What if your old bookkeeper won't hand over your books?

 If your old bookkeeper won't hand over the books, you can still switch. Your bank and card statements come straight from your bank, and they're what every month is proven against anyway. A new bookkeeper can rebuild the books from your last filed tax return and the statements since. It's slower and priced as catch-up. ZeraBooks takes on rebuilds like this.

It's a stressful spot to be in. Maybe the relationship ended badly. Maybe the bookkeeper simply stopped replying. Or the service you used closed its doors. Either way, you need the books, and the person or company holding them isn't helping.

First, ask once more, in writing

Before rebuilding anything, send one clear, polite written request. List exactly what you want: admin access to the books file if the subscription is in your name, or a full export if it isn't; a trial balance, balance sheet and profit and loss for the last month they finished; the bank and card reconciliation reports for that month; and payroll and sales tax filings. Give a date.

If your books live in a QuickBooks or Xero subscription that's in your name, you may be able to regain access through the software company directly, as the subscription owner. Try that before anything else.

Then work out what you have

Gather what doesn't depend on the old bookkeeper:

• Your last filed business tax return, which gives a balance sheet at that year-end.
• Every bank and card statement since then, as PDFs from online banking.
• Loan statements from each lender.
• Payroll reports from your payroll provider.
• Sales tax, GST or PST returns you've filed, from the tax authority's online account.
• Invoices you sent and bills you received, from email if nowhere else.

That set is usually enough to rebuild.

How the rebuild works

The new bookkeeper starts from the last balance sheet that was filed and checked, often the one on your last tax return. That's the opening position.

Then each month is rebuilt from the statements, in order. The statements chain together: each one's closing balance is the next one's opening balance. A fictional example: if the December 2025 statement for checking closes at 10,200.00, the January 2026 statement must open at 10,200.00. If it doesn't, a statement is missing or a page is. That chain is what lets the rebuild be proven even without the old bookkeeper's work.

Each month's bank and card activity gets categorized, loans get split into principal and interest from the lender statements, payroll gets recorded from the provider's reports, and each account is reconciled to the statement before moving on.

What you lose

Mostly detail. The old bookkeeper may have known that a recurring transfer was a shareholder loan, or that one supplier's invoices were split between two jobs. That knowledge has to come from you now, usually as a short list of questions. Answer them in one sitting and the rebuild moves quickly.

You may also lose attachments, notes and the old audit trail. If the year is already filed, your accountant may prefer the rebuilt books to tie to the filed return at year-end rather than reopening anything.

What it costs

More than a clean handover, less than people fear. It's priced as catch-up: a one-time amount for the months being rebuilt, then the normal monthly fee from there. Get it in writing before work starts.

At ZeraBooks, catch-up is quoted once after a free call, and monthly bookkeeping starts from $150 a month in U.S. dollars. Our team rebuilds on our own ledger, proves every month against your statements to the cent, and gives you a read-only dashboard and an upload portal. We don't use bank feeds; statements come from you.

When the handover does go smoothly, the full list of what to collect and the order of steps is in our guide to switching bookkeepers.

From ZeraBooks, which provides bookkeeping and catch-up services.