Bookkeeping for a small Coquitlam business in 2026 is usually a flat monthly fee, and the fee follows three things: how many transactions you have, how many companies are involved, and whether there is payroll. With us, one business with light volume starts at $500 to $750 per month CAD. Groups with a HoldCo or several entities sit higher. Fees are plus applicable taxes.
The monthly number is only part of the price. Books also cost money later: in the CPA's year-end invoice, in GST you paid but never claimed back, and in March evenings spent hunting for paperwork. This post covers both halves.
What are the price bands for bookkeeping in Coquitlam?
Our 2026 bands are set by typical monthly transaction count and by the shape of the business:
| Tier | Monthly transactions | Monthly fee (CAD) | Typical shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steady | 0 to 50 | $500 to $750 | Monthly bookkeeping for single-entity businesses with straightforward transaction volume. |
| Considered | 50 to 150 | $800 to $1,200 | Monthly bookkeeping with payroll, AP, and quarterly review calls for businesses with more moving parts. |
| Bespoke | 150 or more | $1,250 to $2,000 | Holding companies, multi-entity structures, and fractional controller engagements. |
Most single-company owner-operators land in Steady: an agent with one PREC, a Port Moody design studio, a home-based online shop on Burke Mountain. Considered suits a business with staff on payroll, supplier bills to schedule and a call each quarter to go through the numbers. Bespoke is for groups, such as an operating company plus a HoldCo with rental condos and loans moving between the two.
Each band is a range because two files with the same transaction count can still differ. One might have a single bank account and tidy receipts; the other, four credit cards and a payment processor that settles net.
What moves a bookkeeping fee up or down?
Volume moves it first and complexity second. A transaction is any line that has to be coded and matched: a deposit, a card charge, a Stripe payout, a cheque to a subcontractor. After volume, these push the fee:
- Companies. Each one keeps its own ledger, bank feeds and month-end. A PREC plus a HoldCo is two files, not one larger file.
- Accounts. Three credit cards, two chequing accounts and a line of credit take longer to reconcile than one of each.
- Payroll. Pay runs, source-deduction remittances, T4 slips and Records of Employment are steady monthly work. See payroll management.
- Sales tax. GST returns sit inside most monthly files. A business with taxable BC sales also files PST, priced as an add-on.
- Sales channels. A Shopify store, an Amazon seller account and a market-stall card reader each settle on their own timetable, net of fees. Every payout has to be split back into sales, fees and refunds.
- Inventory. Counting stock and costing goods sold adds a layer that a service firm never deals with.
- Starting point. A current, reconciled ledger is cheaper to take on than one that stopped in April.
A few habits bring the fee down and cost nothing: one card used only for the business, receipts snapped when they happen, and one bank account per company. Those three habits remove most of the questions we would otherwise send you.
How does a monthly bookkeeping firm compare with the alternatives?
Owners usually weigh four options. Apart from our own tiers and the Job Bank wage, nothing below is a quote or a verified figure. The comparisons are general, and actual costs vary with the person and the file.
| Option | What you pay | What stays on your plate |
|---|---|---|
| Software on your own | A monthly subscription to QuickBooks Online or Xero, plus your evenings | Every reconciliation, GST return and year-end question |
| Freelancer billing hourly | An hourly rate that varies widely with experience; we have no verified local figure to give you | Reviewing the work, and finding cover when they are away |
| Employed bookkeeper | Job Bank puts the median bookkeeper wage in the Lower Mainland–Southwest region at $28.85 an hour (2023–2024 data), before employer CPP and EI, vacation pay, benefits and a desk | Hiring, training and supervising, plus cover for holidays |
| Monthly bookkeeping firm | A flat monthly fee; ours start at $500 to $750 per month CAD | Sending documents and answering a short list of questions |
The wage line is the one people underestimate. A part-time employee still needs supervising, still needs a backup in August, and still leaves the owner checking whether GST was coded correctly. A firm absorbs those costs into the fee.
Your CPA's year-end fee is separate in every option. The CPA sets it, and it depends heavily on how clean the books are when they arrive.
What do cheap books cost at year-end?
Cheap books get paid for later, usually at someone else's hourly rate. The bill tends to arrive in five places:
- CPA time. A CPA handed unreconciled accounts either rebuilds them at CPA rates or sends them back. The year-end fee climbs, or the file sits.
- GST you never recovered. Input tax credits on a laptop, ad spend or a trade's invoice come back only if the receipt was kept and the purchase was coded with its tax. A shoebox of missing receipts is a shoebox of missed credits.
