Services
Bookkeeping consulting, cleanup, and systems support for trades, contractor, and project-based businesses across Canada.
Bookkeeping consulting, cleanup, and systems support for trades, contractor, and project-based businesses across Canada.
Every engagement at Boreal Business Solutions starts in the same place:
a Bookkeeping Diagnostic.
Before we touch your books, recommend a tool, or suggest a single change, we want to understand exactly where your business stands today. What's set up correctly, what's causing problems, and what's quietly costing you time or money without you realizing it yet. The diagnostic gives us, and you, a clear, honest picture of your current state before anything else happens.
From there, the path forward depends entirely on what we find.
For many clients, the next step is a Bookkeeping Cleanup, correcting the issues uncovered in the diagnostic, reconciling the backlog, and getting the books to a place where they're accurate, organized, and actually useful. For others, the bigger priority is Systems & Integration Consulting, getting the software tools your business relies on to communicate properly with QuickBooks Online so your team isn't manually bridging the gap between platforms every single week.
Often, it's both.
And once the foundation is solid, many clients choose to continue working with us through our Workflows, SOPs & Team Support offer, building the documented processes, training, and ongoing advisory structure that keeps everything running consistently, even as the business grows and the team changes.
Every service is scoped and priced based on your specific situation. No packages that don't fit, no services you don't need. Just a clear plan built around what your business actually requires, starting with the diagnostic that tells us exactly what that is.
Ready to find out where your books really stand?
Bookkeeping Diagnostic & Cleanup
Most businesses don't realize their books have problems until something goes wrong, a year-end that takes twice as long as it should, numbers that don't match what's happening on the ground, or a new bookkeeper inheriting a file that makes no sense. By then, the issues have often been building for months or years.
The Bookkeeping Diagnostic cuts through the uncertainty. Before we recommend a single solution or touch a single transaction, we assess your books from the ground up, so you know exactly what you're working with and what needs to change.
Know exactly where you stand, and get a clear path to where you need to be.
You'll walk away with a clear, plain-language report, not a list of accounting jargon, but a straightforward breakdown of what's working, what isn't, and what we recommend doing about it. Whether you move forward with us or take the report to another provider, you'll have the information you need to make smart decisions.
Investment: Diagnostic starting at $500
A thorough review of your QuickBooks Online file (or other bookkeeping software)
Assessment of your chart of accounts, is it structured in a way that actually reflects how your business operates?
Review of account reconciliations and identification of outstanding discrepancies
Evaluation of how income and expenses are being categorized, and whether they align with CRA requirements
Review of GST/HST setup and remittance history
Assessment of job costing or project tracking setup (where applicable)
A review of any connected software or integrations, “are they pulling data accurately?”
A written summary of findings: current state, issues identified, and prioritized recommendations
Post- Diagnostic Services
From Diagnostic to Cleanup
If the diagnostic reveals issues, and it usually does, the next step is getting things corrected. Cleanup work is about more than tidying up the past. Accurate historical records give you meaningful reports going forward, protect you in the event of a CRA review, and give whoever manages your books (you, your staff, or a bookkeeper) a clean foundation to work from.
Cleanup services can include:
Correcting mis-categorized transactions across any time period
Restructuring the chart of accounts to better reflect your business and industry
Reconciling bank, credit card, loan, and other accounts to ensure everything ties out
Correcting GST/HST reporting errors or addressing missed remittances
Resolving payroll discrepancies or correcting payroll entries
Cleaning up accounts receivable and accounts payable, who owes what, and to whom
Correcting or establishing job costing to allocate costs accurately by project or job
Bringing books current after a period of inactivity, ownership transition, or software migration
Investment: Diagnostic starting at $500. Cleanup quoted separately based on transaction volume and time period, scope is determined following the diagnostic so there are no surprises.
Systems & Integration Consulting
Your software should work together. When it doesn't, we fix it.
Most trades and contractor businesses aren't running just one piece of software. There's QuickBooks Online for the books, a field management or scheduling app for the crew, maybe a separate payroll platform, and possibly an inventory or estimating tool on top of that. When those systems don't communicate cleanly, or at all, someone on your team is paying the price in manual data entry, reconciliation headaches, and errors that are hard to trace.
We help you identify exactly where the data is breaking down, determine the best path forward for your specific setup, and implement a solution that actually holds.
What this service covers:
A full assessment of your current software ecosystem, what you're running, how data moves between systems, and where it's falling apart
Identification of available integration options between your tools and QuickBooks Online
Configuration and setup of app integrations, or recommendations for better-fit tools where current integrations don't exist or don't perform well
Data cleanup following integration failures, duplicate entries, or migration errors
QBO upgrades and migrations, from QuickBooks Desktop to Online, or from another platform entirely, including historical data migration and setup
Testing and verification that integrated systems are pulling data accurately before you rely on them
Documentation of the integration workflow so your team understands how data flows and what to do when something looks off
Investment: Custom quoted following your diagnostic. Scope and timeline depend on the number of systems involved, the complexity of the integration, and whether data cleanup is required as part of the engagement.
