4. Can I get one-time or periodic help from a bookkeeper instead of year-round support? I feel confident doing it and just want someone to look over it.

What occasional support depends on

You can get one-time or occasional bookkeeping help.

The part that determines what that help looks like is the condition of your books when you show up.

If your books aren’t categorized or reconciled yet, I (or any other bookkeeper) can help, but only in specific, technical ways.

Two kinds of help, depending on the state of your books

There are two paths:

1. Your books are categorized and reconciled

   → I can review, explain, clarify, and point out issues.

2. Your books are not categorized or reconciled

   → I can help only with the technical steps needed to get them categorized and reconciled. (I cannot analyze or interpret the numbers yet.)

What this looks like

If your books are not categorized

I can help you work through:

• how to choose the right category

• what to do with tricky transactions

• how to categorize things like owner draws, loan payments, refunds

• what to look for when you’re unsure where something belongs

• how to fix mistakes or recategorize things correctly

But until everything is categorized, the software can’t generate meaningful reports.

So I can’t tell you:

• your profit

• what your business trends look like

• what your numbers mean

• whether your business is doing well

Because the numbers aren’t accurate yet.

If your accounts are not reconciled

I can help you:

• fix beginning balance issues

• clear duplicates

• correct transactions pulled in the wrong way

• resolve bank feed snags

• match credit card payments

• untangle old transactions

• understand why the account won’t balance

If you want deeper clarity, the foundations matter

If the goal is:

• understanding true profit

• knowing what the business is actually earning

• making informed money decisions

• relying on accurate reports

then uncategorized or unreconciled books will hide that information.

Accounting software can only show what’s real after the foundational tasks - categorizing and reconciling - are done.

Until then, the numbers are incomplete and incomplete numbers can’t support meaningful insight.

The Takeaway

One-time or periodic help is possible, but it’s limited by the accuracy of your books.

• If you want review, insight, or understanding, your books have to be categorized and reconciled first.

• If your books aren’t there yet, I can absolutely help, but only with the technical work that gets them ready: categorizing, fixing errors, and resolving reconciliation issues.

This keeps expectations clear and protects you from getting “insight” based on numbers that aren’t accurate.