Bookkeeping and accounting

See the industries we work with, each with its own page.

Every engagement is a flat monthly fee. See our flat monthly fee accounting and what each level includes.

The bookkeeper here is the same CPA firm that prepares the year-end, so nothing is re-coded in March.

The engagement is online, wherever the business is.

What monthly bookkeeping actually buys

Transactions categorized, bank and card accounts reconciled, source documents filed against their entries, and books that close each month instead of being rebuilt each spring. The real output is a year-end that is a review, not an excavation, and numbers available in the month they describe, not nine months later.

Two things make books hold up. Sales tax is tracked as two taxes where two apply: in BC, 5% GST and 7% PST have separate registrations and returns, and one combined account breaks both returns. And owner withdrawals go to one shareholder loan account, not scattered expense codes, so the year-end choice of salary, dividends or repayment is made once, against a correct number. Monthly bookkeeping covers the engagement, and the shareholder loan tracker keeps that account visible.

Payroll is a deadline business, and the liability is personal

A corporation that pays anyone, its owner included, withholds CPP, EI and income tax from each pay and remits on the schedule the CRA sets. T4, T4A and T5 slips are due by the last day of February after the year they cover, with penalties per slip.

What owners often miss: directors can be held personally liable for source deductions the corporation withheld and did not remit. Unlike most corporate debts, it reaches through the company, so remit on schedule, not when cash allows. Payroll services covers running it, and the remittance calendar lists the dates.

Year-end statements, and the level you actually need

Three levels of assurance exist. A compilation engagement under CSRS 4200 is assembled by a CPA from your information and carries no audit or review assurance. A review gives limited assurance; an audit gives reasonable assurance through testing.

For an owner-managed private company with no outside investors or statutory requirement, a compilation is the normal choice. Requests often say “audited financials” when the bank or landlord would accept less. Confirm what is required first; the three levels differ widely in cost. Which engagement you need works through it.

Catch-up work, and what a backlog actually costs

A file two or three years behind is common and fixable. The oldest year closes first, because its closing balances open the next, and GST cannot be filed on figures that later move. Cost depends on the months missing and the state of the records.

Catch-up is quoted separately from the monthly engagement, so you see what clearing the backlog costs before you start. Catch-up bookkeeping sets out how it runs, and the bookkeeping health check shows where a file stands, free.

What the records have to survive

The CRA generally expects business records to be kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. Records tied to selling property or winding up a corporation must be kept longer. Electronic records are fine if readable and complete: a categorized bank feed is not a receipt, but a photo of the receipt is.

It matters the year a review letter arrives. How long to keep business records covers the exceptions, and the audit document checklist lists what is usually requested.