A note on other software:
We're experienced with QBO and the ecosystem of tools that connect to it, including field management platforms like BuildOps, Jobber, and Buildertrend. If you're using something we haven't worked with directly, we'll assess how it interacts with QBO and find the best path forward for your setup. That might mean configuring an existing integration, identifying a better alternative, or building a reliable bridge process while a longer-term solution is put in place. We'd rather give you the right answer for your business than a fast one that doesn't hold.
Workflows, SOPs & Team Support
Great bookkeeping isn't just about software, it's about the people and processes behind it.
A well-configured QuickBooks file and a solid software integration won't do much if the processes around them are inconsistent, undocumented, or held together by one person who knows how everything works. When that person is away, or leaves, things fall apart fast.
This service is for established businesses that have an in-house bookkeeper or office staff managing the day-to-day finances, and want to make sure the system is built to last, not just to survive.
It's also for the in-house bookkeeper who is capable and committed, but working in a system they didn't set up, using software they weren't fully trained on, or carrying processes in their head that have never been written down. We're not here to replace them, we're here to set them up properly.
Investment: Custom quoted following your diagnostic. Can be structured as a fixed-scope project (SOP development, training package) or an ongoing retainer for periodic advisory support.
What this service can include:
QuickBooks Online Training, for your actual business, not a generic walkthrough
We work through QBO using your real data, your real processes, and your real chart of accounts. By the end, your team isn't just familiar with the software, they know how to use it correctly for the specific way your business operates.
Workflow Documentation & SOP Development
We map out your current bookkeeping processes, how transactions are recorded, how accounts are reconciled, how month-end gets closed, and turn them into clear, written SOPs your whole team can follow. No more "ask so-and-so, she knows how we do it." The process lives in the document, not in someone's memory.
Month-End & Year-End Close Processes
If month-end is currently a stressful scramble or year-end means handing your accountant a mess and hoping for the best, we'll build a structured close process with checklists and timelines so it becomes routine instead of reactive.
Reference Materials & Team Checklists
Practical, easy-to-follow reference documents your team can use day-to-day, categorization guides, reconciliation checklists, how-to references for common transactions specific to your industry.
Ongoing Check-Ins & Advisory Support
For businesses that don't need someone to do the books but want an experienced bookkeeper they can call when something looks off or a situation comes up they haven't seen before. We offer periodic review sessions and standing advisory support so your in-house team always has somewhere to turn.
QuickBooks Desktop Migration
Make the move to QuickBooks Online — on your terms, done right.
QuickBooks Desktop is being phased out. If you're still running it, the time to migrate is now, before you're forced into it under pressure. The good news is that with the right support, the transition doesn't have to mean lost data, weeks of disruption, or a team fumbling through an unfamiliar system.
We manage the full migration from start to finish: assessing your current file, transferring your complete transaction history, configuring QBO for the way your business actually operates, setting up your integrations, and training your team before we hand anything over. You keep every bit of your historical data, and you end up with a system that's set up correctly from day one.
One thing worth knowing: a migration can happen any time of year, it doesn't have to wait until year-end. In fact, planning it on your own timeline almost always leads to a smoother transition than waiting until you're forced to act.
This is a strong fit if you're:
Running QuickBooks Desktop and ready to make the move
Switching from another platform (Sage, Xero, Wave, or others) to QBO
Already migrated but the setup isn't right and things aren't working as they should
A trades or contractor business that needs QBO configured for job costing and field software integrations from the start
Frequently Asked Questions
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A bookkeeping diagnostic is a professional financial health check, and it goes beyond just reviewing your QBO file. It starts with short questionnaires and conversations with you and any key staff involved in your finances, because the people closest to the process often have the clearest picture of where things feel off. From there, we assess your setup in detail: chart of accounts, transaction categorization, reconciliations, GST/HST, and anything that could cause problems at year-end or with CRA. You receive a clear, plain-language summary of findings and a prioritized list of recommendations.
If a cleanup follows, that's where we fix it, correcting entries, reconciling accounts, and getting your books to a place where they're accurate and usable by everyone who relies on them.
The timeline depends on complexity and how far back corrections need to go. A straightforward cleanup typically takes one to two weeks; a more involved file may take longer. Either way, you'll have a clear scope and realistic timeline before work begins, no surprises.
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That's exactly what the diagnostic is designed to figure out, and it's why we start every engagement there. You don't need to come to us knowing whether you need a cleanup, a systems overhaul, or team training. You just need to be willing to have an honest conversation about where things stand. After the diagnostic, we'll have a clear picture of what's actually going on in your books and systems, and we'll give you a straightforward recommendation for what makes sense next. No pressure, no upselling services you don't need. just an honest assessment and a practical path forward.
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Absolutely. In fact, smaller operations often benefit the most from getting their systems and processes right early. You don't need a large team or a complex operation to end up with a QBO file that's set up wrong, software that isn't talking to each other, or processes that only work because one person is holding everything together. Those problems don't scale, and they get harder and more expensive to fix the longer they sit. Whether you have two people in the office or twenty, if your books aren't giving you accurate, useful information, that's worth fixing. The diagnostic will tell us exactly what that looks like for your specific situation.