Financial systems and bookkeeping stack
The finance function in a growing company runs on a stack of tools that nobody designed. The accounting file was set up by the first bookkeeper, payroll was added by the second, payments and expenses were bolted on as the team grew, and the job-costing software talks to none of it. We redesign the stack, from the chart of accounts up, so data flows once, the close happens on time and the reports you need come out without a spreadsheet rebuild every month.
What you leave with
A connected finance stack with a chart of accounts that matches how you run the business, a documented bookkeeping process and a close that lands on time.
Who it is for
- Owners whose accounting file has grown messy and whose reports no longer make sense
- Companies adding locations, entities or a second business line to one accounting file
- Businesses moving off a desktop or outgrown accounting product
What we deliver
- A chart of accounts rebuilt around your lines of business, locations and cost centres
- A recommended stack for accounting, payroll, bills, expenses, payments and job costing, with the integrations configured
- A written bookkeeping process: who does what, when, and the cut-off rules
- A monthly close checklist with target dates
- Clean-up of historical coding so trend reports are usable
- A controls baseline: approvals, bank access, segregation where the team size allows
How it runs
01Audit the stack
We map every tool, every manual step and every spreadsheet, and find where data is entered twice or not at all.
02Redesign
We rebuild the chart of accounts and choose the stack, favouring fewer tools with better integrations over more features.
03Migrate
We configure, connect and test the new setup, clean the history that matters and run both in parallel for one close.
04Document
We write the process, train the bookkeeper and hand over a close checklist that does not need us.
Engagement and fees
A Workshop of two to four weeks at $30K to $80K for the stack audit, chart of accounts and process design. A 90-Day Sprint at $80K to $250K where a migration, multiple entities or a job-costing integration is involved. We work alongside your CPA and your bookkeeper throughout. Every engagement is scoped after a call and confirmed in writing. See consultations and fees.
The chart of accounts is the foundation
Every report you will ever read is shaped by the chart of accounts. If revenue is one line, you will never see margin by service. If labour is one line, you will never know what a crew costs. If the chart was built for tax filing rather than for running the business, every management question needs a spreadsheet to answer.
We rebuild it around how you make decisions: revenue by line of business, direct cost by the same lines, overhead by function. We keep it short. A chart with four hundred accounts is as useless as one with twenty. Classes, locations and tags in modern accounting software do the rest without multiplying accounts.
Choosing and connecting the tools
For most BC companies between $500K and $30M, the core is QuickBooks Online or Xero, a Canadian payroll product that handles CRA remittances and provincial rules, a bills and expenses tool with approvals, and a payments tool for card and pre-authorised debit. Trades, construction and manufacturing add job costing or an ERP that must post to the ledger cleanly.
We choose for integration and for the skills of the people who will use it. A tool nobody on the team can run is a liability. Every integration is tested with real transactions before go-live, and we run the old and new setups side by side for one month end before switching.
A bookkeeping process that closes on time
Software does not close the books. People and routines do. The process we write says who enters bills and by when, who approves them, when invoices go out, how payroll is reviewed, when bank feeds are reconciled and what the cut-off is for month end. It fits on two pages and the bookkeeper owns it.
The close checklist lists every task in order with a target day. Reconciliations, accruals, intercompany entries, payroll tie-out, GST and PST review and the handoff to reporting. Once it runs three months in a row the owner stops wondering whether the numbers are right, which is the whole point.
- Admin access to your accounting file and a list of every finance tool you pay for
- Your current bookkeeper's description of how the month runs
- The three reports you wish you had
Industries where we run this most
Questions about this service
Should we switch accounting software?
Only if the current product cannot do what you need. Most problems we see are in setup and process, not in the product. We will tell you if a switch is needed, and if so we plan it around your fiscal year end with your CPA to keep the transition clean.
Do you do the bookkeeping?
No. We design the process, set up the systems and train the bookkeeper, whether that is your employee or an outside firm. Our role is to make sure the bookkeeping produces numbers you can run the company on, and to check that it does every month.
How do you handle Canadian payroll and remittances in the stack?
We recommend a Canadian payroll product that calculates CRA source deductions, handles provincial employment standards and posts to the ledger. Remittance dates go on the finance calendar. Your CPA or payroll provider stays responsible for filings. We make sure the numbers are right and on time.
What about controls in a small team?
Full segregation of duties is not possible with two people, so we use compensating controls: owner approval of payments above a limit, bank access limited to named people, monthly review of the bank reconciliation by someone who did not prepare it, and vendor changes confirmed by phone.
Start with a finance review.
Ninety minutes with Ali on your cash, margin and pricing. You leave with the four numbers to watch and the two or three moves that change them, whether or not we work together.