Accountant for Toronto agencies and studios

Project revenue that does not match the invoice date

Retainers, staged deliverables and milestone billing all pull revenue away from the date the invoice goes out. A studio that bills 50% up front on a six-month build has not earned that money on the day it lands. Getting the cut-off right at year-end is what keeps the return defensible and stops a profitable-looking year turning into a tax bill on money that was really a deposit. It also matters for planning — you cannot decide on a bonus or a dividend against a number that is really deferred revenue.

Your contractor roster is a classification question

Most agencies scale with freelancers rather than staff, and that is where exposure builds quietly. The line between a contractor and an employee is decided on the substance of the relationship — control over how and when work is done, who supplies tools, whether the worker can profit or lose, whether they can send a substitute — not on the label in the agreement. Getting it wrong means CPP and EI exposure with interest and penalties. Our worker classification guide sets out the tests.

The mirror image applies to your own corporation: an incorporated creative billing one agency for most of a year sits in personal services business territory.

HST when your clients are not all in Ontario

A Toronto agency billing clients in BC, Alberta and the US is applying more than one rule at once. The rate that applies generally follows the place of supply rather than where your desk is, and exported services can be treated differently again. Most agencies get this approximately right and discover the gap during a review. We set the billing rules up once, correctly, and reconcile them through the year rather than at year-end.

Equipment, software and what is actually deductible

Cameras, workstations, editing suites and studio fit-outs are capital assets recovered through capital cost allowance rather than deducted outright, at a rate set by each asset’s class. Subscription software is generally a current expense instead. The distinction is worth getting right because it changes both this year’s deduction and what happens when you replace the gear. See our CCA classes guide.

Growing from freelancer to studio

The move from billing as an individual to running a studio with a payroll changes the file more than most owners expect, and it usually happens gradually enough that nobody stops to redo the structure. Once you carry staff you have source deductions on a remittance schedule, year-end slips, and a genuine distinction between what the business earns and what you draw. Once you carry contractors at scale you have classification exposure that grows with every month a freelancer works exclusively for you. And once you carry both, the salary-versus-dividend question stops being theoretical, because you now have a real choice about how much profit stays in the corporation to fund the next hire or the next equipment cycle.

None of that is a reason to stay small. It is a reason to make the structural decisions deliberately rather than discovering them at year-end. We map the position each year against what you actually drew and what the studio actually needs, so the answer reflects this year rather than the year you incorporated. See the post-incorporation checklist for the groundwork.

Moving accountants without disrupting a live project

Agencies put off switching because the timing never looks good — there is always a build in flight or a year-end approaching. In practice the handover happens in the background and does not touch delivery. We request your prior records and the previous firm’s working papers, review the last filed return so the opening balances are right, and pick up the compliance calendar from wherever it stands. Your prior-year filings do not disappear because you moved, and a mid-year switch is normal rather than awkward.

The one thing worth timing deliberately is a change close to year-end, where it is usually cleaner to let the current year finish first unless the current arrangement is actively causing problems. See switching accountants for how the handover runs, and your first 90 days for what happens after.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• T2 corporate return and year-end financial statements
• Project revenue cut-off reviewed at year-end
• Contractor-versus-employee positions documented defensibly
• HST registration, place-of-supply rules and filings
• CCA schedules for equipment and studio assets
• Salary-versus-dividend planning each year
• CRA correspondence handled for you

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone is an Abbotsford CPA firm and the engagement runs entirely online — video calls, secure document exchange and e-signature. For a Toronto studio that means no office visit and no hourly meter: the fee is agreed before work begins, so a question about a new retainer in August does not arrive with an invoice attached. See what it costs.