What we do, and what it actually gets you
Five things, done every month, on CRA's calendar rather than yours. Below is what each one covers, what it actually gets you, and — just as important — the specific work we will not do, because a bookkeeping firm that pretends to be an accounting firm is a liability dressed as a convenience.
We do monthly bookkeeping, GST/HST filing, payroll, catch-up work on books that have fallen behind, and the year-end package your accountant needs. The result you are buying is simple: your filings land on their due dates, and your accountant starts from clean numbers instead of a box.
We do not do tax planning, salary-versus-dividends decisions, incorporation structure, Voluntary Disclosures Program applications, or anything requiring an audit or review engagement. Those go to an accountant, and we will say so rather than improvise.
What we do
-
Monthly bookkeeping
Every bank and credit card account is reconciled every month, so a duplicated supplier payment or a missing deposit surfaces in April while you can still get the money back — not in the following February when your accountant finds it and nobody remembers what it was.
Transactions are coded consistently against a chart of accounts we agree at the start, which means your month-to-month numbers are actually comparable, so you can see a cost drifting upward instead of discovering it at year-end.
You get a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet each month, so you are making decisions on this month's numbers rather than on a hunch and a bank balance. The monthly bookkeeping checklist built around CRA's calendar shows the work in full.
-
GST/HST filing
We prepare and file your return on your period's actual due date — not "prepare it and send it to you," which is where most returns go late. Filing on time means you stop paying CRA's prescribed interest, currently 7% on overdue GST/HST, for the privilege of being busy.
Input tax credits are claimed against source documents that meet CRA's information requirements, so if the claim is ever reviewed there is a supplier invoice behind it and the credit holds up instead of being reversed with interest.
We confirm your reporting period against your annual taxable supplies rather than assuming, so you file monthly, quarterly or annually on the schedule that actually applies. When your GST/HST return is actually due sets out the rules.
-
Payroll
Pay runs are processed with source deductions calculated correctly, so employees are paid the right net amount and you are not discovering an under-deduction at year-end when it is your problem to fix rather than theirs.
Remittances go in against your CRA remitter type and its due dates, which keeps you out of the late-remitting penalty — 3% at one to three days late, rising to 10% past a week. Payroll remittance due dates and what late costs explains how to find your type.
T4 slips and the summary are filed by the last day of February, so you avoid the late-filing penalty, which starts at $100 even for a single slip.
-
Catch-up and clean-up
If you are months or years behind, we rebuild the periods from bank statements and source documents and get you current, so you can find out what you actually owe instead of guessing at it while interest runs.
Where returns were filed on estimates, or not filed, we produce the corrected numbers your accountant needs to fix the filings — so the problem gets closed properly rather than carried forward another year. What catch-up bookkeeping costs when you are behind covers the process and the cost of waiting.
Catch-up is quoted as its own project, separate from monthly work, so the price is fixed before we start and you are not watching an hourly meter run on a mess of unknown size.
-
Year-end preparation for your accountant
You get a reconciled trial balance with supporting schedules — bank reconciliations, accounts receivable and payable listings, loan and shareholder loan continuity, GST/HST filed versus recorded — so your accountant starts on tax work instead of billing you to sort receipts.
Discrepancies get chased and resolved before the file goes over, which means fewer questions coming back to you in the middle of your own busy season.
The package follows what accountants actually ask for, listed on what your accountant needs from you at year-end, so nothing goes across half-finished.
Sources: CRA, penalties for late remitting or failure to remit, CRA page updated 2026-06-11; CRA, prescribed interest rates — the 7% rate applies to Q3 and Q4 of 2026 and is reset quarterly; CRA, RC4120, employers' guide to filing the T4 slip and summary, CRA page updated 2026-01-06.
Where a bookkeeper stops and an accountant starts
These are different jobs with different qualifications behind them. Bookkeeping is an unregulated profession in Canada — there is no licence and no mandatory exam — which is exactly why a bookkeeper should be explicit about the boundary rather than trading on the ambiguity.
| A bookkeeper | An accountant |
|---|---|
| Records and codes transactions | Advises on how a transaction should be treated for tax |
| Reconciles bank, credit card and loan accounts | Prepares and files the corporate or personal tax return |
| Prepares and files GST/HST returns | Plans the structure that determines what you file at all |
| Runs payroll and remits source deductions | Decides whether you should be paid salary or dividends |
| Produces monthly statements and a year-end package | Performs audit, review and compilation engagements |
| Keeps you on CRA's filing calendar | Represents you on assessments, objections and disclosures |
What we refer out, every time
If you ask us any of the following, the honest answer is a referral, and you will get it in the first conversation rather than after we have taken the work:
- Tax planning. Anything that starts "what's the most tax-efficient way to…" belongs with a designated accountant or a tax adviser.
- Salary versus dividends. It depends on your personal situation, your province and your plans, and it is not a bookkeeping decision.
- Incorporation strategy. Whether to incorporate, when, and how to structure ownership.
