Accounting recovery
Catch-Up Bookkeeping South Africa
Reconstruct reliable books before overdue tax, funding, audit or management deadlines become more costly.
A backlog is rarely just missing data entry. By the time books are months or years behind there are usually unfiled returns, penalties accruing, and a tax position nobody can quantify, which is exactly why it feels impossible to start.
We work backwards to the last reliable position, rebuild forward from there in sequence, and deal with the filings the backlog was hiding. The point is a defensible position, not just a tidy ledger.
Who this is for
Built around your operating reality
- Companies several months behind
- Businesses with accountant transitions
- Entities facing SARS queries
- Companies preparing for finance
What we deliver
A controlled, documented service
- Backlog and document assessment
- Transaction capture or import
- Bank and ledger reconciliation
- Duplicate and error cleanup
- Outstanding-item schedule
- Handover into monthly accounting
Common situations
What usually prompts the call
- SARS has issued penalties or a final demand
- A funder, buyer or landlord has asked for financials you cannot produce
- The bookkeeper left and nobody picked it up
- Several years of returns are outstanding
- A Tax Compliance Status request has failed
- The business has been trading fine but the admin never kept up
Find the last reliable position first
Rebuilding forward from a wrong starting point produces a tidy set of books that are still wrong. So the first step is establishing the last date where the records genuinely agreed, usually the last signed financial statements or the last properly reconciled bank position.
Everything after that point is rebuilt in sequence. It is slower to start than diving into data capture, and considerably faster to finish.
The backlog is usually hiding filings
Books that are two years behind normally mean VAT returns estimated or unfiled, provisional tax guessed, EMP501 reconciliations that never balanced and an ITR14 outstanding. Administrative penalties may have been accruing monthly the whole time.
Reconstructing the accounting without addressing the filings solves the visible half of the problem. We scope both, because the penalties keep running while the ledger is being tidied.
How the work is sequenced
Chronological order is not optional: each period opens on the previous one’s closing balances, so periods cannot be done in parallel or picked off in a convenient order.
- Establish the last reliable closing position
- Reconstruct source documents and bank data for the gap
- Rebuild each period in sequence, reconciling as we go
- Quantify the tax exposure the backlog was concealing
- File outstanding returns and address penalties
- Hand over onto a normal monthly cycle
Disclosure is usually better than discovery
Where the backlog has created a real tax exposure, approaching SARS deliberately generally produces a better outcome than waiting to see whether it is noticed. Remission of penalties is far easier to argue where the taxpayer came forward and the returns are already correct.
We quantify the exposure before deciding on an approach, so the decision is made with the number in front of you rather than in the dark.
Clear steps and responsibilities
Secure source records
Process by controlled periods
Reconcile and investigate
Sign off and stabilise
Learn from other people’s mistakes
Where catch-up projects go wrong
Starting from the wrong opening balance
Everything built on it inherits the error, and the work has to be redone once the discrepancy finally surfaces.
Fixing the books but not the filings
The penalties carry on accruing regardless of how good the ledger now looks.
Doing the easy periods first
Periods depend on each other. Out-of-sequence work has to be reworked.
No handover plan
A backlog cleared without a monthly process in place simply rebuilds itself over the following year.
Getting started
What we need to scope the work
We scope from what exists rather than what should exist. Gaps are normal, identifying them is part of the job.
- Bank statements covering the whole backlog period
- The last set of signed financial statements
- Whatever accounting records exist, in any state
- SARS statements of account across all tax types
- Any SARS correspondence, penalty notices or demands
- Payroll records for the period, if staff were employed
Frequently asked questions
What to know before you begin
If your situation is not covered here, ask, the answer usually turns on facts a page cannot know.
How far back can you work? +
That depends on available records, systems and the purpose of the reconstruction.
Can missing records be estimated? +
Unsupported assumptions are not a substitute for evidence. Gaps are documented and treated appropriately.
Will this fix SARS compliance? +
It creates the records needed; returns, disputes and payments are separate workstreams.
How far back can you go? +
As far as the records allow. Where documents are genuinely missing we reconstruct from bank data and third-party records, and we document what was reconstructed rather than presenting an estimate as fact.
Will we be penalised for coming forward? +
Penalties may already exist for the outstanding returns. Remission can be requested, and a taxpayer who came forward with correct returns is in a materially better position than one SARS found first.
How long does a catch-up take? +
It depends entirely on how complete the records are and how many periods are involved. We scope it after reviewing what exists rather than quoting a timeline up front that we would only have to revise.
Talk to M&J about accounting recovery
Tell us where you are and what is outstanding. We will come back with a scope and a clear next step rather than a generic quote.
- Backlog and document assessment
- Transaction capture or import
- Bank and ledger reconciliation
Prefer to talk? +27 87 078 2478
Request a consultation
An M&J consultant will come back to you with the next step.