Why You Should Never Get a Surprise Bill from Your Accountant
There are certain ways to avoid surprise bills from your accountant. Make no mistake - where many businesses have several products to offer, your accountant only sells their time. Many accountants want to be paid their regular rates for the time they spend on your file, and with good reason - for every hour they spend on you, they are spending dollars on salaries and overhead which must be recovered in order to stay in business.
One of the ways that we help our clients avoid those surprise bills is by offering Audit Shield from Accountancy Insurance. Audit Shield is an insurance policy (underwritten by Lloyd's of London) to protect you against additional bills when the government asks questions about your return or begins an audit file of your tax filings. This insurance isn't about covering us in case we don't file your returns properly, it's about protecting you in case the federal or provincial government gets unreasonable in the course of their audits and reviews.
We are currently preparing for our 5th annual offering of Audit Shield for our clients, and the letters will be in the mail soon. Shouldn't you protect yourself against the government?