Our Processes
We recognize that your circumstances are unique. That’s why we take the time to sit with you and carefully review your situation.
Individualized support and one-on-one approach
Whether your goal is to sell or purchase a business, optimize your tax situation, prepare financial statements or navigate government paperwork, we can help.
Financial Statement and Taxes
“Our goal is to complete all corporate filings within three months of your year end.”
In the month of your year end you will receive our year end preparation letter. This is to serve as a reminder to you that your year end is coming up, and to provide you with a checklist of information you should start gathering for us. Our goal is to complete all corporate filings within three months of their year end. This allows you to pay any taxes owing within the three month deadline and avoid paying any interest to CRA. Also, many banks have a 90 requirement to receive your financial statements if you have a loan. And, we find it much more efficient and useful for you to prepare the year end as quickly as possible while the information is still fresh in your mind.
In general our turnaround time for a year end is four to six weeks. We work on a first come, first serve basis, so please contact us early if you have special requirements in a particular year. We endeavour to assign the same staff person to your file each year, so you have a consistent point of contact.
Once your year end is complete, you will be contacted to arrange a meeting. This meeting is an opportunity for us to discuss general planning issues that came up based on your financial information. This is also a good time for you to discuss with us any questions or issues you have concerning your financial condition, or upcoming changes in your life. Of course, we encourage you to call us anytime during the year if you’d like to discuss something.
Initial Consultation
We offer an initial consultation, free of charge, to potential business clients.
Choosing a team of professionals to support your company is a challenging process. The initial consultation is your opportunity to get to know us and ask questions about our services. Equally important to the services we provide and level of expertise we posses, is your sense of comfort with your accountant. As with you lawyer, banker, and insurance provider your accountant is a trusted advisor who you can pick up the phone and talk to any time.
We encourage you to take your time and explore your options when choosing your professional service providers. Talk to as many of your potential providers as you need to in order to be confident in your decision. Ask your acquaintances in the business community for their opinions and referrals. And don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you have to determine if the fit is right for you.
Business Valuations
Each valuation is unique and a different approach is required depending on the circumstance. Again, we offer an initial consultation free of charge to determine what your needs are and whether we can be of assistance. We will work directly with your lawyer to make sure you are getting what you need to resolve your issue as efficiently as possible. All reports are issued in draft format first; this allows you and your lawyer to comment on any mechanical discrepancies, or issues with assumptions, prior to a final report being issued.
Dealing with the CRA
CRA audit are often a very stressful event for many of our clients. Call us early in the process and we can assist you in preparing for the government’s visit. If you do not have an office that is appropriate for the CRA auditor to use, we will make a space available for them at our office, and they can review the documents here. Depending on your comfort level, we are happy to deal with the auditor entirely on your behalf, or work in a supportive role.
Personal Tax Preparation for Our Business Clients
In February we send out our personal tax package to the business clients who would like us to also do their personal returns. Again, this serves as a reminder that you need to collect your information, and gives you a list of things to consider. Personal tax returns are prepared on a first come, first serve basis. We ask that your information be received in our office no later than the first week of April, so that we can provide an efficient and effective process in meeting the April 30 deadline.
For the majority of our client we e-file, this results in quicker refunds than paper filing and next-day confirmation that your return has been received by CRA.
You will receive a folder with your tax returns in it. Inside we have included all the tax reporting slips that we relied on in preparing your return. Should your return be selected for review by CRA in the summer, which a certain portion of e-file returns always are, you have the information there to provide CRA. If you prefer, you may bring your folder back to our office and we can respond to the request for you.
Pricing
For all our services we charge our standard hourly rates. Rates vary depending on the level of staff required to prepare your file, we assign the level of staff we feel is appropriate for the complexity of your file while keeping the prices as reasonable as possible. For new clients, we do not charge for any of the costs associated with setting up your file for the first time.
For certain types of jobs we will issue a retainer invoice and require it to be paid prior to us starting our work. This would apply in instances where we are doing a one time project for you and you do not have a history with our firm, or where we are required to prepare more than one year’s worth of filings at a time. The need for a retainer will be discussed with you at the time of your initial consultation.