ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING
SDG Accountant provides accounting and bookkeeping services for individuals and corporate clients residing in Canada and the United States. Whether you are a Toronto startup or have been in business for the past 20 years, proper accounting is crucial to the viability of your organization. Our CPAs have worked in accounting for a variety of different organizations in various industries. Whether it comes to the selection of accounting standards or setting up the chart of accounts, we are here to guide your Toronto business from start to finish. It is crucial that your advisor is well-versed in relevant accounting standards pertaining to your industry.
We specialize in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual bookkeeping services:
- Clean up current books
- Accounting solution setup and maintenance
- Database design
- Accounting systems design and management
- Accounts payable – vendor bill pay and account management
- Accounts receivable – customer invoices and statements
- Collections
- Bank deposits
- Payroll setup and management
- Financial reports, including profit and loss, balance sheets, and cash flow statements
- Benefit withholdings set up and management
- Bank and credit card reconciliation
- Weekly and monthly reports
- Sales tax return
- Annual preparation for tax return
- Filing and file storage
What are the Accounting Standards?
Essentially, they are a set of publicly accepted standards and they specify how transactions, events, and occurrences are to be categorized, measured, recorded, presented, and finally disclosed in the financial statements.
In Canada profit-oriented businesses have 3 options to select from:
- IFRS – International Financial Reporting Standards
- ASPE – Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises
- NON-GAAP – Cash Accounting or Accounting for Tax Purposes
A business should consider its future goals and vision when choosing to adopt reporting standards. I.e. If a start-up is planning an initial public offering in the next couple of years; it may be optimal to choose IFRS (as this is the required accounting standard for Public Companies). Although, since the U.S. has not adopted IFRS, they use their own set of standards known as U.S. GAAP. Therefore, if a start-up is trying to attract U.S. investment that should be taken into consideration as well.
Most businesses we deal with are small and medium-sized businesses across the Greater Toronto Area. In practice, these businesses are not actually obligated to use any of the 3 standards noted above, and they have the option to choose any standards they want. Practically, speaking most private businesses should use ASPE, aka private GAAP. ASPE is most likely the best choice for your Toronto-based business. This may make your business more credible in the long run if you consider selling, arranging to finance, raising equity capital, or even just complying with industry norms. Most importantly, your Toronto business should have a tailored approach and take these factors into consideration.
Small owner-managed businesses that are not required to be audited or have a review engagement may see it advantageous to prepare financials in accordance with tax purposes. Essentially, the financials would be prepared in the same format and structure that they would appear to be on your corporate tax return or sole proprietor return. There is minimal disclosure for external users, and these types of statements sometimes overlap with GAAP, although not in all aspects. Keep in mind, that if preparing statements for tax purposes it may be costlier to convert your statements to ASPE later down the road.
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