Accountant for Prince George manufacturers and fabricators

For a one-owner manufacturing or fabrication corporation, monthly bookkeeping starts from $300 a month, with GST and PST filing included. With payroll and the year-end T2 with statements, the bundle usually runs $450 to $650 a month; larger shops are quoted after a free consultation. See the published fees.

Making things in a forestry and resource town

Manufacturing in Prince George grew around the mills and the bush. Some shops turn lumber into trusses, panels, pallets or millwork. Others fabricate and repair the steel that sawmills, pulp mills, mines and logging contractors run on. Many do custom one-off work to a customer’s drawing, often in a hurry because a line is down.

That kind of work is uneven and job-based. Revenue depends on a few large customers in cyclical industries. Material costs swing with steel and lumber prices. The books have to show margin by job and by customer, so you know which work pays and which only keeps the shop busy.

Inventory is a tax number, not just a stock number

Steel, lumber, fasteners, hydraulic parts and finished goods on the shelf at year-end are not expenses yet. They are inventory, valued at the lower of cost and market, and they come off your deductions until they are sold. Work in progress on a job that straddles year-end is inventory too.

A shop that writes off every material purchase as it buys it will report a loss in a year it bought heavily and a large profit the next. A year-end count, valued properly, puts each year on its own footing. We set up how the count is done and how WIP is measured, then use the same method every year. The year-end inventory count and inventory accounting in BC explain both.

Production equipment and the machine you eventually replace

A press brake, a plasma table, a CNC mill, a planer or a kiln is a capital asset. Machinery used to manufacture or process goods for sale generally qualifies for a faster CCA class than ordinary equipment. Forklifts, trucks and shop buildings have their own classes. The half-year rule generally limits the first-year claim.

Buying before year-end starts the deduction sooner, but buy because the shop needs the machine. When it is sold or traded, the proceeds come off the class and can produce recapture. Lenders financing the next machine will want statements that show the asset register cleanly. Equipment CCA classes lists the common ones, and expensing for manufacturing buildings covers the newer building rules.

PST on what you make and what you buy

BC PST runs on both sides of a manufacturer’s business. On sales, finished goods sold to a customer are generally subject to 7% PST, unless the buyer is exempt or the goods are being resold. On purchases, BC offers a PST exemption for qualifying production machinery and equipment used by manufacturers. Many shops pay PST they did not have to because nobody claimed it at purchase.

Fabrication adds a twist. If you install what you make into a building or a mill structure, you may be a contractor for that part of the job, paying PST on materials rather than charging it. We review what you actually sell and buy against the rules, then build it into your invoicing. The BC PST guide covers the basics.

Costing a job properly, before you quote it

A shop that quotes from memory loses money on the jobs it is busiest with. Job costing tracks material, direct labour and machine time to each job, then adds a share of shop overhead: rent, power, consumables and supervision. At the end you see what the job actually cost against what you charged.

Once a few months of real costs are in, quoting gets faster and safer. You know your shop rate, your material markup and which customers pay for rush work. Pricing and margin analysis shows how we turn the books into quoting numbers.

Selling to mills, mines and larger customers

Large industrial customers bring steady work and their own rules. They issue purchase orders, require insurance and WorkSafeBC good standing, and pay through their own systems on longer terms. A shop doing well can run short of cash waiting on a few large invoices.

We keep receivables by customer, reconcile statements monthly and plan cash around actual payment dates. GST is owed when you invoice, so the return comes due before the customer pays. Input tax credits on steel, parts and power come back on the same return. Cash flow management covers the forecast, and mining services accounting covers shops that also work on site.

SR&ED, wages and the corporate return

A shop that develops a new fixture, process or product to solve a technical problem may qualify for SR&ED, claimed on Form T661. A Canadian-controlled private corporation can earn an enhanced refundable credit. The claim depends on records made while the work happens: what was uncertain, what was tried, and who worked on it.

The rest of the T2 follows the normal pattern. Active business income up to the $500,000 limit uses the small business deduction. Owner pay is set as salary, dividends or a mix, with T4 or T5 slips by the end of February. Corporate tax in Prince George covers the details, and payroll in Prince George covers the shop crew.

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone is a one-CPA firm based in Abbotsford, serving Prince George manufacturers remotely. There is no Prince George office. Supplier invoices, count sheets and timesheets come in through a secure upload link. Questions go by email, with a video call when it helps. Your fee is fixed before any work starts, and the same CPA keeps the books and prepares the return. Inventory and capital cost tracking are maintained through the year rather than counted once.