What is monthly bookkeeping?
Monthly bookkeeping is the routine of recording, matching, and closing a business's finances once a month, so the books always describe last month and not last spring. Each bank, card, and payment account is reconciled to its statement, every transaction is coded to the right account, and the month is locked once it balances.
We close the previous month by the 10th. You get a profit and loss, a balance sheet, a list of who still owes you, and a few plain sentences on what moved and why. If a supplier billed twice or a deposit never cleared, it shows up that month, while it is still easy to fix.
What does Langley Bookkeeping include in monthly bookkeeping?
- Reconciliation of every bank account, credit card, line of credit, and payment processor
- Coding of each transaction to your chart of accounts, with the receipt attached where one exists
- A monthly profit and loss, balance sheet, and receivables aging
- Follow-up on anything odd before the month is closed, rather than after
- A short written summary, plus a list of questions for you that rarely runs past five
Which software do you use for monthly bookkeeping?
We keep the ledger in QuickBooks Online or Xero. Receipts come in through Dext, which reads a photo taken in the truck as easily as an emailed invoice. Supplier payments run through Plooto or Rotessa. If you already use one of these, we keep it. If you are starting from nothing, QuickBooks Online suits most small Canadian businesses, and we do the setup.
How is a bookkeeper different from a CPA or a tax preparer?
A bookkeeper keeps the records current every month; a CPA reviews them, advises on structure, and prepares the year-end statements; a tax preparer files the returns. Plenty of owner-operators need all three, and the second and third go faster and cost less when the first is done well.
| Role | Main job | How often | How it is usually billed (CAD) | Usual credential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | Records, reconciliations, monthly statements, GST and PST returns | Every month | Monthly retainer | CPB designation or equivalent experience |
| CPA | Year-end statements, adjusting entries, structure and tax planning | At year-end, and when you ask | Hourly or per engagement | CPA |
| Tax preparer | Corporate T2 and personal T1 returns | Once a year | Fixed fee per return | CPA or experienced preparer |
Langley Bookkeeping is a bookkeeping practice. We send your CPA an organised file and answer their questions ourselves, so year-end becomes a handover rather than a rebuild.
What is not included in monthly bookkeeping?
Monthly bookkeeping does not include filing your corporate or personal income tax returns, and it is not an audit or review engagement. Those stay with your CPA. Closing out the fiscal year has its own scope, described under year-end preparation. If you have no CPA yet, ask us and we will suggest where to start.
What does monthly bookkeeping cost in Langley?
Monthly bookkeeping in Langley starts at $500 to $750 per month CAD for a single business with light volume, and rises as transactions, accounts, and payroll are added. The tier depends on how many transactions you have each month and how many moving parts the books carry.
| Tier | Monthly transactions | Monthly fee (CAD) | Typical shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steady | 0 to 50 | $500 to $750 | Monthly bookkeeping for single-entity businesses with straightforward transaction volume. |
| Considered | 50 to 150 | $800 to $1,200 | Monthly bookkeeping with payroll, AP, and quarterly review calls for businesses with more moving parts. |
| Bespoke | 150 or more | $1,250 to $2,000 | Holding companies, multi-entity structures, and fractional controller engagements. |
We fix the quote after a 20-minute call and a look at your accounts. If the books are behind, catch-up work is scoped and priced on its own before the monthly routine starts. Fees are plus applicable taxes.
How does monthly bookkeeping work for Langley businesses with seasonal revenue?
It works the same way every month, and that steadiness is what a seasonal business needs most. A berry farm in July, a landscaper in May, and a tasting room in August can each take in most of a year's cash in a few months. Closing every month, quiet ones included, shows how far the busy season has to stretch.
For seasonal files we add three things to the close:
- A cash forecast through the slow months, updated as the season winds down, so the winter payroll and the line of credit are planned rather than discovered.
- A check that every sales channel landed. Farm-gate stands, market weekends, U-pick tills, and event bookings each deposit differently, and the easiest revenue to lose track of is cash taken on a Saturday.
- Holdbacks and progress draws kept apart. Builders working the Willoughby and Brookswood subdivisions are paid in lumps, with part of each draw held back for months. We record the holdback as a receivable of its own, so the bank balance is not mistaken for money that is free to spend.
Further reading
For the whole picture, from the monthly close to GST, payroll, and year-end, read the Langley owner-operator's guide to bookkeeping.
On narrower questions:
- How much does bookkeeping cost in Langley in 2026?: what sets the fee, and why the cheapest quote can cost more by year-end.
- Job costing for Langley contractors: holdbacks, progress billing, and T5018 slips.
- Bookkeeping for BC farms: seasonal cash, equipment, and the records CRA expects to see.
A good fit if
- You run a business in Langley City, the Township, or a neighbouring community, alone or with a small team
- You have somewhere between a few dozen and a few hundred transactions a month
- You want one bookkeeper who knows your file and answers your questions
Probably not the right fit if
- You only want a tax return filed once a year
- Your budget for bookkeeping sits below the Steady tier
- You need an enterprise system that lives outside QuickBooks Online and Xero