If you are anything like me, you need a reminder if you are going to get anything done on time. Fortunately for me, there aren’t any consequences to missing my hair cut appointment – save for looking like a bit of a hippy. Dealing with CRA is a different ball game. If you owe CRA…
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Many small businesses face a common dilemma regarding financial reporting. They want to minimize tax, which means reporting low income. But they also want to keep their banker happy, which means reporting high income. I often need to counsel clients that they can’t have it both ways. Or can they? Construction contractors can have it…
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As an accountant and personal finance geek there are some things that people do and say about money that drive me crazy. That’s because often times people’s actions and thoughts on money issues make absolutely no sense mathematically. Examples include being happy about getting an income tax refund, carrying a balance on their credit card,…
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The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has recently come under heavy scrutiny for what critics are calling “politically motivated audits”. In the most recent high-profile case, the CRA is auditing a left-leaning think tank – a move which many are up in arms over because of the appearance that the conservative government may be influencing the…
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I’m typing this from Crete. Where I will spend the next 5 months, or longer. The Mediterranean Sea beckons mere steps from my apartment, the smells and sounds of new adventures and experiences entice. And something is not right. My world is in a state of turmoil, my mind is racing, I am anxious, worried,…
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In the last few years, there has been an explosion of new technology in the business application environment. I recently attended a conference where some of these software applications were on display. One speaker at this conference likened the recent “app explosion” to the Cambrian explosion of roughly a half-billion years ago when life on…
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Recently, I moved from Castlegar to Kelowna and began working remotely again. The transition to a remote office was smooth this time as I had a prior stint with it a couple years ago. Undoubtedly there are some obstacles to overcome, but for me, the benefits definitely outweigh any minor inconveniences. Learning to work remotely…
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Quick Books Online Conversion We recently did our first conversion of a client from Quick Books Desktop (QBD) to Quick Books Online (QBO). With only a couple of hitches, it went off pretty well. Our client is a building contractor with 8 employees. The in house bookkeeper has a low to moderate skill level. The…
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People sometimes think that we accountants are aloof or difficult to talk to. You might even say we have our heads in the cloud. Here at Pinnacle, we have to confess that we have had our heads in the cloud lately. It’s not what you may think though. We are talking about cloud computing, or…
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This past weekend the boys of Pinnacle PAC (Chris Brien and Jeff Ross) and FileCo Services Inc. (Doug Johnstone and Schuyler Holoboff) embarked on a journey akin to that of Frodo’s journey to Mt. Doom (or Valhalla Provincial Park if you prefer the real name). That similarity prompted Doug to start calling Chris “The Hobbit”.…
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