Entrepreneurship & Small Business
Do you feel that these issues you mention could have been identified and resolved yourself? $1100 is quite steep for a double-check and I feel like you’re already quite smart and independent if you can reach the 95% completion point on your on.BoatyMcBoatface wrote: ↑ We do our own bookeeping but the accountant checks all the numbers at year end and makes sure everything balances (Payroll, HST etc) and identifies issues with any accounts and how to fix them. He charges $1,100 for the review, T2, T4's and T5's
I actually consider it money well spent. I'm not an accountant or a bookkeeper so if something happens in Quickbooks that I don't understand, he fixes it as part of that fee. For instance, we had a PIER report from CRA because of a payroll tax discrepancy. He took care of it which means i didn't have to spend hours trying to work out what was wrong and deal with CRA to fix it. He deals with all the year end journal entries for accrued 'stuff' and depreciation entries etc. If the sales report HST amount doesn't match the Balance Sheet, he wades through the entries to find out why. I could probably learn how to file all the corporate income tax paperwork but it doesn't interest me and my time is better spent on business activities that help grow income. The peace of mind knowing that I am not going to have to deal with CRA over issues I don't really understand is worth the cost. I could probably shop around and save a few dollars but I like the guy, he does a good job and after 6 years, he understands the nuances of the business.HamsterDad wrote: ↑ Do you feel that these issues you mention could have been identified and resolved yourself? $1100 is quite steep for a double-check and I feel like you’re already quite smart and independent if you can reach the 95% completion point on your on.
Well said. A lot of business owners don't understand this: You get what you paid for. An accountant could be charging you a really low fee because all they do is just to compile everything and file your taxes, whereas another accountant could be charging a much higher fee but offers a full-service package, where the business owners can be hands off and knowing that potential issues will be taken care of, so they can focus on growing the business, The higher fee is not just for tax preparation, but also includes custom tax planning, taking care of issues and most importantly saving you time.BoatyMcBoatface wrote: ↑ I actually consider it money well spent. I'm not an accountant or a bookkeeper so if something happens in Quickbooks that I don't understand, he fixes it as part of that fee. For instance, we had a PIER report from CRA because of a payroll tax discrepancy. He took care of it which means i didn't have to spend hours trying to work out what was wrong and deal with CRA to fix it. He deals with all the year end journal entries for accrued 'stuff' and depreciation entries etc. If the sales report HST amount doesn't match the Balance Sheet, he wades through the entries to find out why. I could probably learn how to file all the corporate income tax paperwork but it doesn't interest me and my time is better spent on business activities that help grow income. The peace of mind knowing that I am not going to have to deal with CRA over issues I don't really understand is worth the cost. I could probably shop around and save a few dollars but I like the guy, he does a good job and after 6 years, he understands the nuances of the business.
We have a 2 hour review and i suspect he takes 6-8 hours to do all his other stuff. $100 an hour for a professional service is perfectly reasonable in my eyes and not a lot more than my time is worthHamsterDad wrote: ↑ How many hours in total do you estimate your accountant spends on reviewing your taxes, fixing your errors, and addressing issues like PIER reports each year? And after you see all the work your accountant does, how long do you feel it would take you to accomplish the same amount of accounting work?
