FREQUENTLY ASKED
The questions we hear before, during, and after the intake form.
Most of what prospects ask us shows up here. If your question isn’t answered below, the intake form is the fastest way to ask it directly.
GETTING STARTED
Before you reach out.
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We are a digital accounting firm based in Huntsville, Ontario, founded in 2019 by Martina Morton and Ashli Phippen, both Chartered Professional Accountants. We work with small business owners across Ontario on a monthly basis.
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We are based in Huntsville, Ontario. We work entirely paperless and meet our clients on Google Meets. That means our service area is the whole province, not just our postal code. Our monthly clients are spread across Muskoka, the GTA, Ottawa, and everywhere in between.
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Our monthly services are designed for established small businesses, generally those past $300,000 in revenue. That said, we take on earlier-stage businesses when we can see they’re going to reach that milestone quickly, and we’d rather start with a business from the ground up in the right way than have to unwind messy books later. If you’re pre-revenue or very early stage and heading toward that $300K threshold, we’re happy to talk. A Clarity Call is often the right entry point either way.
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Sometimes. We run with a deliberately limited client count, so our roster opens up when capacity becomes available. The intake form is how we manage that. If we are not currently taking new monthly clients when you inquire, we will tell you and offer to keep you in mind for the next opening.
HOW WE WORK
The questions about what we actually do.
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Every monthly client gets the full accounting operation handled in-house: monthly bookkeeping reconciliations, monthly or quarterly financial reports with a recorded Loom walkthrough, HST filings, WSIB, full payroll (T4s, T4As, T5s, T5018s, and ROEs), tax estimates throughout the year, and corporate and personal tax returns at year end. You also get year-round CPA access by email or phone, plus formal touch points scheduled quarterly or semi-annually depending on the engagement. Full scope, including who this is and isn’t for, lives on the Monthly Services page.
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Traditional firms work mostly at year end. We work all year. Traditional firms route your file through trainees, offshore offices, or account managers passing notes back. We work directly with our clients, partner to partner. Traditional firms compete on price. We compete on quality of work and quality of communication. Same designation, very different model.
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You will work directly with Martina or Ashli. All financial guidance, all calls, and all business decisions come from one of us, partner to partner. We do have one bookkeeper who supports the firm behind the scenes and occasionally emails clients on operational items (receipt reminders, filing checklists, and similar administrative touch points). She never presents financial information and she never takes calls with clients. That’s ours.
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Generally monthly and as you need. Formal touch points are scheduled quarterly or semi-annually depending on the engagement. Most of our clients hear from us more often than that, because we send proactive reminders for filings, tax estimates, and any deadlines coming up. You also have year-round access by email or phone for the questions that don’t wait for a scheduled touch point.
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Yes. Unlimited communication is part of the monthly service. We answer questions year-round, not just at tax time. Most clients reach us by email. The rare urgent thing gets a phone call.
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Our monthly close runs on a predictable rhythm. On the first day of every month, you receive a customised checklist from us. It reminds you of the key items we need to close the previous month’s books, things like digital receipts, mileage logs, e-transfer reports, and anything else specific to your business. From the day we receive your complete information, we strive to have your bookkeeping completed within two weeks. Every file is properly reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant before close. HST and corporate tax filings are prepared well in advance of the deadline and submitted on time, every time.
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Every receipt is submitted digitally through a cloud receipt app we set up for you during onboarding. Snap a photo of the receipt on your phone, or forward the receipt from your email, and the app uploads it to our system automatically. No shoeboxes, no email attachments, no end-of-year scramble.
PRICING + INVESTMENT
The questions about cost, contracts, and renewals.
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Monthly services start at $1,500 per month for the smallest engagements and scale from there based on the size and complexity of your business. Clarity Calls are $375 one-time. My Digital Bookkeeper is $145 one-time. My Profit Planner is $35 one-time.
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Because we do more than other accounting firms. Monthly cadence (not annual). Two CPAs working your file directly (not trainees or offshore offices). Year-round access (not just at tax time). Tax estimates and a live view of your profit and loss throughout the year (not surprise tax bills in April). A deliberately limited client count so you actually get our attention. We are upfront that we are not the cheapest, and we never will be.
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Your monthly fee is fixed and covers the scope we agree on at engagement. If your business grows or your scope expands meaningfully, we’ll have a conversation about adjusting the fee. The one exception is formal CRA audits, which we cover in the audit question below. We don’t send surprise invoices.
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Our standard monthly engagement is a three-year term. The term shapes the pricing (with a 5% annual increase for inflation and scope) and helps us plan our roster. Almost every client renews at the end of it, because monthly accounting compounds: the longer we work together, the better we understand your business, and the more proactive we can be.
That said, our engagement letter allows you to terminate the agreement at any time with 60 days’ written notice. No penalty. You’re committed to the model, not locked into the term. The flexibility is there if you need it.or phone for the questions that don’t wait for a scheduled touch point.
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Every monthly client is set up on a pre-authorised monthly payment. Your fee is fixed and known in advance, and the withdrawal happens automatically at the top of every month. No invoices to track, no cheques to write, nothing to remember. Our clients tell us this is one of the more freeing parts of the engagement. If you ever terminate the engagement, the withdrawals stop when the engagement ends.
SOFTWARE + PROCESS
The questions about how the work actually gets done.
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We run every client file inside QuickBooks Online, and we run our firm as Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors. That choice is intentional. QuickBooks Online gives our clients real-time visibility into their numbers, straightforward reports like profit and loss, expenses, and balance sheets, and the right information at the right time to make informed business decisions now and better prepare for tomorrow. For us, it means a single source of truth that both of us can access from anywhere, integrated with the rest of the tools our clients use, and ready to feed straight into their year end. If you are not currently on QuickBooks Online, we handle the migration as part of onboarding.
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QuickBooks Online is our standard for every monthly client and what we set up during onboarding. The only exception we make is for non-profit organisations with compliance requirements specific to other accounting software. If you’re a small business, we’ll migrate you to QuickBooks Online as part of onboarding.
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Most of our new clients arrive with books that need work. We handle the cleanup as part of onboarding. There is no judgement about how things got behind, just a clean baseline to build from.
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Because we are working on your books every month, year end becomes a wrap-up, not a reckoning. You will receive a final set of year-end questions from us, and from there we prepare all the final filings: T4s, T4As, T5s, T5018s, and your corporate tax return, all well within their deadlines. Year end still takes a couple of months of focused work behind the scenes, but none of it is a scramble, because we’ve been tracking the position all year.
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Reach out to us first. As your accountants, we can correspond with CRA on your behalf, respond to information requests, and represent you in audits and reviews. Routine correspondence with CRA is included in your monthly fee. Formal audits are the exception. When CRA opens a formal audit and requests detailed records for review (for example, several years of vehicle expenses or a specific expense category), the work involved is significant, and we charge separately for it. We quote the audit work in advance so there are no surprises, and we handle the file directly with CRA on your behalf. The earlier we are in the loop, the smoother the resolution tends to be.
Quick pointer to the right page.
Specific questions about My Digital Bookkeeper or My Profit Planner are answered on their respective product pages, including refund policies, system requirements, and how to access the walkthrough videos.
My Digital Bookkeeper questions: see the FAQ on the My Digital Bookkeeper page.
My Profit Planner questions: see the FAQ on the My Profit Planner page.
STILL HAVE A QUESTION?
Didn’t see your question here?
The intake form is the fastest way to get an answer. Tell us about your business and what you’re trying to figure out. If it’s a fit, we’ll book a discovery call. If it’s not, we’ll point you in the right direction.