Choosing an accountant in Langley, and what to ask first

Why Langley is a different search

The first thing Langley owners notice is that the search itself returns two places, the City and the Township, and a great many firms that serve both from Surrey or further west. The address matters less than it looks; the work is electronic. What matters is whether the firm has seen a business like yours.

Langley’s mix produces three distinct accounting problems. Retailers and dealerships carry inventory that has to be counted and valued at year-end, with PST tied to point-of-sale records. Breweries and food producers carry work in progress, a category a reseller never has. And the incorporated professionals who work for one main client carry personal services business risk, where the CRA can deny the small business deduction and most expenses if the corporation looks like an employee in disguise.

A general firm may be fine on the first and thin on the other two. The questions below are designed to find out which.

The questions that separate firms

1. How do you value inventory and work in progress at year-end?

For a retailer or dealership, ask how the year-end count is reconciled to the books and how obsolete stock is handled. For a brewery or food producer, ask how work in progress is valued. The answer should be specific and should come from someone who has done it. If the firm suggests inventory is "whatever the system says", the year-end will be wrong in a way that compounds.

2. Do you know what a personal services business is, and will you tell me if I am one?

A Langley professional billing one client through a corporation should hear the letters PSB in the first conversation, unprompted. Ask what the firm does to assess the risk, what the signs are, and what changes if the CRA takes that view. A firm that has not raised it is not looking.

3. Who does the work, and who signs it?

The person you meet and the person who prepares your file are often different, and in a busy season the second changes. Ask for names. A one-CPA arrangement, where the same person sees the file from the first call to the filed return, is the only structure that builds memory about your business.

4. Is the fee fixed, in writing, before work starts?

Ask for the number in writing before anything begins and ask what would change it. The right answer names transaction volume, the condition of the books, the number of filings and payroll. If the answer mentions an hourly rate, the fee is not fixed.

5. Are questions through the year included?

The decisions that save tax happen before the year-end: how you pay yourself, whether a bonus is accrued, when equipment is bought. Ask whether a call in July is part of the engagement or a billable event.

6. What does switching involve?

You authorise the new accountant with the CRA, the new firm requests your file, and work picks up from the last filed year-end. You do not need to wait for a year-end. If the books are behind, catch-up is quoted separately so you can see the cost before committing.

How to compare two Langley quotes

Write down what each quote includes: the T2, year-end statements, GST and PST, payroll and T4s, the owner’s T1, questions through the year. For a business with inventory, check whether the year-end count and any adjustments are inside the fee. A lower number that leaves those out is not lower.

Then ask each firm the PSB question if it applies to you, and compare the answers. The firm that engages with it is the one thinking about your tax rather than your return.

Red flags worth walking away from

• No plan for the year-end inventory count on a retail or dealership file.
• The PSB risk is never mentioned to a single-client professional corporation.
• A fee described as an estimate, or tied to an hourly rate.
• PST treated as part of GST, or not mentioned for a business that sells goods.
• You cannot get a name for the person who will prepare and review the file.

Where to start

A free thirty-minute conversation about what the business does and what is filed now ends with a fixed fee in writing. The work runs online from Abbotsford, in either the City or the Township, and nothing starts until you say so.

Book a free consultation See the fixed fees

For Langley specifically: the Langley accounting page, professional corporations in Langley, inventory businesses in Langley, Langley contractors and the personal services business risk check.

Choosing somewhere else? The same questions, with the local specifics, for Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Aldergrove, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Mission and the Fraser Valley.