Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax: The Calgary Firm Keeping Small Businesses CRA-Ready All Year
From trades contractors to restaurant owners, Calgary's independent business community trusts Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax for year-round bookkeeping, payroll, GST/HST filing, and corporate and personal tax returns — without the downtown CPA hourly rate.
June 1, 2026 · By Justin Plosz · Calgary, AB · Finance · 6 min read
The Real Cost of Doing Your Own Books
Most Calgary small business owners start doing their own bookkeeping because it seems simpler than paying someone else to do it. By year three, most of them have learned the same lesson the hard way: it is not simpler, it is just deferred. Missed input tax credits, GST remittances filed late, payroll source deductions calculated incorrectly, or a T2 corporate return that does not capture available deductions — these are not hypothetical risks. They are the routine experience of owner-operators who are running a business, managing staff, serving clients, and trying to track expenses in QuickBooks at midnight. Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax was founded to solve this problem for Calgary's independent business community. The firm handles the ongoing financial recordkeeping that keeps a business CRA-compliant — and provides a clear picture of where the money is going — so that the owner can focus on the thing they are actually good at.
What Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax Actually Does
The firm's core service is monthly bookkeeping: categorizing transactions, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, tracking accounts receivable and payable, and producing monthly financial statements that give the business owner an accurate view of their position. For clients with employees, Foothills handles payroll processing — calculating gross pay, source deductions, T4 slips, and Records of Employment — eliminating one of the most error-prone areas for small business compliance. GST/HST filing is included as part of the monthly engagement for registered businesses, with quarterly and annual filing options for lower-volume operators. At tax time, the firm prepares and files both T2 corporate income tax returns and T1 personal returns for owner-operators — catching available deductions and ensuring the CRA receives what is owed and nothing more.
Who Foothills Serves: Trades, Restaurants, Retail, and Self-Employed Professionals
The firm's client base reflects the diversity of Calgary's small business economy. Trades contractors — plumbers, electricians, concrete and landscaping crews — make up a significant share of the book. These are businesses where the owner is billing $60,000 to $200,000 a year as a sole proprietor or through an incorporated company, and where proper tracking of vehicle expenses, tools, and subcontractor payments can make a meaningful difference to the tax outcome. Restaurant and food service operators represent another major segment — businesses where daily revenue reconciliation, tip allocation, and supplier invoice tracking require consistent attention. The firm also serves retail shops, e-commerce sellers, real estate investors with rental income, and self-employed professionals across fields from marketing consultants to physiotherapists. If you are billing in Alberta and the CRA is expecting a return from you, Foothills has likely worked with a business in your situation.
Remote-First: Serving Calgary and All of Alberta Without Requiring You to Come In
Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax operates primarily on a cloud-based, remote-first model. Client records are maintained in cloud accounting platforms — QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Wave are all supported — and documents are shared securely through encrypted client portals. For Calgary clients who prefer in-person consultations, those are available. For clients in Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks, Strathmore, or anywhere else in Alberta, the engagement works entirely remotely with no loss of service quality. Onboarding is straightforward: the firm assesses the current state of the client's books, cleans up any backlog, migrates to the appropriate platform, and establishes the monthly workflow going forward. Most new clients are fully onboarded within two to three weeks.
What CRA-Ready Actually Means — And Why It Matters
The phrase 'CRA-ready' means that your books are accurate, current, and documented in a way that would survive a CRA audit review without producing panic. For a small business, this means bank statements that reconcile to the penny with recorded transactions, expenses that are properly categorized with supporting receipts, GST/HST collected and remitted correctly, and payroll obligations fully discharged on time. Foothills builds their client files to that standard as a matter of course — not because every client will be audited, but because the discipline that produces audit-ready records is the same discipline that produces useful financial statements. A business owner who can look at an accurate monthly income statement and balance sheet makes better decisions than one who is guessing at their margin. That is ultimately what good bookkeeping delivers: not just compliance, but clarity.
Key takeaways
- Monthly bookkeeping, payroll, GST/HST filing, T2 corporate returns, and T1 personal returns
- Serves trades, restaurants, retail, e-commerce, and self-employed professionals across Calgary and Alberta
- Remote-first model — QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Wave supported
- Most new clients fully onboarded within two to three weeks
- Verified on the Public Relations Canada network
Frequently asked questions
- What services does Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax offer Calgary small businesses?
- Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax offers monthly bookkeeping, payroll processing, GST/HST filing, T2 corporate income tax returns, and T1 personal income tax returns for small businesses, incorporated companies, and self-employed professionals across Calgary and Alberta.
- Can Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax work with my business remotely?
- Yes. Foothills operates on a remote-first model and serves clients across Calgary and all of Alberta using cloud accounting platforms including QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Wave. In-person consultations are available for Calgary-area clients.
- What kinds of businesses does Foothills serve in Calgary?
- Foothills serves trades contractors, restaurant and food service operators, retail businesses, e-commerce sellers, real estate investors, and self-employed professionals across Calgary and Alberta.
- What accounting software does Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax support?
- Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax works with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Wave. They can migrate clients from other platforms or establish new books from scratch during onboarding.
- How quickly can Foothills onboard a new Calgary business client?
- Most new clients are fully onboarded within two to three weeks. This includes a review of current books, cleanup of any backlog, platform setup, and establishing the ongoing monthly workflow.
- Does Foothills Bookkeeping & Tax handle corporate tax returns for Calgary incorporated companies?
- Yes. Foothills prepares and files T2 corporate income tax returns and T1 personal income tax returns for owner-operators, maximizing available deductions and ensuring full CRA compliance.
← Back to PRC Newsroom · Public Relations Canada
Enable JavaScript to view the interactive version of this page.