Choosing an accountant in Winnipeg, and what to ask first

Why Winnipeg is a different search

Two things make a Winnipeg search different from one in Alberta or Ontario. The first is the trucking and logistics economy: equipment financing, fuel, per-diem meal claims and owner-operators whose corporation is really a truck and a person. The second is Manitoba’s retail sales tax, which is charged and filed separately from GST and catches businesses that assumed one return covered both.

On top of those sit the ordinary questions every incorporated owner has: how to pay yourself, when to buy equipment, what to hold back, and whether the person who quoted the work is the person doing it. A Winnipeg firm that does trucking work will talk about equipment and per-diems before you ask; a general firm will not.

Distance is not the issue it looks like. Every part of the process is electronic, and the time zone difference from British Columbia is one hour.

The questions that separate firms

1. Do you file RST and GST as two separate returns?

Ask how the retail sales tax is reconciled to sales records, how often both returns are checked against the books, and what the firm does for a business that sells goods across provincial lines. If RST is described as part of GST, keep looking.

2. Have you handled a trucking or equipment-heavy file?

Ask for the last one and what was hard about it: equipment timing, financing, per-diem support, an owner-operator’s pay. A firm that has done the work names something specific.

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

Ask who prepares, who reviews and who signs, and whether that changes. One CPA from first call to filed return is the arrangement that keeps the equipment decisions consistent.

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

Ask for the number before anything begins and what would move it. Transaction volume, the condition of the books, the number of filings and payroll are fair answers. An hourly rate is not.

5. Are questions through the year included?

Whether to buy the next truck this year or next is worth more than the return. Ask whether a call in July is included or billed.

6. What does switching involve?

Authorisation with the CRA, a file request to your previous firm, and work continues from the last filed year-end. Mid-year is fine, and a backlog is quoted separately.

How to compare two Winnipeg quotes

List what each includes: T2, year-end statements, GST and RST as separate filings, payroll and T4s, the owner’s T1, and questions through the year. A quote that does not mention RST for a business selling goods is incomplete.

Then ask what would change the fee and whether you would hear first.

Red flags worth walking away from

• RST folded into GST, or not mentioned for a business that sells goods.
• No experience with equipment financing or per-diem claims on a trucking file.
• A fee described as an estimate, or tied to an hourly rate.
• Equipment and pay decided at year-end from the bank statements.
• Nobody will name the person who prepares and reviews the file.

Where to start

A free thirty-minute conversation covers what the business does, what is filed now and what is overdue, and ends with a fixed fee in writing. EverStone works with Winnipeg clients entirely online from British Columbia.

Book a free consultation See the fixed fees

For Winnipeg specifically: the Winnipeg accounting page, trucking accounting in Winnipeg, Winnipeg contractors, Manitoba tax facts and how switching works.

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