Bookkeeper vs. Accountant vs. CPA: Who Does What (and Who You Actually Need)

“Bookkeeper”, “accountant” and “CPA” get used interchangeably, but they describe three different jobs — with different skills, different price points and, in one case, a legally protected designation whose holders can sign work nobody else can.

Mixing them up costs money in both directions. Pay CPA rates for transaction entry and you overpay all year. Hand your year-end to someone who can’t sign what your bank is asking for and you pay twice to have the work redone.

What a bookkeeper does

A bookkeeper keeps the day-to-day record of your business. They enter and categorize transactions, reconcile bank and credit card accounts, manage invoices and bills, run payroll and remit payroll source deductions on time. Good bookkeeping is a weekly or monthly discipline, and its output is a clean, reconciled file in QuickBooks Online or Xero.

“Bookkeeper” is not a regulated title in Canada. Anyone can use it, so references and a track record of clean, on-time reconciliations matter more than the label.

What an accountant does

“Accountant” is a broader word. An accountant typically works one level above the transactions: month-end closes, adjusting entries, internal financial statements, budgets and cash-flow analysis, often tax preparation. Many accountants do excellent work without holding a designation.

But in most of Canada, “accountant” on its own is not a protected title either. The credential that is regulated — with mandatory practice inspections, continuing education, liability insurance and a code of ethics — is CPA.

What a CPA is — and what only a CPA can sign

CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) is a protected designation. Each provincial body — the Ordre des CPA du Québec, CPA Ontario, and so on — controls who may use the title, inspects its members and can discipline them. Using the designation without being a member is an offence.

More important for your business: some engagements are reserved.

Audit and review engagements. These assurance reports can only be signed by a CPA who holds a public accounting licence (in Quebec, a public accountancy permit). No licence, no report — full stop.
Compilation engagements. The standard year-end financial statements of most incorporated SMBs. They carry no assurance, but a CPA firm prepares them under a professional standard (CSRS 4200), and they are what lenders generally expect to see alongside your corporate tax return.

Anyone can technically fill out a T2. The question is who stands behind the numbers when your bank, the CRA or Revenu Québec starts asking questions.

Who does what: a quick comparison

Entering and categorizing transactions: bookkeeper (or disciplined software habits).
Bank reconciliations, invoicing, payroll remittances: bookkeeper.
Monthly internal reports and analysis: accountant, or an experienced bookkeeper.
Year-end financial statements (compilation): CPA firm.
Corporate tax returns — T2, plus CO-17 in Quebec: CPA firm in practice; these numbers set your tax bill.
Tax planning — salary vs. dividends, corporate structure: CPA.
Review or audit required by a lender, investor or grant program: licensed CPA only.

The typical setup for an incorporated SMB

Most incorporated businesses land on the same stack: cloud accounting software (QuickBooks Online or Xero) plus either a part-time bookkeeper or disciplined in-house habits during the year, and a CPA firm at year-end for the compilation, the corporate returns and tax planning.

Deadlines are why the year-end piece is not optional. Your T2 and CO-17 are due six months after your fiscal year-end, but any balance owing is generally due just two months after year-end — three months federally for many CCPCs that claim the small business deduction. A CPA who sees your numbers before the deadline can still change the outcome; one who sees them after can only report it.

At Stamped, year-end runs on flat, published pricing: compilation engagements — compiled financial statements plus T2/CO-17 returns — start at $2,900, and a tax-returns-only engagement starts at $1,475.

Do I need a bookkeeper or an accountant?

Work through these questions in order:

Are your books behind — unreconciled accounts, a folder of receipts? You need bookkeeping first. No accountant or CPA can produce reliable statements from messy books; they’ll charge you to clean them up.
Under roughly 50 transactions a month, no employees? Software with bank feeds plus a few disciplined hours a month is often enough — no bookkeeper needed yet.
Employees, payroll, growing volume? A part-time bookkeeper usually pays for itself in avoided penalties and hours you get back.
Incorporated? Then you need a CPA at year-end regardless — for the financial statements your bank wants and the T2/CO-17 that determine your tax bill.
Facing real decisions — salary or dividends, buying equipment, selling one day? That’s CPA territory: tax planning, not bookkeeping.

For most incorporated owner-managers, the honest answer is “both — but not for the same things, and not at the same price.”

How Stamped works with your bookkeeper

Stamped is a CPA firm, not a bookkeeping service — deliberately. If your books need regular attention during the year, we’ll point you toward the right software setup or a bookkeeping partner instead of selling you hours a CPA shouldn’t be billing.

At year-end, we connect directly to QuickBooks Online or Xero, pull the trial balance and work from your real data. Questions go through our platform, answers come back within 24 hours, and your bookkeeper stays in the loop — we’d rather fix a categorization with them in October than untangle it in March.

We’re online-first, with CPAs at our Quebec City head office serving incorporated businesses in every province. Your bookkeeper keeps the books. We sign the year-end.

Frequently asked questions

Is “accountant” a protected title in Canada?

No. Anyone can call themselves an accountant or a bookkeeper. “CPA” is the legally protected designation, granted and policed by provincial bodies such as the Ordre des CPA du Québec — using it without being a member is an offence.

Can a bookkeeper prepare my corporate tax return?

Preparing a T2 is not a legally reserved act, but audit and review engagements are, and lenders generally expect year-end statements from a CPA firm. In practice, incorporated businesses have a CPA prepare the year-end statements and the T2/CO-17 together, since those numbers set the tax bill.

Do I need a CPA if I already have a bookkeeper?

Yes, if you're incorporated. A bookkeeper keeps your books current during the year; a CPA firm prepares the year-end financial statements, the T2 and CO-17, and handles tax planning. The two roles complement each other rather than compete.

How much does year-end with a CPA firm cost?

At Stamped, pricing is flat and published: a tax-returns-only engagement (T2 and CO-17) starts at $1,475 and a year-end package — compiled financial statements plus returns — starts at $2,900. Review and audit engagements are quoted case by case.

What is the difference between bookkeeping and a compilation engagement?

Bookkeeping is the ongoing recording and reconciliation of transactions during the year. A compilation engagement is a year-end mandate where a CPA firm assembles those numbers into financial statements under the CSRS 4200 standard — the document your bank typically asks for.