For the books that do not fit a monthly close
Special situations
Finbryn handles UK bookkeeping situations a normal monthly close does not cover: years of backlog, missing records, a dormant company under Companies House rules, a wind-down, or several trading entities needing one consolidated view. The work is reviewed by a senior principal, inside Xero or QuickBooks Online, in a file you keep.
Bank reconciliation summary
Illustrative client · August 2026
GBP
| 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.
Bookkeeping for situations, not just months
Most outsourced bookkeeping is built for one thing: a monthly close, on schedule, every time. Special situations sit outside that pattern. A limited company arrives three years behind on its bank reconciliations, or a previous provider stopped answering emails, or a subsidiary has sat dormant since a director moved on to something else. None of that fits a standard onboarding call, so Finbryn scopes each engagement on its own, with its own timeline, before any work starts.
The discipline is the same one we apply to a routine month. Every transaction in a multi-year catch-up or a records reconstruction gets traced back to a bank, card or payment-processor statement, every adjustment gets written down, and the Xero or QuickBooks Online file stays in the client's own name throughout. Nothing here is filed on the company's behalf without a named adviser attached to it.
A dormant company under the Companies Act still owes Companies House a confirmation statement and, in most cases, a Corporation Tax position, even with zero trading activity. Since 1 February 2026 the confirmation statement filing fee itself runs to £50 filed online or £110 on paper, on top of whatever else lapses if the filing is missed. A wind-down carries the same obligations at the other end of a company's life: final accounts, a closing Corporation Tax position, and a Companies House record that has to reconcile before the company is struck off or wound up.
Some of this work touches a Company Tax Return or a VAT filing. Prepared by our team, that return is lodged by a registered agent or your appointed adviser, never by Finbryn directly, and a Corporation Tax return is due at HMRC within 12 months after the end of the accounting period regardless of how the books were kept beforehand.
Businesses running several trading entities, whether franchise units or related companies, get one consolidated view built from clean per-unit books rather than a spreadsheet stitched together at year end; see franchise and multi-entity consolidation. For how a special-situations engagement is scoped, see pricing, or read how it works for what the first weeks actually involve.
All services
Special situations: every service
- Multi-year catch-upBringing several years of unreconciled or missing books current in one structured engagement, scoped and timed before the work starts.
- Records reconstructionRebuilding a business's financial history from bank statements, receipts and other source documents when the original books are incomplete, lost or unreliable.
- Dormant company bookkeepingBookkeeping and reporting for an entity that is registered but not actively trading, so required filings can still be prepared and stay current until it reactivates or winds down.
- Wind-down exit packA structured close-out of the books and records when a business is winding down or dissolving, so the final return, the final state filings and the exit itself all rest on numbers that reconcile.
- Franchise and multi-entity consolidationBookkeeping across multiple franchise units or related entities, each location's books kept separately and then rolled up into one consolidated view.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Special situations
Can you catch up several years of UK bookkeeping at once?
Yes. We scope the engagement by how many backlog periods you have statements for once the accounts and the volume involved are reviewed.
Do you file our overdue Corporation Tax return or VAT return?
We prepare the books and the supporting figures; the return itself is lodged by a registered agent or your appointed adviser, never by us directly.
What happens if a dormant company misses a Companies House filing?
A missed confirmation statement or set of accounts can move a company into bad standing or lead to it being struck off, which is harder to reverse than staying current.
Will you work inside our existing Xero or QuickBooks Online file?
Yes. We work inside the file you already hold rather than asking you to move platforms.
What is out of scope for a special-situations engagement?
We rebuild records, catch up filings-ready books, and prepare dormant or wind-down accounts. We do not decide whether to dissolve a company, negotiate with HMRC on penalties, or file the strike-off or final Corporation Tax return ourselves, since those steps need your own decision or a credentialed signer's action.
What do we receive once a catch-up or wind-down is complete?
A reconciled Xero or QuickBooks Online file covering every period in scope, plus a written summary of what was rebuilt, what remains uncertain, and any figure that differs from an earlier filing. That summary is what a credentialed signer or your accountant needs before anything overdue is lodged.
How is pricing set for catch-up or special-situations work?
Pricing depends on how many periods are behind, how complete the source records are, and whether an overdue filing is time-critical, not a single rate for every project. A scoping review comes first so the quote reflects the actual state of the records, confirmed in your engagement letter.
What access or records do you need to start?
Whatever exists: bank statements, prior software exports, HMRC correspondence and any partial bookkeeping already done. Gaps are expected in a catch-up, and we flag what cannot be reconstructed rather than guessing at a number, so the finished file only contains figures we can support.
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.