Maple Plumbing's four GST/HST quarters are done. Now follow the same client through the year end: engagement letter, statements, compilation file, sign-off, the T2 and the invoice.
Missed the first part? See Maple Plumbing's GST/HST quarter
The Year End We Will Follow
The client
Maple Plumbing Ltd.
Owner: Tom Reid
The firm
10 people, about 90 year ends
The engagement
Compilation (CSRS 4200) and T2
The Walk-Through
Engage · Jan 4 to Jan 6
Priya picks Maple Plumbing, the services and the fee, and the firm's letter goes on top. Tom signs on his phone. Reminders go out on their own and stop the moment he signs. No printing, no scanning, no chasing.
Maple Plumbing Ltd. · 2026 year end
Signer: Tom Reid, President
Engage · Jan 7 to Jan 15
Tom gets the firm's year-end questionnaire: shareholder loans, vehicles, assets bought, anything unusual. A second form asks for the loan statements and year-end papers, with a box for each one. A reminder goes every few days until it is done.
What Tom fills in
Corporate Year-End Questionnaire
Maple Plumbing Ltd. · 2026
Did the company buy any vehicles or equipment?
Did you lend money to or borrow from the company?
What your team sees
Forms · Maple Plumbing
Gather · Jan 18
Priya rolls last year's file forward. The trial balance is not uploaded. It is linked live to the bookkeeping her team did all year, with last year beside it. If a transaction changes in the books, the statements change with it.
| Account | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | 48,920 | 36,110 |
| Accounts receivable | 31,450 | 27,880 |
| Sales | (289,330) | (251,600) |
| Materials and subcontracts | 121,400 | 108,950 |
| + 24 more accounts | ||
Gather · Jan 19
The four GST/HST returns filed during the year are pulled in on their own and set against the books. The difference is zero, and the working paper is done. Remember the quarter from the GST/HST walk-through? Here it is, already counted.
| Books | Returns | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 289,330.00 | 289,330.00 | 0.00 |
| HST on sales | 37,612.90 | 37,612.90 | 0.00 |
| Input tax credits | 15,413.35 | 15,413.35 | 0.00 |
| Net HST for the year | 22,199.55 | 22,199.55 | 0.00 |
Gather · Jan 20 to Feb 5
The truck loan paper checks the lender's statement against the books and proposes the entry to fix the difference. Amortization and accruals go in as numbered adjusting entries. Every leadsheet carries who prepared it and who reviewed it.
Prepare · Feb 9
The CSRS 4200 forms read the answers they can from the file: the client record, the signed letter, the trial balance, the entries. Priya confirms each one, writes the judgment calls herself, and signs. David reviews. The same person can never do both.
Prepare · Feb 10 to Feb 16
The statements come from the layout your firm set once for every client, with last year in the second column. The trial balance suggests the notes Maple Plumbing needs, and AI helps Priya write them in plain English.
MAPLE PLUMBING LTD.
Statement of Income
Year Ended December 31, 2026
(Unaudited - see Compilation Engagement Report)
Prepare · Feb 18
David goes through the file with his questions right beside the numbers, and Priya answers them there. When he is happy he signs as reviewer. Sarah, the partner, sets the date of the report. Every sign-off keeps its name and time.
Deliver · Feb 24
Priya starts a meeting. Every other client is closed off, so nothing shows by accident while Tom is beside her. She walks him through his statements and the T2 estimate. That evening he signs the final statements on his phone.
Maple Plumbing Ltd.
Everything else in the app stays closed until the meeting ends.
Client sign-off
If a number changes after he signs, the sign-off shows as out of date.
Deliver · Feb 26
Cover page, Compilation Engagement Report, the four statements, notes and schedule, in your firm's design, in one PDF. Sarah issues it, the file is locked, and Tom gets his copy. Every version is kept, so you can always show exactly what was issued.
✓ Cover page
✓ Compilation Engagement Report
✓ Balance sheet
✓ Statement of income
✓ Statement of retained earnings
✓ Statement of cash flows
✓ Notes and schedule of expenses
Versions
File locked. Changes after issue need a reason.
Deliver · Mar 2 to Mar 12
Priya exports the GIFI file and imports it into the firm's tax software. The balance sheet and income statement land in the T2, already coded. Tom already knew his tax from the meeting and paid it on Feb 27, a day early. The T2 card shows both.
| 1001 | Cash and deposits | 48,920 |
| 1060 | Accounts receivable | 31,450 |
| 3500 | Common shares | 100 |
| 8000 | Trade sales | 289,330 |
| 9999 | Net income after taxes | 39,809 |
MAPLE PLUMBING LTD.
Filed three and a half months before the June 30 deadline.
Deliver · Mar 12
The fee from the signed letter is ready to bill, so the invoice goes out the same day with the PDF attached. Next year's T2 is already on the list, and next year's file starts from this year's numbers with one click.
Invoice 2027-0142
PAID MAR 19Already waiting
Dec 31 · Year ends
Cedar Ridge Consulting has its own bookkeeper. Your firm only does the T2. The card was created when last year's T2 was filed, with both dates worked out: tax paid by Feb 28, return filed by Jun 30. It sits with Emma, the client's preparer.
CEDAR RIDGE CONSULTING INC.
PAYMENT DUE Feb 28, 2027
FILING DUE Jun 30, 2027
Jan 8 · Week one
The owner gets the year-end questionnaire and a request for the trial balance and year-end papers, each with its own upload box. Reminders follow on their own until everything is in.
Jan 21
Emma drops in the bookkeeper's Excel file. It is read, each account is matched to your chart, and nothing moves on until it balances and every line has a home. The matches are remembered for next year.
| Their account | Matched to | Balance |
|---|---|---|
| RBC Chequing | Cash | 62,310 |
| Consulting Revenue | Revenue from services | (198,400) |
| Subcontractors | Subcontracts | 54,200 |
| + 31 more, all matched | ||
Jan 22
Each line of the trial balance already knows its GIFI code. Emma exports the .gfi file and imports it into the tax software. No retyping a balance sheet, no adding up a trial balance by hand.
Jan 26 · A month before payment is due
Emma enters the tax owing on the T2 card and marks the client notified. Payment reminders go out before Feb 28, so there is no interest to explain later.
Payment Tracking
Feb 4 · Almost five months early
Emma files and marks it Filed. The owner sees it in the portal with the filing date and confirmation number. Next year's T2 card is created on the spot, with its dates worked out.
The owner's portal
Filed Date: Feb 4, 2027
Confirmation #: 4417-2209-81
Already on Emma's list
CEDAR RIDGE CONSULTING INC.
FILING DUE Jun 30, 2028
The Year End, Added Up
0
trial balances uploaded
$0.00
HST difference to chase
0
GIFI lines retyped
110
days early on the T2
Now Times 90
Maple Plumbing is one file. Your firm has 90. Each one moves through the same stages, and Sarah can see in one table which files are waiting on a trial balance, which are in review, and which are ready to issue.
Year End · 2026 files
90 filesWatch the walkthrough, or see the year-end module up close.