An audit provides the highest level of assurance on an organization’s financial statements.

Communication of the results and findings of an audit of the financial statements is of great value to an organization and its stakeholders as it adds creditability to financial statements that are used to make business and financial decisions.

Jones & O’Connell LLP will work with you to keep audit costs to a minimum and to ensure all additional services provided maintain an appropriate cost benefit relationship. We will maintain staff continuity at all levels of the engagement as much as possible and be responsive to your questions and any need for on-going support.

Our approach to client engagements places considerable importance on assembling a team consisting of professionals with the background and experience to provide the service you require.

Jones & O’Connell LLP is well experienced in various industries and proficient in all accounting standards set out by CPA Ontario that allows us to bring value to your audit engagement.

A review engagement provides a moderate level of assurance on an organization’s financial statements.

Moderate assurance on the financial statements bring value to an organization and its stakeholders as it adds plausibility to financial statements that are used to make business and financial decisions.

Jones & O’Connell LLP will work with you to keep review engagement costs to a minimum and to ensure all additional services provided maintain an appropriate cost benefit relationship. We will maintain staff continuity at all levels of the engagement as much as possible and be responsive to your questions and any need for on-going support.

Our approach to client engagements places considerable importance on assembling a team consisting of professionals with the background and experience to provide the service you require.

Jones & O’Connell LLP is well experienced in various industries and proficient in all accounting standards set out by CPA Ontario that allows us to bring value to your review engagement.

We can assist you to meet your needs when it comes to implementing new accounting standards over the next several years. We have developed a comprehensive plan to work with you to assist in meeting reporting requirements in the future.

Given the increased complexity in having numerous sources of GAAP, it is particularly important that the initial conversion is done properly so as to lay the foundation for accurate future reporting. As well, standards are constantly changing requiring ongoing analysis on a regular basis.

We can take on the role of advisor to your firm when it comes to accounting for complex transactions (i.e. business combinations, derivatives, complex financial instruments, future income taxes, consolidations), providing a fresh independent set of eyes to review the accounting for such transactions to ensure they are in compliance with all of the requirements under the applicable accounting framework.

It is particularly important to ensure such transactions are properly accounted as they generally are material in nature and highly scrutinized by users of financial statements.

We can assist in the preparation of financial statements or perform a high-level review of financial statements to ensure they are in compliance with all of the requirements under the applicable accounting framework (i.e. IFRS, ASPE, Not-for-Profit Standards or GAAP).

It is particularly important in the ever changing world of financial reporting that financial statements you are preparing and reporting on meet all of the presentation and disclosure requirements. Jones & O’Connell LLP can help you meet those requirements.

At Jones & O’Connell LLP, we guide our clients through a full range of tax planning and preparation decisions with strategies that minimize your tax liabilities, maximize your cash flow and keep you on track to your financial goals.

Our expertise, experience, analysis and thorough research allow us to optimize financial opportunities to be found in existing as well as recently altered tax laws. We are knowledgeable and up to date on the tax laws and can make sense of your receipts, invoices and government correspondence.

We prefer to take a proactive vs. reactive approach to tax services. By keeping current on new tax laws and legislation, we are in a position to identify key tax planning opportunities that minimize both your current and future tax liabilities. We provide our clients with the taxation expertise and knowledge that they deserve throughout the year.

Income Tax Optimization Services include:

• Personal tax preparation
• Investment portfolio review for tax optimization (capital gains and losses)
• Tax shelter analysis
• Personal Tax planning
• Estate planning
• Business Succession Planning
• And many more!

Contact Us to schedule your appointment today.

Every decision we make has a serious implication on our present and future financial situation. Buying a new home; sending a child to university; coping with elderly parents; receiving an inheritance; suffering a critical illness; going through divorce or death of a spouse. All life events will have a serious and sometimes permanent effect on your financial disposition. Take advantage of our expertise, and gain trusted advice to help you prepare for life’s unexpected events.

Financial Planning Services include:

• Budgeting and Forecasting future cash flows
• Tax shelter analysis
• Personal Tax planning
• Estate planning
• Business Succession Planning
• And many more!

Contact Us to schedule your appointment today.

Our goal is to ensure the estate and trust planning maximizes after tax cash resources but also considers the family and legal aspects of the Trust.

Estate and Trust Services include:

• Consulting regarding Wills and coordination with legal representatives
• Tax estimates and “what-if” scenario analysis relating to testamentary trusts
• Preparation of Estate and Trust tax returns
• Estate Tax planning
• Business Succession Planning
• And many more!

Contact Us to schedule your appointment today.

Professional representation can be vital when dealing with government tax correspondence, and our experience with tax authorities enables us to guide clients in their dealings with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

If you have been reassessed, have failed to file past due returns, or chosen for an audit, the professional representation you can find with our firm can put many of your worries at bay. We are ready and willing to answer any and all questions the CRA may be asking of you.

