This page is dedicated to answering  some of the most frequently asked bookkeeping questions

“I have a small sized business, what accounting package should I use?”

Most companies begin their financial lives using Intuit’s QuickBooks, one of the best and most popular accounting applications for small business. It’s affordable, it’s simple and it works. It’s easy to find bookkeepers who know how to use it, and it’s easy for people to learn. Once you use it a while and find it may not function the way you like,  we can access your needs and help you to address your concerns within Quickbooks or recommend a new software package.

“I have some personal expenses but have lost the receipts, can I give you my credit card statement. Will this be good enough?”

CRA wants you to keep all receipts. On the back of each receipt you must write the name of the person(s) you invited out, they do not consider statements as official receipts and will likely disallow those expenses.

“What records do I need to keep for my personal car that I use for work?”

CRA wants you to keep a daily log of your car use for your business. They want to see that each day you record the starting mileage, the name of the person(s) you visited and the relative mileage. If the use of the car is personal, you must so indicate in the car log. Then they want to see the total mileage for the year and the total mileage used for business for the year. If you do not keep a mileage log book, they might agree on a percentage use of the car for business, but it will be much lower than you actual use. Thus, the first rule is to keep an up to date mileage log book. Keep all the original gasoline receipts. Credit cards statements are not acceptable.

“What are the interest penalties for not filing your taxes on time?”

If you owe tax for 2015 and do not file your return for 2015 on time, CRA will charge you a late-filing penalty. The penalty is 5% of your 2015 balance owing, plus 1% of your balance owing for each full month your return is late, to a maximum of 12 months.

“I under remitted my payroll tax, how do I rectify this?”

Remit any shortage as soon as possible either by electronic payment, with another remittance form or by writing a short letter giving your account number and the pay period the shortage applies to. If you over-remit, If you over-remitted in 2016, reduce your next remittance by the amount of the over payment. If you over-remitted in 2015, you can request for the transfer of the credit or request a refund online using My Business Account, if you are a business owner; or Represent a Client, if you are an authorized representative or employee. You can also attach a detailed note to your T4 summary indicating the reason for the overpayment and whether you want us to transfer this amount to another account or another year, or refund the overpayment to you.

” Do I need to close the books at the end of each month?”

The idea behind having a hard close on the month end is that you get close to a real time performance information (in financial terms) of the business. This is crucial for making sound business decisions that can help you to grow your business. I also use this as an opportunity to correct any bookkeeping errors early instead of at the end of the year.