Bookkeeping & Accounting Services in Vancouver
MaxPro Financials provides bookkeeping and accounting for Vancouver businesses — monthly transaction entry, bank and credit card reconciliation, GST and PST filing, payroll support, and a year-end file your accountant can work from without cleanup. Because we also prepare the corporate and personal returns, nothing has to be re-explained in February.
Bookkeeping is the input to everything else. When the books are current, your year-end is quick, your sales tax filings are defensible and you can see your cash position mid-month. When they are not, you pay accountant rates for work a bookkeeper should have done — typically three to five times more per hour for the same task.
- Monthly bookkeeping — every transaction categorised on a fixed schedule, not in a year-end scramble
- Reconciliation — bank, credit card and loan accounts matched to source records each month
- GST and PST — tracked through the year and filed on time, with input tax credits captured as they occur
- Reporting — profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow delivered rather than requested
- Catch-up work — months or years behind? We bring the file current before monthly work starts
How Our Vancouver Bookkeeping Process Works
Bookkeeping only works on a schedule. Ours runs monthly, so your records are never more than a few weeks behind reality — which is the difference between books that inform decisions and books that only satisfy the CRA after the fact.
| Frequency | What we do | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Every month | Categorise transactions, reconcile bank, credit card and loan accounts, post payroll journals, review receivables and payables | Profit and loss, balance sheet, and a note on anything unusual |
| Every quarter | Prepare and file GST/HST and BC PST returns, review input tax credits, check instalment requirements | Filed returns plus a summary of what was remitted and why |
| At year end | Close the books, reconcile shareholder loan and equity accounts, prepare the working paper file | A clean year-end file ready for statements and the T2 |
| As needed | Catch-up bookkeeping, historical cleanup, CRA review support, account restructuring | A corrected file and a written summary of what changed |
Getting started takes three steps
- Free consultation. We review your current setup, transaction volume and how far behind the file is, then quote a fixed monthly fee.
- Setup and catch-up. We connect secure read-only bank feeds, agree a chart of accounts that reflects how you actually run the business, and clear any backlog.
- Monthly cycle. Books are reconciled and reports delivered on the same schedule each month, with sales tax and year-end handled as they fall due.
Tax Filing Support Alongside Your Books
Your books feed directly into your tax returns, so we prepare both. The accountant who files your return works from the same reconciled file your bookkeeper maintains, which removes the usual year-end back-and-forth.
- Incorporated businesses: year-end financial statements and the T2 return. See corporate tax returns in Vancouver.
- Owners and sole proprietors: T1 returns, including business and rental income. See personal tax returns in Vancouver.
- CRA letters and reviews: we respond on your behalf using the records we already hold.
How Much Does Bookkeeping Cost in Vancouver?
Bookkeeping is priced on transaction volume and complexity rather than hours. Most Vancouver small businesses land in the $450 to $800 a month range; add payroll, multiple entities or high transaction counts and it moves up from there. Vancouver sits at the higher end of national ranges, as accounting fees in major cities generally do.
| Service level | Typical 2026 cost (CAD) | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Basic monthly bookkeeping | $200 – $800+ / month | Lower transaction volume, one or two accounts |
| Common small business range | $450 – $800 / month | Most incorporated Vancouver small businesses |
| Mid-level accounting package | $900 – $2,000 / month | Higher volume, payroll, multiple entities |
| Full-service monthly package | $1,200 – $1,500 / month | Bookkeeping, sales tax, payroll, year-end and tax planning |
| Bookkeeper hourly rate | $30 – $90 / hour | Cleanup and one-off projects |
| Accountant / CPA hourly rate | $150 – $400+ / hour | Year-end, tax filing and advisory |
The important figure in that table is the gap between the last two rows. Work a bookkeeper does at $30 to $90 an hour costs $150 to $400+ an hour once it reaches an accountant at year-end. Businesses that skip monthly bookkeeping to save money almost always pay the difference back in February. Our guide to accounting costs in Canada breaks this down by business type and province.
GST and BC PST for Vancouver Businesses
Vancouver businesses deal with two separate sales taxes: 5% GST, filed with the CRA, and 7% PST, filed with the BC Ministry of Finance. Many service businesses assume PST does not apply to them, but it does apply to some services and to software, and it is often owed on things you buy for the business. That is where most of the problems we see start.
| GST | BC PST | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 5% | 7% (different rates for some items, such as liquor and vehicles) |
| Collected by | Canada Revenue Agency | BC Ministry of Finance |
| When you register | Once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive quarters | Before you start selling taxable goods, software or services in BC |
| Filing frequency | Annual, quarterly or monthly, based on sales | Monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual, set by the Ministry |
| Credits on purchases | Input tax credits recover GST you paid | No equivalent credit |
We track both taxes in your monthly books, file each return on schedule and flag purchases where PST should have been self-assessed. If you are not sure whether your services are taxable, start with our guide to PST on professional services in BC.
Why Vancouver Businesses Choose Our Bookkeeping Team
What you get when MaxPro keeps your books:
- A fixed monthly fee, agreed after a free consultation.
- Bookkeeping, sales tax and tax returns under one roof, with CPA review of your year-end.
