Overview: Bookkeeping Services
Bookkeeping is the routine that keeps a business readable: coding transactions, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, chasing receivables, scheduling payables, and closing the month so the numbers can be trusted. Left undone, it surfaces later as a scramble before the year end and a larger bill from the accountant.
The boundary with accounting is worth understanding before you buy. Bookkeepers record and reconcile, and often prepare the sales tax filings. Accountants produce the year-end statements, handle the corporate return and advise on structure. Many bookkeeping companies work directly with a client's CPA firm and are judged on how clean the file is when it arrives there.
Ask whether the service covers every transaction or reviews work your staff enters. Ask which software they use, who holds banking access, how payments get approved, and what day the month closes. Check whether payroll and sales tax remittances are inside the fee or billed on top.
Listings show what each company states on its own website about its packages and the sectors it serves. The province and city lists lead to companies near you, and each city page separates those in the city from those nearby.
Cost of bookkeeping in Canada
Monthly volume and the condition of your records matter more than the size of the package name. Compare the same accounts, entry count and reporting frequency.
| Service or situation | Planning fee | Scope and extras |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly bookkeeping: about 100 entries | Starting packages: about C$300–400/month | Income and expense recording, bank reconciliation and basic monthly reports for about 100 entries. Agree whether invoices and bank lines are counted separately.Setup, cleanup, payroll, subscriptions and tax filings may add charges; complex files can exceed these entry prices. |
| Monthly bookkeeping: about 200 entries | Starting packages: about C$500–580/month | The same core monthly work for about 200 entries. Confirm the included bank, card and payment-platform accounts.Setup, cleanup, payroll, subscriptions and tax filings may add charges; complex files can exceed these entry prices. |
| Catch-up and correction of past records | C$50–100/hour | Recover missing entries and reconcile past periods. Ask for estimated hours or a project cap after the bookkeeper checks the file.Tax returns and correcting submitted filings need a separate agreement. |
| First-month setup and handover | Quote after scope review | Agree who connects accounts, imports opening balances, sets categories and checks the existing file before regular monthly work starts.Keep setup, old-record cleanup and the recurring monthly fee separate. |
Ask before you hire
What counts as an entry, what happens above the limit, and what will my first month cost including setup and cleanup?
Ways to control the cost
Send organized digital records and keep personal spending separate from business accounts.
More cost details
What changes the quote
- Entry count, bank/card accounts and sales channels.
- Backlog, missing receipts and errors in opening balances.
- Inventory, payroll and hands-on bill payment or customer collections.
Check your quote
- Name the monthly reports and delivery date.
- Confirm whether sales tax filing and remitting are included, not just calculations.
- Identify who owns the software account and how records are handed over if you leave.
Canadian context
A year-end file for your accountant is not the same as preparation and filing of your corporate tax return (T2).
Planning ranges from published Canadian fees, not a Canada-wide average. Actual quotes can fall outside them. Fees exclude applicable sales taxes and separate expenses unless stated.
Frequently asked questions
What does a bookkeeping company do each month?
Codes transactions, reconciles bank and credit card accounts, manages receivables and payables, tracks the sales tax collected and paid, and closes the month so the reports balance. Many also prepare the remittance filings and hand a reconciled file to your accountant at year end. Payroll is often a separate line on the quote.
Where does bookkeeping stop and accounting start?
Bookkeepers maintain the records and reconcile them. Accountants prepare year-end statements, file the corporate return, and advise on how the business is structured and how the owner is paid. Plenty of firms bridge both, but the pairing of a bookkeeping company with a CPA firm is the common arrangement and often the cheaper one.
How is bookkeeping usually priced?
Usually a monthly fee set by transaction volume, the number of bank and card accounts, and whether sales tax and payroll are inside the package. Bringing old records up to date is priced on its own. Ask how the fee changes as the business grows, and what notice period applies if you want to leave.
Should a bookkeeper have access to our bank?
Read-only access is the usual arrangement, and it is enough for reconciliation. Keep the authority to release payments with an owner or require a second approval. Use individual logins instead of sharing credentials, review the payables run yourself, and revoke access immediately if the engagement ends.
Do bank feeds make a bookkeeper unnecessary?
Feeds pull the data in and stop there. Categorizing a shareholder draw, a loan repayment, a transfer between accounts or a personal purchase is a decision, not an import. Reconciliation, receipt matching and spotting duplicates still need a person. The software shortened the work rather than removing it.
