For the books that do not fit a monthly close
Special situations
Finbryn handles the Canadian bookkeeping situations a monthly close skips: years of unreconciled statements, a shuttered provider like Bench, a dormant corporation, a wind-down, or several franchise units needing one consolidated view. A named pod does the work, reviewed by a senior reviewer, inside QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50, in a file you own.
Bank reconciliation summary
Illustrative client · August 2026
CAD
| Account | Difference | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating account··4821 | 184,220.16 | 184,220.16 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Reserve account··0937 | 60,000.00 | 60,000.00 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Company card··1006 | (12,418.52) | (12,418.52) | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Card processor clearing | 8,905.40 | 8,905.40 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Payroll clearing | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
Last weekly runFri, Aug 28, every account agreed to its statement.
Two open itemsTwo card receipts requested from you, marked on the card account until they arrive.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Books built for the situation, not the calendar
Most bookkeeping engagements assume a business that already closes on schedule. Finbryn's special situations work is built for the ones that do not: a corporation with three years of unreconciled bank and GST/HST statements, a company that used Bench before its December 2024 shutdown, an inactive corporation that still owes the Canada Revenue Agency an annual return, or several franchise locations reporting on their own without ever rolling up into one set of numbers.
What holds these engagements together
Each situation gets scoped before work starts: how many years, how many entities, what records survive. From there the discipline is the same one we apply to a routine month. Every transaction traces to a bank, card or processor statement. Every correction to a prior period lands in a written adjustments log, not a silent overwrite. Multi-year catch-up, records reconstruction and the wind-down exit pack all follow that same structure, just applied to a different starting point.
The signer stays separate from the preparer
Some of this work feeds a T2 corporate return, a T1 filing or a GST/HST return. Under CRA's EFILE rules, the person transmitting a T1 or T2 electronically must be a Canadian resident who holds a valid SIN, so we are never the filer of record. We prepare the return, the schedules and the reconciliation; a Canadian-resident EFILE-registered partner or your own credentialed preparer signs and files it. That split is disclosed on every page where it applies, never blurred into a claim that we handle your taxes ourselves.
What you keep
Your QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50 file stays in your own name, before, during and after the engagement. A named pod runs the work, with a recorded handover memo if anyone on it changes, and we confirm scope in writing before work starts. Pricing for a special situation is quoted once the volume involved is known, never billed by the hour with no ceiling in sight.
All services
Special situations: every service
- Multi-year catch-upBringing several years of unreconciled or missing books current in one structured engagement, scoped and timed before the work starts.
- Records reconstructionRebuilding a business's financial history from bank statements, receipts and other source documents when the original books are incomplete, lost or unreliable.
- Switching from BenchSupport moving your books and history out of Bench and into a QuickBooks Online or Xero file you control, for businesses affected by Bench's December 2024 shutdown and its January 2025 reopening under new ownership.
- Switching from BotkeeperSupport moving off Botkeeper's automated bookkeeping platform, which discontinued service, into a QuickBooks Online or Xero file reviewed by a named team.
- Dormant company bookkeepingBookkeeping and reporting for an entity that is registered but not actively trading, so required filings can still be prepared and stay current until it reactivates or winds down.
- Wind-down exit packA structured close-out of the books and records when a business is winding down or dissolving, so the final return, the final state filings and the exit itself all rest on numbers that reconcile.
- Franchise and multi-entity consolidationBookkeeping across multiple franchise units or related entities, each location's books kept separately and then rolled up into one consolidated view.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Special situations
How many years of Canadian bookkeeping can you catch up at once?
As many as your bank and GST/HST statements go back. We scope the engagement once the accounts and the backlog involved are reviewed, rather than quoting blind.
Who actually files our T1 or T2 once you prepare it?
A Canadian-resident, SIN-holding EFILE registrant or your own credentialed preparer files it. CRA's EFILE rules require the filer to be Canadian-resident, so preparation and filing stay separate by design.
We used Bench before it shut down. Can you pick up from there?
Yes. We work from whatever Bench export survived the shutdown and rebuild continuity into QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50 rather than starting your history over.
Do you charge by the hour for special situations work?
No. We scope the engagement after seeing the accounts and quote a fixed project cost before any work begins.
What exactly falls under special situations work?
Multi-year catch-up, records reconstruction, switching from a shut-down provider, dormant company filings and wind-down or franchise consolidation work all fall here, wherever the starting point is not a clean, current file. Each project is scoped once the actual state of the records is reviewed.
What special situations work stays outside this service?
We do not file the corrected GST/HST or T2 return that comes out of a catch-up or reconstruction, and we do not decide whether a prior filing needs to be amended. Those decisions and filings stay with you or your registered preparer, using the reconciled numbers we prepare.
Which software do you work in for special situations projects?
Whatever platform the business already uses, most often QuickBooks Online or Xero, with Dext or Hubdoc where receipts need to be sourced or matched. If no platform exists yet, we set one up under your own subscription as part of the project.
What access do you need to start a special situations project?
Read access to bank and card statements for the affected period, admin or read access to the accounting platform if one exists, and any prior bookkeeper's export if the switch is coming from a shut-down provider. We scope the exact list once we know what is available.
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.