Client Representation Services include:

• Late Filed Personal tax preparation
• Dealing with Voluntary Disclosures of tax liabilities
• Review of tax returns prepared by other organizations
• Consulting regarding CRA audits
• Help complying with Pre-assessment reviews
• Dealing with Tax Re-assessments, and filing tax adjustments
• And many more!

Contact Us to schedule your appointment today.

In order to facilitate the smooth processing of your 2023 personal income tax return, we are providing a checklist to assist you in assembling the necessary information. Please read the checklist carefully as it is important that all necessary information is received.

We suggest that you assemble the information as soon as possible so we may proceed with the preparation of your return. You may submit information via the send a file link at the top of this page, mail the information to our office, or deliver the information to our receptionist.

Our firm follows audit guidelines prescribed by CPA Canada on all our audit engagements. The audit objective is to obtain sufficient evidence to provide us with assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement. Our audit approach is designed to enable us to obtain this assurance as efficiently as possible.

The audit strategy we use includes the development of client specific audit programs. First, we clearly agree the terms of our engagement and gather information so that we may understand your business and your accounting system including detailed system documentation, risk assessment and walkthroughs of the key systems, with testing of key controls. We then plan and carry out our audit steps to substantiate the amounts and results in your annual financial statements. We then evaluate the overall results of our audit procedures, perform final analytical reviews, and issue our audit report and management letter.

We make extensive use of computers in our audit planning, member confirmation process, testing, working paper and financial statement preparation. This improves our cost effectiveness for you in addition to saving you time.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR NEEDS

• Audited financial statements are a statutory requirement for your credit union. A credit union is quite different from typical “for-profit” organizations and you require that the auditor has a detailed understanding of the credit union industry.
• Communication of the results and findings of the audit of the financial statements is of great importance to the credit union. The external auditor should have various meetings with management, the audit committee and the board of directors.

MEETING YOUR NEEDS

• Provide you with timely year end audited financial statements, management letter, audit findings letter, corporate income tax return, and AIR Accountant’s report.
• Work with you to keep audit costs to a minimum and to ensure all additional services provided maintain an appropriate cost benefit relationship.
• Maintain staff continuity at all levels of the engagement as much as possible.
• Be responsive to your questions and any need for on-going support.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

The audit strategy we use includes the development of client specific audit programs. We plan and carry out our audit steps to evaluate your information systems, controls, and accounting records. We then evaluate the overall results of our audit procedures and issue our report to the audit committee.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR NEEDS

• The audit committee is required to directly assist the board of directors in overseeing the effective governance of the credit union. As part of the governance process the audit committee is responsible for ensuring the credit union is operating within its policies and procedures.
• The prime concern of the audit committee is the safeguarding of the credit union’s assets, ensuring the timeliness, accuracy and reliability accounting data, maintaining adherence to the lending and investment policies and procedures.
• The audit committee is responsible for reviewing any correspondence from regulators, and ensuring management has adequately met the standards set forth.
• Due to the vast governance requirements set forth upon the audit committee it is prudent on their behalf to enlist the help of professionals to enable themselves to delegate governance tasks.
• When selecting a new internal auditor for your credit union you are entering into a new relationship, one that will last for several years. Building a successful relationship is important to you and your credit union.

MEETING YOUR NEEDS

• Provide you with timely reports regarding your credit union’s compliance with its policies and procedures.
• Work with you to ensure that the internal audit plan addresses the important needs of your credit union. Our firm’s experience in both external audits and special assignments for the regulators makes our internal audit approach unique when compared to usual internal auditors.
• With the help of the audit committee we will determine together the best internal audit plan on an annual basis, with the flexibility to change the annual plan if a governance issue arises. Typical internal audit plans do not address significant areas of risk or get updated as the credit union’s needs change. Our approach creates a flexible plan that grows and moves with your credit union.
• Maintain staff continuity at all levels of the engagement as much as possible.
• Be responsive to your questions and any need for on-going support.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

One of the ever increasing requirements placed on a credit union is a requirement for a bi-annual audit of compliance with respect to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, which requires the following:

• Review of Policies and Procedures
• Review of Risk Assessment
• Review of new account openings
• Review of a random sample of required reporting transactions

We tailor our tests to meet these requirements and provide a comprehensive report to the audit committee to ensure that it has met its duties under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

Ontario Regulation 237/09 is being amended as of January 1, 2018. One of the amendments is the removal of the distinction between class 1 and class 2 credit unions. Former class 1 credit unions will now be subject to existing rules, regulations and DICO by-laws currently applicable only to class 2 credit unions. One of the current requirements for a class 2 credit union is the requirement to develop an Enterprise Risk Management system. Will your Credit Union be ready?

Jones & O’Connell LLP can draw upon our expertise in servicing credit unions in the areas of external audit, internal audit and consulting to assist in the development of an ERM system that will help your credit union meet the DICO requirements and allow you to continue to provide value to your members.

