Bookkeeping services from a firm that reads books for lenders
Most bookkeeping is done to survive tax season. Ours is kept to a higher standard, because the other half of this practice is review engagements: examining financial statements that lenders rely on before they approve financing. We know what a bank expects a set of books to prove, because banks ask us to check.
That perspective changes what "done" means. Books kept this way are not just tidy enough to file from; they are coherent enough to defend, line by line, to someone whose job is doubt. Most owners never need that level. The ones who suddenly do are very glad it was already there.
That is the gap between outsourced bookkeeping that files what happened and bookkeeping services that stand up to what happens next: financing, better terms, a buyer at the table, whatever the business reaches for.
Everything the bookkeeping covers
One engagement covers the whole cycle, delivered on a monthly rhythm. These are complete bookkeeping services: everything below is included in the work itself, not an add-on priced separately after you have signed.
Bank reconciliation
Every account reconciled to the bank, every month. Discrepancies get found and resolved while they are still small, so the balance you see is a balance you can trust.
Payroll
Payroll run accurately and on time, with source deductions calculated, remitted and recorded properly. Your people get paid, the CRA gets its remittances, and you get your evenings back.
HST/GST filings
Returns prepared and filed on schedule from books that are already reconciled, so the numbers are right the first time and deadlines stop being a source of dread.
Accounts payable & receivable
Know exactly who you owe, who owes you and how old every balance is. Cash flow stops being a guess and starts being something you manage.
Monthly close & reporting
Books closed each month while the details are fresh, with reports that show where the business actually stands. Decisions get made on current numbers, not last year's.
Catch-up bookkeeping
Months or even years behind, we rebuild the record and bring it fully current before the monthly cycle begins.
Small business bookkeeping, for corporations and the self-employed
We built our bookkeeping services for small business owners in the broadest sense of the term: incorporated companies and individuals alike, and both at the same standard of care.
Incorporated businesses
Owner-run companies with staff to pay and margins to watch. Their books feed year-end financial statements, and a record kept clean all twelve months makes those statements faster and cheaper to produce.
Self-employed & sole proprietors
Consultants, contractors and professionals who bill under their own name. The books stop being a Sunday-night job, tax season arrives organized instead of as a scramble, and the record can follow if the business ever grows into something bigger than one name.
Online bookkeeping services, or across the desk
Everything can run fully remotely if that suits you: records shared digitally, review calls online. Cloud bookkeeping services work best when the connection is live, so we prefer to link directly to your bank feed, though it is never obligatory. And if you would rather sit across a desk and go through the numbers in person, you are always welcome in.
Most of our bookkeeping runs in QuickBooks, and that is where we will start you if there is no system in place yet. But if your business already lives in other software, we work in yours instead: no forced migration, no starting over. Software is a container; the craft is in what goes into it, and that is the same wherever we work.
How it works
Handing off the bookkeeping is deliberately simple. Three steps and the cycle is running.
Meet
In person or online, whichever suits. We talk through what the business does, the shape the records are in and what the books need to support next.
Connect
You send the raw record: receipts, transactions, bank statements. Turning them into posted journal entries is our job, not yours.
Monthly close
From there the cycle takes over. Each close lands as a short report in your inbox, and you hear from us before you think to ask.
Why owners hand Ashlar the books
CPA oversight
Your books are kept and checked inside a CPA practice, by people accountable to a professional standard for what a clean record means. That is a different weight of oversight than a bookkeeping app or a solo hire.
Transparent pricing
Every fee is agreed to before it is billed. If catch-up work or extra filings change the scope, you will know before the work happens, not from the invoice.
Your software or ours
The record belongs to you, in a system you can open any time. If you ever leave, the books leave with you, complete and current.
Remote or in person
Some clients we never meet outside a screen; others are in twice a year with a folder under one arm. The engagement bends to how you actually operate, not the reverse.
Bookkeeping questions, answered
Every quote is custom, and pricing is transparent: you know which fees will land before work starts. Ongoing fees typically settle lower after the first year. Book a consultation for yours.