Work directly with a Halifax-based bookkeeper for monthly bookkeeping, payroll, HST and tax filing — with one person who gets to know your business and a wider bookkeeping network behind them.
Your books are looked after by Russel Layden, the bookkeeper for Halifax, based in Halifax / HRM.
They become your regular point of contact — someone who learns how your business operates, keeps your books current and is there when questions come up.
You get the relationship of working with one local person, without the risk of depending on one person working completely on their own.
I’m based in Halifax, and I’ve spent the last decade either keeping the books for a small business or running one.
For nearly eight years I was general manager of a Dartmouth cidery, and did the bookkeeping in-house in QuickBooks Online for more than six of them — reconciliations, payables, payroll, suppliers — while also running the day-to-day. Before that I kept the books for a funeral home in New Brunswick. More recently I’ve been office manager and bookkeeper for a Halifax technology company, including bringing an acquired business’s accounts into ours.
Doing the books while also running the place is what I bring to this. I know what it’s like when the bookkeeping is the thing that slides, because I’ve been the one keeping a business going as well as the person sorting the books out afterwards. I work in English and French.
You shouldn’t have to explain your company from scratch every time you need help.
Your Halifax bookkeeper gets familiar with your customers, suppliers, bank accounts, recurring expenses, payroll and the little things that make your business different.
That means questions get answered in context and problems are easier to spot.
The same person every month — someone you can email or speak with directly.
Your bookkeeper understands how money moves through your company and what looks normal for you.
You get someone based in the Halifax area, while most of the day-to-day work is handled securely online.
It’s a fair question.
Personal service, with continuity built in.
The monthly work, and the filings that come off it. One bookkeeper, one process, and a price you are told before anything starts.
Transactions categorized, bank and credit-card accounts reconciled, and your books kept current throughout the year.
Several months behind? We work through the backlog, reconcile the accounts and bring everything up to date.
Payroll processing, deductions, remittance tracking and year-end payroll records.
We track the HST you collect and the eligible input tax credits you pay so your records are ready when filing time comes.
Corporate tax preparation and filing for incorporated businesses, using books we already understand. From $799 for monthly bookkeeping clients.
Personal tax preparation for business owners, self-employed individuals and families. We take personal tax clients from January 2027. Returns are then prepared for CRA’s own season, which opens later in the winter.
When the person handling your tax return already understands the bookkeeping, there’s less back-and-forth at year-end.
Throughout the year, we already have visibility into things like:
So when it’s time to prepare a T2 or T1 return, the information is already much more organized.
QuickBooks, Xero and Sage are useful tools, and we’re happy to work with them.
But software still leaves someone responsible for the actual work.
The software is part of the system. It shouldn’t become another job for the business owner.
Everything is possible. Everything is also yours.
The same work, finished each month by someone who knows your file.
We keep your books in Brian, our own bookkeeping system. You don’t buy it, install it or learn it — it comes with the bookkeeping, and it’s where your bookkeeper does the work.
Every plan includes all of it. What you pay depends on the size of your business, not on which features you’re allowed to use.
We work well with businesses where the owner is still actively involved in running the company.
Every company works a little differently, so the bookkeeping process is set up around how your business actually operates.
Owner-operated and growing small businesses across Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, Lower Sackville, Clayton Park, Cole Harbour, Timberlea, Fall River, Eastern Passage, Spryfield and the communities around them.
Serving HRM, including:
Most bookkeeping work is handled securely online, so you get local service without having to drive across the city with a box of receipts.
Tell Russel Layden about your business, what you’re doing today and where you need help.
We look at your current setup and identify anything that needs to be cleaned up or corrected.
If you’re behind, we catch things up first. If you’re already current, we establish a regular monthly process.
Transactions get categorized, accounts reconciled and questions dealt with throughout the year.
Because the books have already been maintained properly.
Bookkeeping is often the first thing that gets pushed aside when business gets busy.
If you’re several months behind — or haven’t looked at the books since last year — we can work through the backlog and get you current again.
We’ll tell you what’s missing, what needs to be fixed and what the cleanup will cost before starting.
Monthly bookkeeping starts from $199 per month, with pricing based on the size and complexity of your business rather than an hourly clock.
Payroll, T1 and T2 filing are priced separately, and you’ll know the price before anything starts.
If catch-up or cleanup work is needed first, we’ll quote that separately.
Every plan includes everything; the tiers are about size, not features.
For smaller businesses with straightforward monthly activity.
For active businesses that need complete monthly bookkeeping and reporting.
For businesses with higher transaction volume or more complex financial activity.
Have employees? Add payroll to your monthly bookkeeping, so there is one relationship for the day-to-day financial work in your business and the pay runs land in the books where they belong.
Tell us what kind of business you run, what you’re doing today and where you need help. We’ll explain what we recommend, what it would cost and what the next step would be. No obligation. A real person replies.