Choosing an accountant in Mission, and what to ask first

Why Mission is a slightly different search

Mission is a District with a business base that is more equipment-heavy and more owner-run than the valley average: forestry and excavation contractors, fabricators, trades crews, and a fast-growing group of home-based companies whose clients are in Abbotsford, Langley or Vancouver. Three things follow from that, and they are worth having in mind before you meet anyone.

• Practices here change hands. Mission has seen more than its share of accounting firms merge, be acquired or wind down as principals retire. A surprising number of owners are not choosing an accountant for the first time; they are choosing again because the one they had disappeared into a larger firm. That changes the questions.
• The work crosses the river. A Mission trades business is often on sites in Maple Ridge, Abbotsford or the Township. Licensing, PST on materials and where payroll sits all follow the work, not the mailing address, and the accountant needs to be used to that.
• The balance sheet is machinery. Excavators, trucks, mills and shop equipment mean capital cost allowance is the largest number on many Mission returns. Getting the class right, and the timing of a purchase against the year end, is worth more than most owners expect.

The questions that separate firms

Every firm will say yes to “do you do corporate tax”. These are the questions where the answers actually differ, and each one has a checkable answer.

Start with the credential. CPA members and public accounting firms in British Columbia are listed in CPABC’s member and firm directories; a minute there confirms that the person and the firm you are talking to are who they say they are.

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

Ask whether a Chartered Professional Accountant prepares and reviews your file, or whether a licensed principal signs what a junior prepared. Neither answer is wrong, but the fee should match the answer. Ask, too, who you will actually speak to in October when a question comes up. If the answer is “whoever is free”, the relationship is with the firm, not with an accountant.

2. Is the fee fixed, and is it in writing before the work starts?

Hourly billing punishes you for asking questions, and a business that is growing needs to ask questions. A fixed annual fee, quoted in writing after a first conversation, is the arrangement that makes it reasonable to call before you buy an excavator rather than after. Ask what the fee covers between filings, and what would change it.

3. What happens if the firm merges or you retire?

This is the Mission question. Ask directly. A good answer names how files are handed over, confirms that your working papers are yours, and does not treat the question as impolite. If you are already on the receiving end of a merger, our guide to what to do when your accounting firm merges or retires covers the handover step by step.

4. Do you know the businesses Mission actually has?

Ask about T5018 subcontractor reporting, holdbacks, WorkSafeBC clearance, the Fraser Valley inter-municipal business licence, and which CCA class a particular machine falls in. You do not need to know the answers; you need to hear that the accountant does, without looking anything up. Our equipment CCA classes guide is the kind of ground a trades-focused firm should be comfortable on.

5. What does switching actually involve?

The honest answer is: authorizing the new accountant with the CRA, one email to the outgoing firm, a copy of the last filed return and financial statements, and a short list of the year’s documents. If a firm describes switching as complicated, ask why. The general list of questions to ask before hiring an accountant applies here as well; these five are the Mission-specific additions.

Where to start

EverStone works with Mission businesses, fifteen minutes down Highway 11, entirely online. There is no Mission office and we would rather say so than imply one. What there is: one CPA on the file, a fixed fee in writing after a free first email exchange, and answers when you ask. The Mission accountant page sets out the services; an enquiry is where the questions above get answered.

Get My Fixed Quote See the fixed fees

Choosing somewhere else? The same questions, with the local specifics, for Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Aldergrove, Vancouver, Victoria and the Fraser Valley.