Accounting, audit and advisory in Ottawa

An accounting and audit firm serving Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, from audit and review engagements through to fractional finance support.

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About

From Ottawa we deliver audit and review engagements under Canadian standards for owner-managed businesses, not-for-profits and charities across Eastern Ontario. We are currently expanding our not-for-profit audit offering, where partner attention and a predictable fee matter more than a large firm logo.

Our Ottawa practice serves Cornwall and the wider SDG region (Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry), along with the communities down the Highway 401 corridor between Ottawa, Cornwall and the Quebec border. Organisations in this corridor are too often asked to choose between a sole practitioner and a firm headquartered five hours away. We work in between: senior people, on the ground in Eastern Ontario, who understand review engagements and not-for-profit reporting requirements.

Audit, review engagement or neither?

Most Canadian conversations start here. The right level of assurance depends on who reads your financial statements and what they decide on the strength of them, not on the size of your organisation alone.

Criterion Audit (CAS)Review engagement (CSRE 2400)Neither
Level of assurance Reasonable. A positive opinion that the statements present fairly.Limited. A negative conclusion: nothing has come to our attention.None. Statements are prepared but not independently examined.
What we do Substantive testing, confirmations, an understanding of internal control, and evidence gathered across the whole balance sheet.Inquiry and analytical procedures, with specific work on estimates, related parties, going concern and fraud risk.Preparation and compilation only.
Typically required by Statute, securities regulators, lenders on larger facilities, government funders, and buyers in a transaction.Boards, smaller lending facilities, and members who have stepped down from an audit by resolution.Nobody external. A management and tax filing exercise.
Relative cost HighestMaterially lowerLowest
Best when You are a reporting issuer, transacting, raising money, or have real estimation risk.You want independent eyes and a proportionate fee, and nothing in law or contract demands more.You are small, unregulated, and no third party relies on the numbers.

For Ontario not-for-profits the answer is set by ONCA. A public benefit corporation with revenue of $500,000 or more must be audited, with no step-down. Below that, members can substitute a review engagement by extraordinary resolution, which must be renewed at every annual meeting. Funding agreements frequently require an audit regardless.

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