Our external and internal audit programs already focus on areas of risk to a credit union and as such we can draw upon this knowledge as a foundation for developing your own credit union’s specific ERM plan. Through consultation and communication with various stakeholders, including board members, committee members, senior management and staff members we will work with you to develop an ERM plan that is sufficient and appropriate for the size and complexity of your credit union.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

We offer to review your corporate income tax returns for the past 3 to 4 years. We can utilize our in depth knowledge of specific credit union tax rules to potentially identify areas where there may be an opportunity for income tax recoveries for your credit union. Credit union taxation rules are more complex than traditional private profit oriented company rules and allow for specific deductions and tax credits not allowed to other types of companies. Our corporate income tax review is provided strictly on a contingency fee basis. What this means is that if no opportunity for recoveries are found, there is no fee to your credit union. If opportunities are found then our fee would be based on a percentage of such recoveries.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

With the ever increasing monthly DICO reporting requirements and the need for timely and accurate financial reporting to the audit committee and board, CEO’s and financial managers find more of their time being spent on financial reporting. We have vast experience in assisting credit unions improve their efficiency in this area through the creation of templates that electronically draw data from the credit union’s banking system. We have assisted credit unions in the creation of monthly reporting templates, annual budgeting templates, GAP analysis templates, investment report templates, loan fair value templates, IFRS general allowance templates, mortgage securitization templates, member deposit fair value templates, etc. As well, we are very adept at data manipulation and capturing data from the banking system to create exception reports tailored to the credit union’s needs.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

The new International Financial Reporting Standards are here. Are you ready for your year end external audit? We have utilized our expertise in credit unions and the complex accounting rules particular to the credit union industry to assist numerous credit unions with this difficult and time consuming process. Our assistance includes summarizing the new accounting standards in comparison to the existing standards and providing information to the credit union to make an informed decision with respect to new accounting standards to be utilized under IFRS. Such analysis also includes an identification of the implications of these new standards on the credit union (i.e. new financial model requirements, new data accumulation methods required, new financial statement presentation requirements) as well as plans, direction, guidance and assistance in the development of solutions to address these implications.

Contact Us to discuss how we can serve your credit union today.

We can take on the role of firm monitor. We can review a sample of your firm’s working paper files (audits, review engagements, compilations and special engagements) to ensure compliance with applicable Canadian Assurance Standards and Canadian General Accepted Accounting Principles.

We can also test, on a sample basis, your policies and procedures outlined in your Quality Assurance Manual, to ensure compliance with Canadian quality control standard requirements.

Given the new stringent requirements to be implemented by firms performing assurance engagements (audits and reviews) as of December 15, 2009, a firm’s monitor must now be more independent than ever; as such now is the best time to seek outside help in this area to ensure you are in full compliance with the new quality control standards.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.

We can take on the role of file quality reviewer and perform a high-level review of audit working paper files to ensure your firm is in compliance with all of its requirements under Canadian Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.

This is particularly important on engagements that pose a higher risk to your practice.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.

We can take on the role of financial statement presentation reviewers and perform a high-level review of financial statements to ensure the financial statements being prepared by your firm are in compliance with all of the requirements under Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

It is particularly important in the ever changing world of financial reporting that financial statements that you are preparing and reporting on meet all of the presentation and disclosure requirements based on the new CICA Handbook accounting standards.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.

We can take on a limited role of helping prepare your firm for its institute practice inspection. This will involve drawing from certain aspects of the various roles of file quality reviewer, monitor and financial statement presentation review to ensure your firm is readily prepared to pass its inspection.

Being properly prepared for an ICAO practice inspection allows for the inspection to run that much smoother, minimizing both your and the inspector’s time and thus allowing for maximum efficiency for your practice.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.

We can assist you in making your audit files more efficient and effective through the use of computerized audit techniques, involving the capturing and manipulation of data from your client’s accounting and information systems.

Use of such techniques will allow your firm to become more competitive with local Chartered Professional Accounting firms through the efficiencies brought to your engagements and potentially to your client’s operations.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.

We can take on the role of advisor to your firm when it comes to accounting for complex transactions (i.e. business combinations, derivatives, complex financial instruments, future income taxes, consolidations), providing a fresh independent set of eyes to review the accounting for such transactions to ensure they are in compliance with all of the requirements under Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

It is particularly important to ensure such transactions are properly accounted as they generally are material in nature and highly scrutinized by users of financial statements.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.

Implementation of New Accounting Standards:
(i.e. IFRS, GAAP for Small Enterprises, GAAP for Not for Profit Enterprises)

We can assist you to further enhance your relationship with your existing clients by helping you meet their needs when it comes to implementing new accounting standards over the next several years. We have developed a comprehensive plan to work with you and your clients in meeting their reporting requirements in the future, while solidifying your relationship with them.

Given the increased complexity in having numerous sources of GAAP, it is particularly important that the initial conversion is done properly so as to lay the foundation for accurate future reporting.

Contact Wayne O’Connell, CPA, CA, LPA at our office to discuss our services further.