Your questions, answered.

Yes — the majority of our clients are US-based small businesses. We have deep expertise in IRS-compliant bookkeeping, state-level sales tax (Nexus) tracking, W-9 vendor management, and 1099 preparation. We ensure your books are clean and CPA-ready at year-end, no matter which state you operate in.

Absolutely. North Ledger is a remote-first bookkeeping firm. While we are headquartered in Toronto, we serve small businesses across every province and territory in Canada — British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, and beyond. All onboarding and day-to-day work is handled remotely, so location is never a barrier.

Most clients are fully onboarded within 30 days. Week 1 covers discovery and secure access setup. Weeks 2–3 handle catch-up reconciliation (if needed) and software configuration. By the start of Month 2, your books run on our consistent monthly rhythm — closed by the 15th of every following month.

Very little, initially. After you accept your quote and sign on, we ask for read-only access to your bank and credit card accounts (usually via your bank's online portal), access to your accounting software (QuickBooks Online or Xero), and access to your payroll system if applicable. We guide you through every step — most clients spend under two hours on setup total.

A bookkeeper records and categorizes your day-to-day financial transactions — income, expenses, payroll, bank reconciliations, and accounts payable/receivable. An accountant (CPA) uses those records to prepare tax returns, provide strategic financial advice, and handle complex compliance issues. North Ledger is your bookkeeper. We work alongside your CPA to ensure they have clean, accurate data to work from — saving them (and you) significant time and money at tax season.

We do not file corporate or personal income tax returns — we are a dedicated bookkeeping and financial operations firm. What we do prepare is a pristine, tax-ready financial package (P&L, balance sheet, general ledger, bank reconciliations, supporting schedules) that we deliver directly to your CPA or tax preparer. This dramatically reduces their billable hours and ensures your tax filing is accurate.

Yes. We calculate your GST/HST, PST (BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba), and QST (Quebec) obligations each quarter, prepare the returns, and ensure they are filed on time with the CRA. We also track input tax credits (ITCs) to ensure you are not overpaying. For businesses that sell into the US, we also track state sales tax Nexus obligations.

Yes. We manage payroll for both Canadian and US employees through your preferred platform — Gusto, ADP, Payworks, or Telpay. For Canadian payroll, we handle CRA remittances, Records of Employment (ROEs), and T4 preparation. For US payroll, we coordinate W-2 issuance and multi-state payroll compliance. Payroll is available as a standalone add-on or bundled with monthly bookkeeping.

We are certified partners for both QuickBooks Online (QBO) and Xero — the two leading cloud accounting platforms for small businesses. We also integrate with Dext and Hubdoc for receipt capture, Gusto, ADP, Payworks, and Telpay for payroll, and Stripe, Square, and Shopify for e-commerce revenue sync. We do not support QuickBooks Desktop or Sage 50. If you are on a different platform, we can typically assist with a migration.

Yes — catch-up and cleanup bookkeeping is one of our most common engagements. We pause current-month processing and systematically reconcile your historical data month by month, clearing miscategorizations, duplicate entries, and suspense account balances. We establish a clean, defensible baseline before transitioning you to an ongoing monthly rhythm. The timeline depends on volume, but most catch-up projects are complete within 2–6 weeks.

We work with small businesses across a broad range of industries: e-commerce and Shopify merchants, SaaS and software companies, professional services (law firms, consulting, marketing agencies), construction and trades, restaurants and hospitality, real estate investors, freelancers and sole proprietors, and non-profits. Our cross-border expertise is particularly valuable for Canadian companies selling into the US, and US companies with Canadian operations or employees.

Yes — and this is where we go beyond basic bookkeeping. Each month you receive a reporting package that includes a Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, and a plain-language executive summary explaining what the numbers mean for your business. We highlight revenue trends, cash runway, key expense categories, and any anomalies. Reports are delivered by the 15th of the following month.

