Questions, answered plainly

Balance-Books is a remote Canadian online bookkeeping practice for small and medium businesses (SMBs). We handle outsourced monthly bookkeeping, reporting, GST/HST support, catch-up cleanup, and payroll coordination so your numbers stay clean and current.

Published starting rates begin at $299 CAD per month for Essentials, with Growth and Scale plans for higher volume, GST/HST support, payroll coordination, or multi-entity work. Final bookkeeping pricing depends on transaction volume, entities, software, and any catch-up—always confirmed in a written scope before work begins.

Outsourced (remote) bookkeeping is often a better fit for small and medium businesses that need accurate monthly books without recruiting, training, and managing a full-time hire. You keep ownership of your QuickBooks Online, Xero, or other ledger; we work inside it with least-privilege access and a fixed monthly cadence.

Bookkeepers keep the monthly books accurate—reconciliations, coding, GST/HST tracking, and regular reports. Accountants and CPAs typically handle tax filings, corporate returns, and advisory beyond the ledger. We prepare CRA-ready books and packages your accountant can use; we don’t replace a CPA for tax opinions.

Small and medium businesses—including service firms, non-profits, e-commerce brands, agencies, clinics, trades, merchandise, real estate, and professional practices—typically from sole prop through ~$5M revenue. If you have a more complex multi-entity group, we’ll scope Scale or a custom plan.

We specialize in QuickBooks Online, Oracle, Sage, spreadsheets, and Xero. If you’re on any other platform, we can migrate you as part of onboarding (quoted separately if material).

On standard plans, reconciled books and core financial reports are delivered by the agreed-upon due date — provided bank feeds and any missing documents are available by month-end. Our target on standard monthly bookkeeping is reports by the 10th.

Yes. We work inside your cloud accounting file with least-privilege user access, use encrypted document tools, and never ask you to email full bank passwords. You can revoke access at any time.

Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping is one of our most common starting points. We audit the backlog, give you a fixed-scope quote, clean historical periods, then move you onto a steady monthly plan.

Plans start at published rates and are confirmed after a short discovery call based on transaction volume, number of accounts, entities, and add-ons (sales tax, payroll, catch-up). You always get scope in writing before we start. See the Pricing page for current starting rates.

Discovery and a written proposal often fit within a few business days. After you sign and grant access, we typically begin setup right away—with a kickoff target around 48 hours when bank and software access are ready.

Yes. We’re a fully remote virtual bookkeeping team for businesses across Canada—not limited to Toronto or other major cities. Meetings are video or phone; no office visits required.

We prefer verified feedback from real engagements. Until we share named reviews here, judge us on process, pricing, the free discovery call, and the CRA Health Check—not on marketing quotes.