What is monthly bookkeeping?
Monthly bookkeeping is the recurring work of closing your books each month: reconciling every account to the statement, categorising transactions, posting accruals, and producing financial statements the owner can actually read. Coal Harbour closes the prior month by the tenth of the following month, every month, so the numbers you make decisions on are never more than a few weeks old.
By the tenth of each month, your prior month is closed. Bank and credit card accounts are reconciled, payables and receivables are reviewed, and anomalies are flagged before they compound. You receive a short note outlining what happened, what changed, and anything worth your attention — written so a non-accountant can read it.
What does Coal Harbour include in monthly bookkeeping?
- Reconcile every bank, credit card, and payment processor account
- Categorise and review transactions against your chart of accounts
- Prepare monthly financial statements: profit and loss, balance sheet, and AR aging
- Flag discrepancies and investigate unusual items within the same close
- Deliver a monthly summary with plain-English notes and follow-up questions
What software do you use for bookkeeping?
QuickBooks Online or Xero as the ledger. Dext for receipt capture. Plooto for supplier payments. We meet you where your business already operates. If you have no software yet, we recommend QuickBooks Online for most Canadian small businesses and handle the setup.
How is bookkeeping different from accounting and tax preparation?
Bookkeepers, accountants, and tax preparers are adjacent but distinct roles. Bookkeeping is the monthly record-keeping and reconciliation work. Accounting is the review, analysis, and reporting built on top of the ledger. Tax preparation is the once-a-year filing of corporate and personal returns with the CRA. Most Canadian small businesses need all three, usually from at least two different specialists.
| Role | What they do | Cadence | Typical monthly cost (CAD) | Usual credential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | Record transactions, reconcile accounts, produce monthly statements, file GST and PST | Monthly | $400 to $2,000 | CPB or equivalent experience |
| Accountant (CPA) | Review financials, advise on structure, prepare year-end adjusting entries | Annually, with quarterly check-ins | $0 to $500 (billed hourly) | CPA |
| Tax preparer (CPA) | Prepare and file corporate T2 and personal T1 returns | Once a year | N/A (fixed fee $1,500 to $5,000 at year-end) | CPA or TaxCycle preparer |
Coal Harbour is a bookkeeping firm. We coordinate directly with your CPA on year-end and tax work so the handover is a handoff, not a second project.
What is not included in monthly bookkeeping?
This is bookkeeping, not tax filing. We prepare books that are audit-ready and hand them to your CPA for corporate tax returns — the fiscal-year close is handled through our year-end preparation engagement. If you do not yet have a CPA, we introduce you to one of the firms we work with regularly across Vancouver.
What does monthly bookkeeping cost in Vancouver?
Monthly bookkeeping runs $500 to $750 per month CAD for straightforward owner-operator books on the Steady tier (0 to 50 monthly transactions), $800 to $1,200 per month for the Considered tier (50 to 150 monthly transactions), and $1,250 to $2,000 per month for Bespoke multi-entity engagements (150 or more monthly transactions). Final pricing is set after a 20-minute discovery call where we review your accounts, transaction volume, and — if you are behind — the scope of catch-up bookkeeping needed before the monthly rhythm starts.
Further reading
For a reference-grade walkthrough of the monthly close, indirect tax, payroll, year-end, and the Canadian small-business software stack in one document, read the Canadian small-business bookkeeping guide.
Cluster posts that go deeper on specific questions:
- Bookkeeper vs. accountant in Canada — which role does what, and why most Canadian businesses need both.
- How much does bookkeeping cost in Vancouver in 2026? — price bands, fee drivers, and the hidden cost of the cheapest option.
- QuickBooks Online for Canadian small business — the default platform, when Xero or Wave fit instead.
A good fit if
- You are an owner-operator or small team based in Metro Vancouver
- Your monthly transaction volume sits between 50 and 500 items
- You value working with one consistent bookkeeper who knows your business
Probably not the right fit if
- You need less than $300/month in total bookkeeping spend
- You are looking for a tax-only engagement without monthly books
- You need enterprise ERP integrations outside our stack