:** [e.g. "last filed tax return's balance sheet"]

Plan:
1. Starting point: which balances to anchor to (last filed return or last reconciled period) and how to confirm them.
2. Document list to request from the client, prioritized.
3. Sequence: bank and card reconciliations first, then payment processors and loans, then payroll, then AR/AP and accruals if accrual basis, then review.
4. Common traps: transfers booked as income, loan proceeds booked as revenue, owner personal spending, duplicated bank feed imports, merchant deposits recorded net of fees.
5. Quality checks before handing over: every account reconciled, suspense/uncategorized at zero, balance sheet reasonableness.

Return:
1. A phased work plan with estimated hours per phase (show your assumptions so I can adjust).
2. The client document request list.
3. A short scope paragraph I can put in a quote, with exclusions.
4. Risks to flag to the client up front (e.g. amended returns may be needed - [REFER TO TAX PREPARER]).
```

## What to fill in

- type, entity type, size, transaction volume per month
- bank, credit cards, loans, merchant processors, payroll
- e.g. "last filed tax return's balance sheet"
- REFER TO TAX PREPARER

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