Bookkeeping for Surrey businesses

The books feed every filing that follows: the T2 or T2125, the GST/HST return and its input tax credits, the CCA schedule and the CRA instalments.

What changes when the transaction count rises

A ledger that works at two hundred transactions a month often fails quietly at two thousand. Thoughtful coding becomes pattern coding. Software rules file transactions in categories nobody has reviewed for a year. Duplicates appear when two people capture the same receipt. The bank still reconciles, but expense accounts stop meaning what their names say. At volume, what matters is not entry speed but periodic review of what the automation is doing. Common bookkeeping mistakes covers the pattern.

Subcontractor payments have to accumulate by payee

Construction businesses paying subcontractors generally report on T5018 information returns, which are only as good as the ledger. Payments must build up against a payee record with a business number, not a generic account with a memo name; one person entered three ways makes the total wrong. Set up the record at first payment, not in January. T5018 reporting covers the requirement.

Holdbacks are not ordinary receivables

Holdbacks on a progress claim are owed but not yet payable. Mixed into receivables, they inflate the aged listing with amounts nobody is chasing and hide the ones somebody should be. In their own account, they show what is outstanding, what is retained and when each release is due. They also affect when revenue is recognized. Accounting for holdbacks sets out the treatment.

Payroll posted, not summarized

Where payroll runs in a separate system, the common shortcut posts the net bank withdrawal as one wages entry. That records the cash and loses the gross wage, the source deductions withheld, the employer contributions and the liability owed to the CRA until remitted. Payroll expense is understated, the remittance liability never appears, and the year-end T4 reconciliation cannot be done. Each pay run needs its full journal entry. Payroll remittances covers what to track.

Cards multiply faster than controls

Fuel cards, supply-house accounts and company credit cards each produce transactions without context. Photograph the receipt and note the job or purpose at the point of spend; chasing it a month later works perhaps half the time, and the CRA does not accept a statement line as a receipt. Digital record-keeping requirements covers the archive.

Closing the month so the year end is short

Close monthly, because unresolved items only get harder. Reconcile bank and cards, record unbilled work, agree holdbacks, tie payroll to remittances and check the shareholder account for personal spending. Monthly it is a short routine; at year end it is twelve months of reconstruction. A month-end close checklist sets out the sequence.

One CPA on a Surrey file, from coding to year end

A Surrey file with real volume is coded once, by the person who will prepare the year end from it. EverStone is a fully virtual, one-CPA firm: no Surrey office, no Newton or Cloverdale location and no local staff. Feeds arrive electronically, receipts are captured by phone wherever the work is, and questions are handled by email or a short video call.

The moment there are employees, payroll in Surrey becomes the recurring obligation.

Keeping the books accurately and knowing what they mean are different jobs, and it is worth being deliberate about the difference between recording and reviewing.

For our Surrey GST page, the scope and the fixed-fee approach are the same.

Owners who need the Surrey return engagement and CFO support in Surrey as well will find it on the same terms.