Your Halifax Bookkeeper.
Work directly with a Halifax-based bookkeeper for monthly bookkeeping, payroll, HST and tax filing. One familiar contact, backed by a wider bookkeeping network.
Monthly bookkeeping from $199/monthCAD, plus applicable tax. Payroll and tax filing quoted separately.
Meet your Halifax bookkeeper.
Your books are looked after by Russel Layden, the bookkeeper for Halifax, based in Halifax / HRM.
About Russel Layden
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.
Get your bookkeeping quote.
Tell Russel Layden about your business. We’ll discuss what you need and the price before you commit. Usually a reply within one business day.
From the job site to the harbour to the kitchen.
If you run a crew, a boat or a kitchen in HRM, you’re probably doing the work all day and the books at night. That second job is the one we take off your hands.
Contractors and trades
Paid in deposits and progress bills? We track every job so you know what each one actually made.
Harbour and seasonal businesses
Busy summer, quiet winter. We keep the books steady through both, and year-end is ready when you are.
Restaurants and cafés
Card deposits never match your sales report. We tie them out every month.
Your bookkeeper lives and works here, not in a call centre in another province — so when you call about a job, a season or a surprise bill, you’re talking to someone who knows how business runs around the harbour.
WCB, Registry renewal, HST — we keep track of the Nova Scotia dates so nothing sneaks up on you.
Serving Halifax and the surrounding area
Serving HRM, including:
HRM is one municipality spread over a lot of ground. Halifax and Dartmouth face each other across the harbour; Bedford, Lower Sackville and Fall River lie to the north; Clayton Park, Timberlea and Spryfield are on the Halifax side, and Cole Harbour and Eastern Passage on the Dartmouth side.
Your bookkeeper is based in Halifax and works across all of it, so a business in Fall River or Eastern Passage gets the same month as one downtown — and the same person to call.
Most bookkeeping work is handled securely online, so you get local service without having to drive across the city with a box of receipts.
Questions from around the harbour.
Is Dartmouth or Bedford too far?
Not at all. We work across HRM, from Timberlea to Eastern Passage, with the same bookkeeper wherever you are.
I’m a contractor with a few subs. Can you handle that?
Yes. We keep subcontractor payments apart from materials, job by job, so the numbers you need for WCB and year-end are there when you need them.
We run a restaurant with a busy patio season. Is that a fit?
Very much. Card deposits, tips and a summer staff list are exactly the monthly work we do, and the quiet months are when we tidy up for year-end.
I’m a one-truck operation. Am I too small for a bookkeeper?
No — small crews are exactly who we’re built for. With one truck, a late HST return or a missed WCB report costs you more, not less.
I fell behind around the time Nova Scotia’s HST changed. Can you sort that out?
Yes. Books that run across the change are checked sale by sale at the right rate, and you get the price for the catch-up before we start.
What we handle each month
- Transaction categorization
- Bank and card reconciliations
- Monthly financial statements
- HST tracking
Payroll, tax filing and catch-up work are quoted separately.
Full service details →How it works
Tell us about your business
Send the short form. We’ll follow up personally.
Agree the scope and price
Know what’s included before work begins.
Keep your books current
We handle the monthly work and answer your questions.
We can fix that first.
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.
No hourly surprises.
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.
How Much Does a Bookkeeper Cost in Halifax?
What bookkeeping costs a Halifax small business with Nova Scotia HST added, and the local filings that shape the work: HST, WCB and the Registry.