Multi-currency accounting is one of our core strengths. We accurately track realized and unrealized foreign exchange (FX) gains and losses, reconcile foreign currency bank accounts in both USD and CAD, and consolidate your financial statements in your home currency. We use the Bank of Canada's daily exchange rate or the rate at the transaction date, depending on CRA or IRS requirements for your situation.

If your Canadian business has economic Nexus in US states (typically triggered by $100,000 USD in sales or 200 transactions per state), you are legally required to collect and remit state sales tax. We track your revenue by state, identify Nexus thresholds, prepare state sales tax returns, and coordinate filing through your preferred tax software or CPA. This is an area many Canadian e-commerce businesses overlook — and it's one of our specialties.

Yes. We maintain your vendor W-9 records throughout the year, track payments to US-based independent contractors, and prepare 1099-NEC forms for all contractors paid $600 or more annually. We deliver the completed 1099 package to you and your CPA before the January 31 filing deadline each year.

Our remote onboarding is highly structured and requires minimal time from you. Step 1: We send a secure access request for your bank, credit card, and accounting software accounts — read-only access wherever possible. Step 2: We configure your chart of accounts and connect your payment processors (Stripe, Square, Shopify). Step 3: We set up automated receipt capture via Dext or Hubdoc. Step 4: We complete any historical catch-up needed. The entire process takes about 2–4 weeks, with most clients spending under 2 hours of their own time.

We operate on an asynchronous communication model. We do not use Slack or Teams for client communication — in our experience, these tools lead to disorganized financial discussions and missed requests. Instead, we use dedicated email threads and secure client portals for document exchange. Once per month, we send a single, consolidated query email listing any transactions that need your input. One batch, not a constant stream of questions.

Not only can you — we actively encourage it. North Ledger is your bookkeeper, not your tax preparer. We keep your books clean year-round so that when tax season arrives, your CPA receives a complete, accurate, and well-organized package that requires minimal additional work from them. Clients regularly report that their CPA bills dropped significantly after engaging us, because the cleanup work is already done.

We maintain strict capacity limits to ensure every client receives attentive, high-quality service. Our bookkeepers are not managing 100+ client files the way large outsourced firms do. We prioritize depth over breadth — which is why our books are closed by the 15th every month without exception, and why our client retention rate is 100%.

Our monthly bookkeeping plans start at $129 USD per month for freelancers and sole proprietors with low transaction volumes. Plans scale up to $429 USD per month for businesses with higher volumes or cross-border complexity. A one-time onboarding fee of $149 USD applies to all new clients — this covers account setup, chart of accounts configuration, software integration, and opening balance reconciliation. View our full pricing breakdown on the Pricing page.

No. We operate on a month-to-month basis with 30 days' notice to cancel. We believe our work should speak for itself — we do not use contracts to lock clients in. That said, the vast majority of our clients stay with us for years because consistent, high-quality bookkeeping is genuinely hard to find.

The one-time onboarding fee of $149 USD covers: a full assessment of your existing books and accounting software setup, chart of accounts configuration or cleanup, integration setup with your banks, credit cards, and payment processors, software connection to Dext or Hubdoc for receipt capture, and the opening balance reconciliation that creates your clean starting point. It is the only additional fee you will ever see — no hidden charges, no per-transaction fees.

Security is foundational to how we operate. We request read-only access to your bank and credit card accounts wherever possible — we cannot move money or make changes. All document exchange happens through bank-level encrypted client portals. We never store your banking login credentials. All client data is handled in compliance with PIPEDA (Canada's federal privacy law). If you're a US client, we also align our data handling practices with applicable US state privacy regulations.

Only the North Ledger team member assigned to your account has access to your financial data. We do not share your data with third parties, sell client information, or use your data for any purpose other than delivering your bookkeeping services. All team members operate under strict confidentiality agreements. When our engagement ends, we provide you with a complete data export and revoke all access within 48 hours.