- Your records are reviewed, not just entered. We flag unusual items each month instead of leaving them for year-end.
- 800+ business clients across 9 provinces, with our BC office in Port Moody.
Types of Bookkeeping Services We Offer
Every engagement is built from these pieces, priced as one fixed monthly fee:
- Monthly bookkeeping – transaction entry, categorisation and month-end close.
- Bank and credit card reconciliation – every account matched to statements each month.
- Accounts payable and receivable – bills, invoices and collections tracked so you know who owes what.
- Payroll entries – pay runs recorded in your books; full payroll is available through our payroll service.
- Reporting – monthly profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow.
- Year-end preparation – a clean, reconciled file ready for financial statements.
Catch-Up and Clean-Up Bookkeeping in Vancouver
If your books are months or years behind, you are not unusual, and it is fixable. Catch-up bookkeeping is a large part of our Vancouver work, usually triggered by a year-end, a bank loan application or a CRA letter.
What we do
- Rebuild each period from bank and credit card statements and your source records
- Reconcile every account month by month, so the balances can be relied on
- Correct GST and PST returns that were filed on incomplete numbers, and file any that were missed
- Hand over a current, reconciled file your accountant can use for financial statements and the T2
Catch-up work is quoted separately from monthly bookkeeping, based on how many months need rebuilding and how complete your records are. Once the file is current, we move you onto a fixed monthly cycle so it does not fall behind again.
Choosing a Bookkeeper in Vancouver
Bookkeeping is an unregulated title in Canada — anyone can use it. That makes the selection criteria different from choosing an accountant, where the CPA designation does some of the filtering for you.
What to ask before you hire
- Who reviews the work? A sole bookkeeper with no second pair of eyes means errors persist until year-end.
- Do they handle sales tax? GST and BC PST have different rules, and PST in particular catches out bookkeepers from other provinces.
- What happens at year-end? Ask whether the file is handed to your accountant in a working state or as a set of raw entries.
- Who responds to the CRA? A review letter arrives with a deadline attached; find out in advance who deals with it.
- Is the fee fixed? Hourly bookkeeping penalises you for a messy month, which is exactly when you need the work done.
Serving Vancouver and the Lower Mainland
We work with businesses across Vancouver — Downtown and Yaletown professional services, Mount Pleasant and Gastown studios and agencies, retail and restaurants on Main and Commercial, contractors and trades across East Vancouver, and health practices on the West Side. Our head office is in Port Moody and bookkeeping is delivered securely online, so clients in Burnaby, Richmond, North and West Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Delta and Surrey receive the same service.
MaxPro Financials supports 800+ business and 1,400+ individual clients across 9 Canadian provinces.
Elsewhere in the Lower Mainland, see bookkeeping services in Burnaby, tax and accounting in Port Moody, accounting in North Vancouver and accounting in West Vancouver.
Bookkeeping in Vancouver: Frequently Asked Questions
A bookkeeper helps maintain accurate financial records, manage cash flow, and ensure tax compliance, saving you time and preventing costly errors.
It depends on your business size and transactions. Some businesses require weekly bookkeeping, while others may need monthly financial reviews.
Bookkeeping involves recording financial transactions, while accounting focuses on interpreting financial data, tax planning, and financial forecasting.
Absolutely! Our tax specialists assist freelancers, contractors, and self-employed professionals in preparing and filing taxes efficiently.
Simply contact us via MaxPro Financials, and we’ll schedule a consultation to understand your financial needs and provide a tailored solution.
Most Vancouver small businesses pay $450 to $800 a month for ongoing bookkeeping, with low-volume files starting around $200 and full-service packages that bundle payroll, sales tax and year-end running $1,200 to $1,500 a month. Catch-up work is quoted separately. We give you a fixed monthly figure after a free consultation.
Yes, both. Sales tax is tracked as part of the monthly cycle rather than reconstructed at filing time, so input tax credits are captured as they occur. BC PST has different rules from GST — particularly around which goods and services are taxable and what exemptions apply — and it is the most common source of errors we find in files we take over.
Yes. Catch-up work is a significant part of what we do. We rebuild the file from bank statements and source records, reconcile each period, correct any sales tax filed on incomplete numbers, and hand you a current set of books. Once the backlog is cleared you move to a normal monthly cycle.
In most cases yes, and it usually lowers your total cost. Accountants charge $150 to $400+ an hour; bookkeepers $30 to $90. If your accountant is categorising transactions and reconciling accounts at year-end, you are paying the higher rate for lower-rate work. Because we do both in-house, that handoff does not exist.
Usually yes — we work in whichever cloud accounting platform you already use, with secure read-only bank feeds so nothing is re-keyed. If your current setup is causing problems we will explain what we would change and why, but we will not push a migration you do not need.
Typically within a week of the free consultation. Setup takes a few days — connecting bank feeds, agreeing the chart of accounts and reviewing your last filed year — and monthly processing begins from the next full period, with any catch-up running in parallel.
Yes. Our head office is in Port Moody and bookkeeping is delivered securely online, so we support clients across Burnaby, Richmond, North and West Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Delta and Surrey — and beyond BC, in 9 provinces in total.