Quick answer: QuickBooks — or Wave, or Xero — keeps the ledger, and if it is reconciled you have done the hard part. What software does not do: file the T2, prepare statements a lender accepts, decide how to pay yourself, or answer the CRA’s letters. We work on top of the software you already run — you keep the books, we do the CPA layer.
What you already have, and what is missing
Software-run books fail in two spots, reliably. First, the judgement entries software will not make alone — asset treatment, the shareholder loan, accruals at year-end. Second, everything that is a filing rather than a ledger: the T2, the slips on the slip clock, elections with deadlines. The monthly record can be excellent while the corporation quietly misses things software never claimed to watch.
How the arrangement works
- You keep doing what works. Accountant access to your file — no migration, no new subscription, no re-keying.
- We review and adjust at year-end, post the entries back properly, and produce the statements and T2 from books we have actually examined.
- In-year, you get answers — the “can I deduct this” and “what does this letter mean” questions land with a CPA instead of a forum. Fixed fees, so asking costs nothing.
- If the file is behind or messy, catch-up is scoped once, separately, before anything starts.
The honest version of “do I even need this?”
A sole proprietor with simple affairs may genuinely not — software plus a diligent owner covers a lot. The line moves at incorporation: a corporation has filings, deadlines and owner-compensation mechanics where the software-only setup starts leaking money, usually invisibly. If you are incorporated and software-only, the free consult is us looking at your actual file and telling you which side of that line you are on.
Common questions
Do I have to move my books to you?+
My QuickBooks is a mess. Does that disqualify me?+
Can you just answer questions without taking the year-end?+
Which software do you support?+
Keep the software. Add the CPA.
A free consult with your actual file on screen — and a straight answer about whether you need us at all.
Book an intro callinfo@everstonecpa.com