- The balance-due day. A corporation generally owes its tax two months after year-end, or three for a Canadian-controlled private corporation that meets CRA's conditions, even though the T2 isn't due for six months. Books that reach the CPA in month five arrive after the payment date, and CRA can charge penalties and interest on late payments.
- A threshold crossed in the dark. Once taxable sales pass $30,000, GST registration is no longer optional, and CRA's start date doesn't move because nobody was counting. Sorting out sales already made without GST is work for your CPA, billed accordingly. Our post on when a home-based or online business needs to register for GST explains the two tests.
- A catch-up project. Months of unmatched bank lines are rebuilt oldest month first through catch-up bookkeeping, on a fixed project fee. Doing months late rarely costs less than doing them on time.
Say a Coquitlam renovator trims the monthly bill by skipping reconciliations. At year-end the CPA finds three months of unexplained deposits, a truck bought on a personal card, and supplier invoices with no GST recorded against them. The CPA's extra hours, the catch-up project and the unclaimed credits can easily outrun a year of savings, and the tax estimate lands after the money was due.
The cheapest year-end
Twelve closed months and a reconciled file sent to the CPA well before the balance-due day. The year-end checklist for Tri-Cities owner-operators sets out the eight weeks before your year-end, week by week.
Do bookkeeping fees in BC carry GST or PST?
Our fees are quoted plus applicable taxes. If your business is registered for GST, the GST on a bookkeeping invoice is generally a business expense you can claim back as an input tax credit, like GST on other business purchases.
PST is in flux. Victoria said PST would reach accounting services, a category that includes bookkeeping, from October 1, 2026, and then paused that expansion. Some provincial bulletins still list the October date. Before you budget, check the current status on the province's PST on accounting services page.
How do you get an accurate bookkeeping quote?
Have a 20-minute call and let the bookkeeper see a few recent statements. A quote given without seeing the accounts is a guess. Have these ready:
- The number of bank accounts, credit cards and loans the business uses
- A rough count of transactions in a normal month, or two recent bank statements
- Every company involved: OpCo, PREC, HoldCo, a numbered company holding a presale
- How many people are on payroll, if any, and how often they're paid
- Where sales come from: invoices, a card terminal, Shopify, Amazon, delivery apps
- The last month that was fully reconciled
You get a flat monthly fee in writing. If the books are behind, the catch-up is quoted separately first, so the monthly fee starts from a clean month. The full scope is on monthly bookkeeping, and what happens at the end of your fiscal year is on year-end preparation.
When is the cheapest option the right one?
When the business is simple enough that your own time costs less than the risk of mistakes. A sole proprietor with one account, no staff and sales well below the GST threshold can often keep the books in software for an evening a month.
The sums change at predictable moments: incorporating, hiring a first employee, opening a second company, buying a presale through a numbered company, or adding a sales channel that pays out net of fees. At that point the cost of a missed entry grows faster than the monthly fee. For how bookkeeping, sales tax, payroll and year-end fit together across a whole year, start with the Coquitlam owner-operator's guide to bookkeeping.
Questions owners ask
Do you charge by the hour or a flat monthly fee?
A flat monthly fee. We set it once we have spoken for 20 minutes and seen a few recent statements. A busy month does not change the invoice; if heavier volume becomes normal, we agree a new tier with you before it applies.
Is the accounting software included in the bookkeeping fee?
No. QuickBooks Online or Xero, and add-ons such as Dext, are billed to you by the vendor and sit in your company name. That way the file stays yours whoever keeps the books.
Will PST be added to my bookkeeping invoice?
BC announced PST on accounting services, which include bookkeeping, for October 1, 2026, and then paused that expansion; some provincial bulletins still list the October date. Our fees are plus applicable taxes, so check the province's current status before you budget.
Does a PREC or a HoldCo cost more to keep?
Usually, because every company has its own ledger, bank feeds and reconciliations. An agent with a PREC alone is a smaller file than an agent with a PREC, a HoldCo and rental condos, which tends to sit on our Bespoke tier.
How much does it cost to catch up books that are months behind?
Catch-up is quoted as one fixed project fee after we review the backlog. The price depends on how many months are open, how many accounts and companies are involved, and how complete your statements and receipts are.
Is a cheaper bookkeeper ever the better choice?
Sometimes. A sole proprietor with one bank account, no staff and sales well under the GST threshold may do fine with software and an evening a month. The sums change once you incorporate, hire or add a second company.