Changing accountants
Moving to us takes about a week of your attention
Last reviewed: August 2026
Nothing restarts, CRA does not care, and you do not have to have an awkward conversation before anything is arranged. Here is the whole procedure, in order, including the parts that are genuinely annoying.
Worth knowing before anything else
The three things that stop people
Almost nobody stays with an accountant they are unhappy with because of the fee. They stay because they think leaving is complicated, or because they do not want the conversation.
Your fiscal year end belongs to the corporation. Changing who prepares the return does not move it, shorten it, or create a stub period.
All that happens at CRA is a change of authorised representative, which you approve. It does not trigger a review and it is not a mark against your file.
Book the call, get the quote, and decide. Nothing reaches your current accountant until you have accepted a number and told them yourself.
The procedure
What actually happens, in order
Timings assume your previous firm responds at a normal speed. Between January and April everything on this list takes longer, on both sides, which is the one real argument for moving earlier in the year.
A 20-minute call
Day one
What the business does, what shape the books are in, what your current firm does and does not do, and whether anything is urgent. You get a straight answer on whether we can help and a rough number on the call. If we are not the right fit we will say so, which happens and costs us the work.
A fixed quote in writing
Within two business days
One monthly number covering everything in scope, plus a separate quote for any catch-up work, so the two are never blended. Nothing starts until you have accepted it.
Give notice, and sign two things
Week one
You tell your current firm you are moving, which can be one line by email. You sign our engagement letter and you authorise us as your representative with CRA. That authorisation is what lets us see your filings and speak to CRA on your behalf.
We collect the file
Week one to two
We write to your previous accountant with a professional handover request. This is a normal letter between firms and you are not in the middle of it. Most firms respond within two weeks and some take longer, which is why earlier in the year is easier.
Opening balances agreed
Week two to four
We check the closing position from the last filed year against the bookkeeping, and we tell you what we found. This is the step that gets skipped elsewhere and it is where the surprises live: shareholder loan balances that are not what anyone thought, HST that was filed on a different basis than the books, capital assets recorded twice.
You are running
From the next month end
Monthly close, HST on schedule, payroll if we are doing it, and your dates for the year set before you have to ask. Nothing about the following twelve months starts as a surprise.
What to have ready
Six things, and none of them are urgent
Bring what you have to the first call. Missing items are normal and none of them stop the conversation.
Last year's T2 and the notice of assessment
The single most useful document. It tells us the closing tax position and whether CRA agreed with it.
The year-end file or working papers
From your current accountant. If you cannot get them, say so on the call and we will work from what CRA has.
Access to the bookkeeping
A QuickBooks Online invite is enough. If the books live in a spreadsheet or a shoebox, that is a quotable job rather than a problem.
Your CRA business number and, if you have it, your My Business Account access
Not essential. The representative authorisation covers most of what we need.
Payroll details if you have staff
The remitter type, the pay schedule, and the last remittance made.
Anything currently going wrong
An unfiled return, a CRA letter you have been ignoring, a payment arrangement. None of it is unusual and all of it is easier to deal with early.
After you have moved
What you are moving to
Every client file runs through the same four points in the year. It is not a complicated system. It is just done on time, every year, rather than compressed into the six weeks before a filing deadline.
Opening balances
Before we touch anything
We ask for last year's file, the T2 and the notices of assessment, and we agree the opening balances before a single entry goes in. Most of the problems we find on a new file were already sitting in the numbers we inherited.
The monthly close
Closed monthly, not rebuilt in April
The month is reconciled and closed while you can still remember what a transaction was. HST goes out on schedule, payroll is remitted on time, and nothing is reconstructed from a bank feed eleven months later.
The pre-year-end conversation
While it can still change the number
Before your year end closes, we go through what is coming: the purchase you were planning, how you have been paying yourself, what the year actually did against what you expected. This is the checkpoint that moves money, and it is the one most firms skip.
Filing, and the year ahead
Filed, explained, and dated
The return is filed, you get told what it says in plain language rather than a PDF, and next year's dates are set before you have to ask. Nothing about the following year starts as a surprise.
Questions people actually ask
Do I have to tell my current accountant before I speak to you?
No. The first conversation is between you and us and nothing happens as a result of it. Most people book a call while they are still deciding, and some of them stay where they are.
Does changing accountants restart my fiscal year?
No. Your fiscal year end is a property of the corporation, not of who prepares the return. Nothing about it changes because you change firms.
Does CRA get notified, and does it trigger anything?
CRA is notified only in the sense that we are added as an authorised representative, which you approve. It is a routine administrative change that happens thousands of times a day. It does not flag your file, it does not trigger a review, and it is not visible as anything other than a change of representative.
Can I move partway through the year?
Yes, and most people do. The cleanest points are just after a filing or at the start of a new fiscal year, but neither is required. If you move mid-year we pick up the bookkeeping from the last closed month and agree the balances at that date.
What if my current accountant will not hand anything over?
The working papers belong to the firm that prepared them, so a firm is not obliged to hand over everything. Your own records are yours, and CRA holds copies of the filed returns and assessments, which we can access once authorised. We have rebuilt an opening position from CRA data before and it is not the disaster it sounds like.
What does it cost to switch?
Nothing for the switch itself. Onboarding a clean file is included in the monthly fee. If there is real catch-up work, a year of unreconciled books or an unfiled return, that is quoted separately as a one-off before we start it, so you see the number first.
How long does the whole thing take?
The paperwork side is usually done inside a week. Getting your file into the shape we want it takes a bit longer, most often two to four weeks depending on what state the last year was left in and how quickly the previous firm responds.
What if I owe my current accountant money?
Settle it. A firm is entitled to be paid, and an unpaid invoice is the most common reason a handover stalls. It has nothing to do with us and it is much easier to resolve before you give notice than after.
Start with the call, not the decision
Twenty minutes, free, and nothing happens as a result of it unless you want it to. You get a straight answer on whether moving is worth it for you, including if the answer is no.