Bookkeeping Case Study – Single Retail Location

CASE STUDY

CLIENT

A single retail location operating for 12 years.

CHALLENGE

The business owner was having to estimate their HST remittances every quarter as the bookkeeper was 6 – 8 months behind in the reporting. Even when figures were received, the owner was not convinced the numbers were correct and always had to complete a “Back of the envelope” calculation

JOURNEY

In an attempt to resolve their challenge they enlisted the help of the accounting firm who prepared their year end tax returns. They employed the help of an accountant on a quarterly basis to review and complete the HST returns. The cost of their bookkeeping increased significantly, yet they still only had approximate numbers on a quarterly basis.

SOLUTION

We conducted our site assessment of their books and provided a detailed list of areas that needed to be addressed with the current processes and resulting financials. Changes would be required to some of the internal processes of the store, as well as establishing a system of recordkeeping to ensure that everything was completed in a timely manner. Our services were engaged in April and the previous bookkeeper had just completed the close of the September month end from the previous year.

RESULTS

The first step was to gather all of the information from the numerous locations around the store and accumulate into a single place. A process was implemented to export the information from their POS system which could then be imported directly into their QuickBooks program without requiring the duplicate entry of data. Some of the tasks which fell upon their staff to complete were outsourced to us in order to ensure completion on a timely basis, as they were critical to the production of the financial statements. After the initial clean up phase which took three months, the client now receives accurate financials on a monthly basis and every HST quarter is filed on time, with no extra work from their end. It did require two HST return quarters with the owner still preparing his back of the envelope calculations to give them the level of comfort that it was no longer required and that the financials they were receiving were accurate. We also streamlined the year end process with his accountant, whereby all questions/inquiries were addressed by us, freeing up even more time for the business owner.