Oh my. It’s December 1, 2020. My last post was March 25, 2020. Just about the time everything went into lockdown. It’s been a crazy  year, hasn’t it? And it’s far from over, the pandemic that is. It’s been quite a year for us at ANL Bookkeeping too. We are deemed essential so some of our work never slowed. We pushed through to lead our clients through all of the wage subsidies and other relief packages offered by the government. We kept our clients’ employees paid. We kept books up to date so that business owners could successfully apply for all those subsidies. We spent hours learning about all the new subsidies and loans and other measures put in place by our government to help individuals and businesses. We stayed strong and focused in our work. I owe many thanks to my employees Anna Talkowska and Krista Dolbear. We would not have survived without their dedication in helping our clients.

We’ve seen a huge influx of business owners looking for highly qualified bookkeepers for one of two reasons. Either they are terribly behind in their bookkeeping and need it completed in order to take advantage of all those government programs or they realized when applying for subsidies that their bookkeeping was inadequate. Inadequate because either they were doing the books themselves or had someone unqualified doing them.  One of those business owners came to me just this week. He is the reason I am preparing this post. You see, after starting his business in late 2019, he was searching for a bookkeeper and arranged meetings with two firms; ours and another. After meeting the other firm, he chose them without even speaking to us. That’s ok. But a lesson was to be learned. You see, the stories he told me about this other ‘reputable’ firm horrified me. Things like they didn’t even know if the bill they were charging him was a claimable expense. Being a sub-contractor, even though self employed, he requires WSIB. His bookkeeper didn’t think to inform him of this. They claimed to know how to do taxes but didn’t know how to claim his common law spouse (just for clarity, we do not prepare income taxes as we prefer to leave that to the experts). Expenses were missed. Paper work disappeared. When he finally got a bill about 5 months after starting he had been billed far more than what was agreed on without ever having been notified. He was told that that was just the way it was. Eventually, they parted ways and the bookkeeping he had paid for already had been lost. Now, we must start his bookkeeping from the start of his business. Which is costing him more money than what he already paid. Now, I have only one side of the story. There most certainly is pertinent information which he didn’t divulge, but nonetheless, he did not have a good experience.

At ANL Bookkeeping, we take pride in helping business owners navigate the nuances of running a business. It’s not just something we say to gain business. From accurate and always on time bookkeeping, paying your staff, keeping you compliant with your government remittances and filings, to informing you and consulting with you on your obligations as a business owner to getting those subsidies applied for, we are there for you. Here’s what one of our clients has to say :

They do an excellent job of preparing all necessary documentation for payroll, bookkeeping, source deductions, WSIB and HST, correctly and on time. I receive a monthly report on job profitability which is reassuring to my growing residential renovation company. Sherry also consults with my accountant in preparation for year end. I would highly recommend ANL Bookkeeping & Payroll Solutions to any company.

We are highly trained and professional bookkeepers who take our responsibilities very seriously. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If I don’t get a chance to reach out again before the end of the year, please have a very Happy Holiday and New Year. Stay safe. It is my hope that 2021 will bring joy and happiness for all as in the words of my favourite artist “after the flood all the colours came out” (Bono, of U2 in the song ‘It’s a Beautiful Day’).