Special situations
Multi-year catch-up
Finbryn brings several years of backlog current for businesses operating across the EU, reconciling statements against bank, card and processor records in the currencies you actually trade in, and flagging any OSS or IOSS return periods the backlog touches before your local partner assesses them.
Bank reconciliation summary
Illustrative client · August 2026
EUR
| Account | Difference | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating account··4821 | 184,220.16 | 184,220.16 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Reserve account··0937 | 60,000.00 | 60,000.00 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Company card··1006 | (12,418.52) | (12,418.52) | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Card processor clearing | 8,905.40 | 8,905.40 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Payroll clearing | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
Last weekly runFri, 28 Aug, every account agreed to its statement.
Two open itemsTwo card receipts requested from you, marked on the card account until they arrive.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
A backlog does not stop at a border
A group with an Ireland-registered holding entity and trading activity in Germany, France or the Netherlands often ends up with years of statements nobody reconciled, spread across more than one bank and more than one local GAAP framework. Finbryn scopes the backlog by period and by entity before starting, rather than promising one catch-up date for a group that is really several separate jobs.
Every backlog year gets categorised and reconciled to bank, card and processor statements, with a written adjustments log covering each correction to a prior period. Where the business is OSS or IOSS registered, we flag which quarterly return periods the backlog touches so your local partner can assess whether a historic return needs amending, since the OSS scheme covers cross-border B2C sales above EUR 10,000 a year and IOSS covers imported consignments valued at EUR 150 or less.
Personal data protection for this work runs to the same standard as any current-month engagement, the safeguards set out in our privacy policy, applied from the start rather than added on afterward.
Opening balances are agreed once the backlog closes, so ongoing monthly bookkeeping starts from a clean base rather than carrying an unresolved prior period forward, and a summary memo is written in plain language a lender, investor or your local statutory-accounts partner can read without background. Missing or estimated data is flagged for that partner's review before any historic period is treated as final.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Multi-year catch-up
We trade in several EU countries under one holding entity. Can you still do one catch-up?
Yes, we scope it as one engagement covering every entity and currency involved, though the completion plan is usually staged by entity.
Does catching up change VAT or OSS returns we already filed?
Only where the records show an error, and we flag the affected periods for your local partner to assess before anything gets amended.
Is backlog data protected to the same standard as current work?
Yes. The same safeguards described in our privacy policy apply from the start of a catch-up engagement, not added on afterward.
Do you work period by period, or reconstruct the whole span at once?
We work period by period in chronological order, since a wrong opening balance in an early month distorts every month after it, and closing each period properly before moving on keeps the whole reconstruction sound.
Will a multi-year catch-up change figures a lender or investor has already seen?
If earlier figures shared informally turn out to be materially wrong once reconstructed, we flag that directly so you can decide how to communicate the correction, rather than quietly filing a different set of numbers.
How many years can you catch up at once?
As many as you have statements for. We scope the engagement by backlog period once the accounts and the volume involved are reviewed.
Will catch-up work change numbers you already reported?
Only where the records show an error, and every change is recorded in a written adjustments log you can review.
Do you handle overdue tax filings as part of a catch-up?
We prepare the books and the supporting schedules; a credentialed signer or registered filing partner handles the actual filing.
What is included in multi-year catch-up?
Multi-year catch-up covers every backlog year sorted into categories and reconciled to bank, card and processor statements and a written adjustments log covering each correction made to prior periods. The exact scope is agreed and set out in writing before work starts, so you know precisely what is and is not covered before the first deliverable arrives.
Related services
- BookkeepingCatch-up and cleanup bookkeepingMonths or years of books brought up to date and reconciled, with a written record of every adjustment, so monthly bookkeeping can start from a clean base.
- Special situationsRecords reconstructionRebuilding a business's financial history from bank statements, receipts and other source documents when the original books are incomplete, lost or unreliable.
Industries
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.