Bookkeeping Services for Canadian Business Owners

Most business owners do not decide to fall behind on their books. It happens in the gaps: a busy quarter, a new hire, a bank feed that stopped syncing in March. By the time the GST/HST return or the year-end deadline comes around, the records need rebuilding instead of reviewing.

We provide bookkeeping services to businesses across Canada, excluding Quebec. The work is done remotely, inside QuickBooks Online or Xero, and the books are reconciled every month so your tax filings start from numbers that have already been checked.

What Our Bookkeeping Services Cover

Bookkeeping is data management. Every dollar that moves through the business gets recorded, put in the right category and matched against the bank. That sounds plain, and it is, but it is the layer that every other financial decision sits on.

Our monthly bookkeeping service covers:

• Categorizing income and expenses from bank and credit card feeds
• Monthly bank and credit card reconciliations
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable tracking, so you can see who owes you and who you owe
• GST/HST, and provincial sales tax where it applies (BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), tracked as it accrues rather than estimated at filing time
• Payroll entries posted correctly, with source deductions matched to what was remitted
• A clean, reconciled file at month end that your accountant can file from

Recording is where bookkeeping stops. Interpreting the numbers belongs to accounting, and the next section explains where that line sits.

Bookkeeping vs Accounting; Where the Line Sits

Bookkeeping organizes the records. Accounting reads them. A bookkeeper makes sure the revenue, the expenses and the sales tax collected are all entered accurately. An accountant takes that record and produces financial statements, analyzes how the business is performing, advises on structure, and files the return.

For some businesses, bookkeeping alone is enough, particularly when an owner already has an accountant. For others, the better fit is bookkeeping combined with report analysis, business analysis and consulting. That combined work costs more because there is more of it, and we can scope either version. Our guide to bookkeeping vs accounting goes through the difference in more detail, and the accounting solutions page covers the consulting side.

How Our Online Bookkeeping Services Work

Online bookkeeping services mean no office visits and no boxes of receipts. Here is how it runs with us:

1. A call. A short conversation about the business: how many transactions, whether there is payroll, how far behind the books are, and what you need from the numbers.
2. A proposal. Within a day or two of the call, we send a proposal for review, signature and payment.
3. Documents. Once payment is initiated, you send us the documents the work depends on: bank and credit card statements, invoices, receipts and access to your accounting file.
4. The work. We categorize and reconcile your transactions in your file. Turnaround depends on the service level you choose.
5. Monthly upkeep. After the books are current, we keep them current. The aim is that they are never more than 30 days behind.

Everything is done in the cloud. You can see your books at any point rather than waiting for a report.

QuickBooks Online and Xero

When we take over a set of books, they live in either QuickBooks Online or Xero. Both are built for Canadian sales tax and payroll, both connect to Canadian banks, and both give you and your accountant live access to the same file.

We work with other platforms for tax filing and advisory, but we limit ongoing bookkeeping to these two. Running the books in a system that is used consistently, on a defined process, is what keeps the monthly work reliable. If you are not on either one yet, the move can be part of the setup. Our QuickBooks services page explains what that setup looks like in QuickBooks Online.

Bookkeeping Cost and Turnaround

Our bookkeeping pricing starts at around $330 a month for ongoing data management. That is the starting point, and the final price is customised to your business. Transaction volume, the number of accounts, whether payroll is involved and how clean the current books are all move it.

Adding services on top moves it further. Report analysis, business analysis and consulting are priced separately because they are separate work. You can see how the packages are laid out on our accounting rates page.

Turnaround is set by the service level. The standard options run on a four week, three week or two week timeline, and a shorter timeline carries a higher price. We confirm the exact figure in the proposal, after reviewing the books, so nothing is quoted blind.

Term and Notice

There is no fixed minimum contract. We recommend an initial term of three to six months, which gives both sides time to see whether the scope and the price fit the real workload. Some books turn out to be more involved than they looked from the outside, and a few months of work is the honest way to find out.

If you decide to stop, 30 days written notice is all we need.

Behind on the Books? Catch-Up Bookkeeping

Falling behind is common, and it is fixable. Catch-up bookkeeping starts with the bank and credit card statements for every month that is missing. We categorize and reconcile each transaction, one month at a time, until the file is current. From there, the regular monthly service takes over.

The work costs less when it is done soon. Every extra month adds transactions to rebuild from statements, and receipts are harder to find the longer they sit. Late filing penalties also stack up: a late GST/HST return carries a penalty of 1% of the balance owing, plus 0.25% for each full month it stays overdue, up to 12 months. Clean books remove that risk.

Who We Do Bookkeeping For

Our business bookkeeping services are built for owners with real transaction volume and real filing obligations. We already work with:

• Incorporated owner-managers who need the corporate books to match the T2
• Contractors and trades, including construction bookkeeping
• Restaurants and other high-volume businesses
• Real estate agents and rental owners
• Online sellers and e-commerce businesses
• Self-employed professionals who keep records for themselves
• Non-profits, which follow different rules from a regular business

If you are weighing whether it is time to hand the books over, when to move from DIY bookkeeping to professional support is a useful read first.

Bookkeeping, Payroll and Tax in One Place

The books do not stay isolated for long. Payroll runs through them, GST/HST returns are built from them, and the corporate tax return starts from them. When one firm handles the pieces, nothing gets re-entered or reconciled twice.

• Payroll: our payroll services keep source deductions, T4s and remittances matched to the books. Our post on bookkeeping and payroll explains why the two need to stay in step.
• Tax filing and planning: the numbers feed directly into our tax planning services and corporate filings, so the year-end is a review instead of a rebuild.
• Small business owners: our small business bookkeeping guide covers how to set up a system that scales.

Bookkeeping Services Across Canada

We are a remote bookkeeping firm and accounting practice with clients in every province except Quebec. Everything is online, so a business in Edmonton, Halifax or Kelowna is served the same way: same platforms, same monthly process, same standards. For businesses based in Ontario, our bookkeeping services in Toronto page covers local tax obligations in more depth.