The Obligations of Year-End Accounts and Audits

 

 

What are Your Annual Accounting Obligations?

 

When starting, or running a small to medium sized business in Canada, the type of business structure you choose will affect how you report your business income, the type of returns you are obliged to complete, and many other aspects of your business.

 

Records are all your accounting and other financial information documents. These documents must be kept organized in a comprehensible way – especially important if the CRA decide to Audit you.

 

So the type of information your annual records contain depend on your situation and other factors such as:

• your business type
• the format you use to keep your records (paper, electronic or a combination of the two)
• if you have converted any paper records or supporting documents into an electronic version
• if you are involved in e-commerce (because e-commerce procedures and reporting obligations are different)
• if you are a GST/HST registrant
• if you are an employer

 

If all this sounds complicated, it’s because it is - try going to the Canada Revenue Agency website here and work out what your Year-End Accounts obligations are, or whether you need an Audit. Good Luck with that!

 

Thankfully Green Quarter Consulting are here in White Rock and South Surrey to assist with comprehensive yet affordable Local Bookkeeping Services – including cloud accounting or traditional ledgers if you prefer. It’s the preparation being right throughout the year that ensures your Year End Accounts and Audits go smoothly.

 

Surely a great reason to Speak to Green Quarter Consulting is for assistance in setting up your accounting procedures including year end figures and reporting, and affordable Audit preparation if you need it.

 

Why does the year-end accounting and audit preparation take so long??

 

Usually it depends on how well organized you are and whether your bookkeeping is up to date.

 

Preparation of year end accounts and Audits for Corporations can be more complicated but as Corporations are known as a separate entity (not attached to the owner(s)) with their year-ends being the anniversary date of when the business started, at least their requirements are staggered through the year.

 

Unfortunately in Canada, December 31st is often the year end for business accounts as Sole proprietors and partnerships must include their earnings (etc.) from any business activity with their personal income tax return, so it must coincide with any T4'd income for the same calendar year. (this means unless incorporated, the year-end is automatically December 31st). As you can imagine, this means many accounting professionals are very overloaded at this time of year. Especially as in many smaller businesses, the books are often not done on a regular basis and many times Green Quarter Consulting is given the proverbial shoe box full of month's worth of papers. (or even a year’s!)

 

Worth remembering if you have a small to medium size company and your bookkeeping is a mess, is that for year end accounting and audits you can only choose two of the following three options:

1. Quick
2. Affordable
3. Accurate

 

Avoid this by maintaining your books weekly, monthly or at least quarterly to ensure simpler year end accounts preparation.

 

Remember, there is no time like the present to start getting your bookkeeping and accounts organized.

 

Why do I Need a Bookkeeper for Year End Accounting or Audit Preparation?

 

When you have a Corporation, you are obliged to complete a T2 declaration and to maximize your results many Corporations call on the services of an Accountant or CPA. Accountants come in at year end to do one of three things:

1. notice to reader
2. a review, or
3. an audit.

 

Whichever it is, the more you prepare and have done, the cheaper it will be if you do decide to have an Accountant or CPA complete your year end accounting. Any auditor would be happy to provide you with a list of what they would like done before they finalize.

 

We see our role in the preparation of Year End Accounts and Audits as an affordable preparatory bookkeeping service and as an opportunity to provide you with constructive solutions to maximize your profitability and efficiency. Discuss with Green Quarter Consulting your Year End Accounts Preparation for White Rock, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Vancouver, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Burnaby and South Surrey BC, and we’ll  be happy to help in keeping your business accounts on track affordably, leaving you free to run your business.

 

 

 

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