- Voluntary Disclosures Program applications. The relief available differs depending on whether a disclosure is unprompted or prompted, and the eligibility and completeness conditions are strict. We will produce the corrected numbers; the application itself belongs with an accountant or a tax lawyer. CRA sets out the current rules on the changes to the Voluntary Disclosures Program effective 2025-10-01.
- Audit, review or compilation engagements. These require a designated professional. If your bank or a funder is asking for one, you need an accounting firm, not us.
- Anything where the right answer is that you do not need us. If you have twenty transactions a month and no payroll, we will tell you to keep doing it yourself and come back when it stops being manageable.
One thing does not get referred out: the responsibility. CRA's record-keeping obligations sit with the business owner. Your records have to be kept at your place of business or your residence in Canada unless CRA gives you written permission otherwise, and the retention period runs against you — generally six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to. We hold and maintain them; we do not take that duty off you, and no bookkeeper can.
Source: CRA, where to keep your records and how long to keep them, CRA page updated 2026-08-03.
How pricing works
Monthly work is a fixed monthly fee against a written scope, so you can budget it and the number does not move when a month is busy. Catch-up work is quoted separately as a project, because it is a different job with a different amount of unknown in it.
Work that genuinely cannot be scoped in advance — an ad-hoc question, a piece of one-off help alongside someone who does the day-to-day themselves — is $120 an hour for Kelly Lao's time. Ongoing bookkeeping is deliberately not sold that way: an hourly bill goes up in exactly the months your records are worst, which is when you can least afford a surprise.
We cannot quote you from a website, and neither can anyone else honestly. The fee depends on how many bank and credit card accounts there are, your monthly transaction volume, whether GST/HST and payroll are inside the scope, whether you carry inventory or foreign currency, and how current the file is. Send us those five things and you get a real number instead of a range that gets revised later.
For what drives a quote up or down, the three pricing models, and the only independently sourced wage data in this market, see what a bookkeeper costs in Canada, with the numbers sourced. If you are collecting quotes from several firms, how to check that a bookkeeper is who they say they are lists the questions that matter more than the price.
Get a fixed monthly number you can budget against
Tell us your account count, a month of transaction volume, and whether you need GST/HST and payroll. You get a written scope and a fixed fee — so you know what is included before you commit, and your filings stop depending on how busy you are.
Questions people actually ask
What does a bookkeeping service actually include?
Ours includes monthly reconciliation of every bank and credit card account, consistent transaction coding, monthly profit and loss and balance sheet statements, GST/HST preparation and filing on your due date, payroll with source deductions and remittances, and a year-end package for your accountant. Catch-up work on books that have fallen behind is quoted separately as its own project. What is not included is anything that needs an accountant, including tax planning, salary-versus-dividends decisions, incorporation structure and audit or review engagements. Everything in scope goes in a written engagement before work starts.
Do you file my GST/HST return, or just prepare it?
We prepare it and file it, on your period's actual due date. That distinction matters more than it sounds, because a return that is prepared and then sent to you to submit is the most common way a filing goes late. Filing on time keeps you clear of CRA's prescribed interest on overdue GST/HST, which is 7% for the third and fourth quarters of 2026 and is reset every quarter. We also confirm your reporting period against your annual taxable supplies rather than assuming the one you have always used.
Can you fix books that are two years behind?
Yes, and that is one of the five things we do. We rebuild the missing periods from bank statements and source documents, reconcile them, and get the file current so you know what you actually owe rather than guessing while interest accrues. Where returns were filed on estimates or not filed at all, we produce the corrected numbers, but the filing corrections and any Voluntary Disclosures Program application belong with an accountant or a tax lawyer. Catch-up is quoted as a fixed-price project so you are not watching an hourly meter run on a mess of unknown size.
Are you accountants?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. We are bookkeepers: we record, reconcile, file GST/HST and payroll, and prepare your year-end package. Tax planning, salary versus dividends, incorporation strategy, Voluntary Disclosures Program applications and audit or review engagements all require an accountant, and we refer those out rather than improvising. The two roles work well together, and the usual pattern is a bookkeeper handling the year so the accountant is not being paid to sort receipts.
How much will it cost?
It depends on five things and we cannot honestly answer without them: how many bank and credit card accounts there are, your monthly transaction volume, whether GST/HST and payroll are in scope, whether you carry inventory or multiple currencies, and how far behind the file is. Monthly work is a fixed fee against a written scope, so it does not move when a month is busy, and catch-up is quoted separately. What a bookkeeper costs in Canada, with the numbers sourced explains what drives a quote and how to compare two of them fairly.
What happens to my accounting file if we stop working together?
You keep it. We work inside a subscription held in your business's name wherever possible, so the data file and its history belong to you and ending the engagement means removing a user rather than rebuilding a year. Access to your bank and any CRA representative authorisation is removed on an agreed timeline, which is written into the engagement at the start rather than negotiated at the end. Ask any bookkeeper you are considering the same question before you sign anything.