Audit support
Grant compliance support
Grant compliance support from Finbryn tracks federal and provincial funding, such as SR&ED or an IRAP contribution, separately from other revenue and codes spending against the approved budget. Our accounting team organizes the documentation a program officer or CRA reviewer expects, so the paper trail is ready before it is requested.
Auditor request list
Illustrative client · August 2026
CAD
- Trial balance and general ledger exportDone
- Bank confirmations and statementsDone
- Receivables and payables listingsDone
- Fixed asset register with additionsIn progress
- Accruals and prepayments supportNext
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Funding that comes with its own rules
A SR&ED claim, an IRAP contribution, or a provincial grant is not like ordinary revenue. Eligible expenditures have to be tracked separately, matched against approved categories, and documented well enough that CRA or the funding program can trace every dollar back to the agreement. Mixing it into the general ledger makes that tracing exercise painful later, and a poorly documented claim invites exactly the kind of CRA review nobody wants.
We set up a chart-of-accounts or class structure that isolates each source of funding, then code eligible expenditures as they happen rather than reconstructing them at year end. When actual spending drifts from the approved budget or eligible-cost category, that shows up during the year instead of at claim time.
SR&ED and CRA review readiness
SR&ED claims in particular draw CRA scrutiny on the financial side: labour allocation, contractor costs, and the T661 supporting schedule all need to reconcile to payroll and AP records. We keep the underlying bookkeeping consistent with what a technical or financial reviewer at CRA will ask to see, working alongside whoever prepares the technical narrative and the claim itself.
Drawdown requests, progress reports and year-end reconciliations for provincial or IRAP funding are prepared on the schedule the agreement requires, with supporting detail attached rather than a summary figure with nothing behind it.
Working with your program lead
We code costs against the approved budget and flag anything that looks outside the agreement's terms. Whether a specific cost is eligible under a grant or SR&ED's own rules is a call for your program lead and, where needed, the funder or CRA, not something we decide on our own. That keeps the accounting side accurate without overstepping into eligibility judgment.
Funded organizations facing a CRA review or SR&ED audit often need PBC list management and audit-ready books alongside this work, since the same reconciled records feed both.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Grant compliance support
Can you track SR&ED, IRAP and a provincial grant at the same time?
Yes. Each source of funding is tracked as its own segment with its own reporting calendar, so an IRAP progress report and a SR&ED claim year do not get mixed together.
Do you prepare the SR&ED technical narrative?
No. We keep the financial side, labour allocation, contractor costs and the underlying bookkeeping, reconciled and organized. The technical narrative is prepared by whoever leads that side of the claim.
What happens if CRA opens a review of a grant or SR&ED claim?
The same tracked records and supporting schedules we maintain through the year become the documentation package for the review, so nothing needs to be reconstructed after the fact.
What exactly is included in grant compliance support?
A chart of accounts or class structure that tracks each grant separately, and expenses coded and matched against the approved grant budget line by line. This work runs inside QuickBooks Online or Xero, whichever your business already has in place, and it rolls into your regular monthly close rather than sitting off to the side as a separate, unreconciled process.
What happens to our grant compliance support records if we switch providers?
Everything stays inside your own QuickBooks Online or Xero account, so the full history transfers with the subscription, not with Finbryn. You can hand grant compliance support to another provider or bring it in-house at any point without losing a reconciliation or having to rebuild the file first.
Can you track multiple grants with different reporting periods?
Yes. Each grant is set up as its own tracked segment, with reporting deadlines managed separately from your regular monthly close.
Do you decide which costs are allowable under the grant?
We code costs against the approved budget and flag anything that looks outside its terms; the funder's guidelines and your program staff make the final allowability call.
What if our records for grant compliance support are not up to date?
If your records are behind, we scope a catch-up first so grant compliance support starts from a clean, reconciled base. That catch-up is priced and timed separately from the ongoing engagement, so you always know what each part costs.
Who reviews the work before it reaches us?
Every deliverable under grant compliance support is reviewed by a senior reviewer before it reaches you. You keep access to the underlying file at every stage, so nothing about the work happens somewhere you cannot see it.
Related services
- Audit supportPBC list managementThe auditor's provided-by-client request list tracked item by item, with documents gathered, organized and delivered on schedule instead of chased down in the final week.
- Audit supportAudit-ready booksMonthly and year-end books maintained with the support and schedules an external auditor expects to see on day one, so fieldwork starts without a scramble to reconstruct records.
Industries
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.