Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Bookkeeping firms record your transactions, reconcile your accounts and keep your books ready for tax. Pick one by what it will actually do for you each month, how it handles your data and whether the price is written down, because we couldn’t confirm typical fees or rank any firm from an official source.
What do bookkeeping firms actually do?
The core job is recording. Sales, bills and bank transactions go into a ledger, get matched to the bank, and end up as monthly reports. Many firms add payroll, sales tax filing and a year end package for your accountant.
Some don’t do tax returns at all. That’s fine, but you need to know where the line sits before you sign. Ask which filings the firm prepares and which ones it hands off.
How do you choose a bookkeeping firm?
Treat it like hiring someone with the keys to your finances, because that’s what it is. We can’t tell you who’s best. We can tell you what to compare.
| Ask about | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Scope | A written list: bank reconciliation, payables, receivables, payroll, sales tax, year end file |
| Who does the work | A named person, and who covers when they’re away |
| Software | Books that stay in your name, so you can export them if you leave |
| Deadlines | Who tracks payroll remittances and sales tax filing dates |
| Data | How files are sent and stored, and who can see them |
| Price | A fixed monthly fee or a quote, with extras listed |
| Credentials | Whether they hold any professional designation, and how you can verify it |
We couldn’t confirm from an official source whether bookkeeping is a regulated title in your province. A firm may hold an accounting designation, and your provincial accounting body will have a directory to check. If a firm says it’s licensed, check.
What should you ask on the first call?
Picture Priya, who runs a small physio clinic in Halifax and has a shoebox of receipts and a bank app she doesn’t trust. She phones two firms and asks the same five things. What’s in the monthly fee? Who will actually open my file? Which software, and whose name is on the account? What happens if you miss a remittance date? And what do you charge for catching up on last year?
The answers tell her more than any brochure. One firm replies with a written scope in an hour. The other says “we’ll sort it out as we go”. She knows which one to hire, and it has nothing to do with who’s cheaper.
Catch-up work is the one people forget. If your books are months behind, expect a separate quote for it, and ask for it before you sign.
What will payroll cost you on top of the fee?
The fee is only part of the bill. If you have employees, the payroll itself costs more than the wage. One Ontario employee paid $3,000 every two weeks means $961 goes to the CRA each period. That’s $733 held back from the pay plus $228 the employer adds, and none of it is the bookkeeper’s fee.
The payroll remittance calculator shows the split for your own pay. Then put a firm’s quote next to it, so you can see whether the price for payroll service is small or large against the amount it’s handling. To see what an employee actually takes home, use the take-home pay calculator.
How do you know the books are good?
Ask for the first month’s reports and read them. The bank balance in the books should match your statement to the cent. Anything that doesn’t match should come with a note.
Look at how they treat the year end too. A sloppy file costs you later, because your accountant bills for the time it takes to fix it. The CRA expects records kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, including computer records, and it can ask to see them. Hiring a firm doesn’t hand that duty over to them, so you still need to know where the records sit.
For a corporation the books feed the T2 return. On $100,000 of profit in British Columbia, a CCPC pays $11,000 in tax and a non-CCPC pays $27,000 by the corporate tax calculator, so a wrong profit figure has a real price attached.
What mistakes cost owners the most?
Choosing on price alone is the usual one. A cheap quote that leaves out payroll or sales tax filing turns into a second invoice.
Another is handing over everything and never looking. Open the reports every month, even for ten minutes. Then there’s the exit plan. If the books sit in the firm’s software account instead of yours, leaving becomes painful. Ask for admin access from the start.
Last, don’t assume the firm files your return. Bookkeeping and tax filing are different jobs, and some businesses find that out after a deadline has passed.
Where we got these figures
Record keeping rules come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s guide on keeping records. Tax and payroll examples come from this site’s calculators, using 2026 data checked on September 29, 2026. Fees, features and rankings of bookkeeping firms are not stated, because no official source publishes them. This site has no link to any firm or government body.
Frequently asked questions
What do bookkeeping firms do?
They record transactions, reconcile bank accounts and produce reports. Many also handle payroll, sales tax filings and a year end file for your accountant.
Does a bookkeeper file my corporate tax return?
Not always. Ask which filings the firm prepares and which it passes to an accountant.
How long must I keep my business records?
The CRA says six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, and that includes computer records.
How much do bookkeeping firms charge?
We couldn't confirm typical fees from an official source. Ask for a written quote that lists what's covered.
Should the books be in my name?
Yes. Keep admin access to the accounting software so you can move your records if you change firms.
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