Transactions are recorded, bank and ledger balances reconciled, payroll processed with its statutory deductions, and the month closed. You then receive a management report: what was earned, what was spent, what is owed to you and by you, and how the month compares with the last. The point is a set of books that is current, reconciled and usable — not one reconstructed in the week a filing falls due.

Yes. Backlog work runs in two stages. First, reconstruction: bank statements, invoices and registers are gathered and the missing months posted in order. Then a full reconciliation establishes that the catch-up is complete before routine monthly work begins — otherwise old errors simply become the opening balances of new ones. We will tell you at the outset how long the gap should take to close and what we need from you to close it.

Because every filing is eventually checked against them — by the department, if not by you first. Sales in the GST returns should equal sales in the books; deductions in the TDS statements should equal the expense entries behind them. When books lag or diverge, mismatches accumulate silently and surface later as notices. Books kept current make each filing a summary of records that already agree, which is what a filing is supposed to be.

That is a fair distinction. Book-keeping produces the record; reading it — what the margin trend means, where cash is going, whether the business can afford what it plans — is a different discipline. For owners who want that reading every month, with a forecast in front of it and a partner across the table each quarter, the Virtual CFO service exists precisely for the gap between having numbers and using them.