Survey of Service Industries: Accounting Services, 2012 - Characteristics Questionnaire

If necessary, please make address label corrections in the boxes below.

• 1: Legal name
• 2: Business name
• 3: Title of contact
• 4: First name of contact
• 5: Last name of contact
• 6: Address (number and street)
• 7: City
• 8: Province/territory or state
• 9: Country
• 10: Postal code/ zip code

What is your language of preference?

• 1: English
• 2: French

B - Main business activity - Question identifier:1.

Please describe the nature of your business.

To ensure that you have received the appropriate questionnaire, you are asked to describe the nature of your business. The description should briefly state the main activities of your business unit.

B - Main business activity - Question identifier:2.

Please check the one main activity which most accurately represents your main source of revenue.

Below is a description of each main activity.
Professional accounting services
Business units primarily engaged in providing a range of accounting services such as the:
- preparation of financial statements;
- preparation of management accounting reports;
- review and auditing of accounting records;
- development of budgets;
- design of accounting systems;
- provision of advice on matters related to accounting.
These business units may also provide related services such as:
- bookkeeping services;
- tax return preparation services;
- payroll services;
- management consulting services;
- insolvency services.
Include:
- professional accountants;
- professional accounting services;
- offices of certified accountants;
- offices of public accountants;
- offices of registered industrial accountants;
- auditing accountants;
- chartered accountants.
Exclude:
- business units primarily engaged in providing tax return preparation services; and
- business units primarily engaged in providing bookkeeping, billing and payroll processing services.
Tax preparation services
Business units primarily engaged in providing tax return preparation services.
Include:
- income tax return preparation services;
- tax return preparation services.
Bookkeeping, payroll and related services
Business units primarily engaged in providing bookkeeping, billing or payroll processing services.
Include:
- billing and bookkeeping services; and
- payroll processing services.

• 1.: Professional accounting services
• 2.: Tax preparation services
• 3.: Bookkeeping, payroll and related services
• 4.: None of the above - Please call the contact telephone number on the cover page for further instructions.

C - Reporting period information - Question identifier:1.

Please report information for your fiscal year (normal business year) ending between April 1, YYYY and March 31, YYYY. Please indicate below the period covered by this questionnaire.

• 1: Date from (YYYY MM DD) to (YYYY MM DD)

C - Reporting period information - Question identifier:2.

If the reporting period does not cover a full year, please check the reason(s) below:

• 1: seasonal operations
• 2: new business
• 3: change of fiscal year
• 4: change of ownership
• 5: ceased operations
• 6: temporarily inactive

Please provide a breakdown of your sales.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:1.

Auditing and other assurance services

Include:
- financial auditing;
- tax auditing;
- review of financial statements with or without compilation;
- agreed-upon procedures for financial information;
- other assurance and related services.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:2.

General accounting services (include financial statement compilation services)

Include:
- bookkeeping;
- compilation of financial statements.
A compilation engagement is one in which an accountant receives information from a client and arranges it into the form of a financial statement. The accountant assures that the assembly of information is arithmetically correct. However, the accountant does not attempt to verify the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and no endorsement or expression of assurance is provided.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:3.

Bookkeeping services

A service consisting of general transaction entry.
Include:
- maintenance of all journals and ledgers;
- preparation of trial balances and bank reconciliations;
- production of management information reports;
- billing and collection of accounts receivable;
- processing of accounts payable.
May include payroll calculation but not the overall payroll services.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:4.

Payroll services

Include:
- payroll processing;
- withholding deductions;
- remitting deductions and employer's contributions to government-mandated and other plans;
- filing reports.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:5.

Tax preparation and representation services for corporate and other clients

Services for corporate and other clients such as:
- preparation of income and other tax returns;
- review of returns prepared by others;
- filing of returns;
- preparation of supplementary documents associated with returns; and
- preparation for representation at tax audits and appeals.
Include compilation of financial statements when provided as a package with tax preparation for a single fee.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:6.

Tax preparation and representation services for individuals and unincorporated businesses

Services for individuals and unincorporated businesses such as:
- preparation of income and other tax returns;
- review of returns prepared by others;
- filing of returns;
- preparation of supplementary documents associated with returns;
- preparation for and representation at tax audits and appeals.
Include compilation of financial statements when provided as a package with tax preparation for a single fee.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:7.

Tax planning and consulting services

Planning and consulting in order to minimize the impact of taxation, and interpreting tax law.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:8.

Insolvency and receivership services

Include:
- overseeing the dissolution (bankruptcy) of a firm;
- payment of all creditors possible;
- filing of the necessary documents in compliance with government regulation.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:9.

Management consulting services

Management consulting services in the areas of strategic and organizational planning, finance, human resources, marketing and production.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:10.

Other sales
(please specify):

All other sales of services not specified elsewhere such as:
- business incorporation services;
- personal financial planning services;
- legal services;
- accounting training services;
- litigation support services;
- business valuation services;
- computerized accounting systems services.
(Please specify):
Please indicate any major items associated with the revenue reported for this category on the line provided. Sales from these goods and services, while not generally part of your principal source of revenue, complete the financial picture of the activities of your business unit.

F - Industry characteristics - Question identifier:11.

Total sales (sum of questions 1 to 10)

G - Personnel - Question identifier:1.

Number of partners and proprietors, non-salaried (if salaried, report at question 2 below)

For unincorporated businesses, please report the number of partners and proprietors for whom earnings will be the net income of the partnership or proprietorship.

G - Personnel - Question identifier:2.

Paid employees

G - Personnel - Question identifier:a)

Average number of paid employees during the reporting period (see reporting guide)

To calculate the average number employed, add the number of employees in the last pay period of each month of the reporting period and divide this sum by the number of months (usually 12).
Exclude:
- partners and proprietors, non-salaried reported
at question 1 above.

G - Personnel - Question identifier:b)

Percentage of paid employees (from question 2a) who worked full time

Full-time employment consists of persons who usually work 30 hours or more per week. Please specify the percentage of paid employees who have been working full time by rounding the percentage to the nearest whole number.

G - Personnel - Question identifier:3.

Number of contract workers for whom you did not issue a T4, such as freelancers and casual workers (estimates are acceptable)

Contract workers are not employees, but workers contracted to perform a specific task or project in your organization for a specific duration, such as self-employed persons, freelancers and casual workers. These workers are not issued a T4 information slip. Please report the number of contract workers employed by your organization during the fiscal year.

Please provide a percentage breakdown of your sales by type of client.

H - Sales by type of client - Question identifier:1.

Clients in Canada

H - Sales by type of client - Question identifier:a)

Businesses

Percentage of sales sold to the business sector should be reported here.
Include:
- sales to Crown corporations.

H - Sales by type of client - Question identifier:b)

Individuals and households

Please report the percentage of sales to individuals and households who do not represent the business or government sector.

H - Sales by type of client - Question identifier:c)

Governments, not-for-profit organizations and public institutions (e.g., hospitals, schools)

Percentage of sales to federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments should be reported here.
Include:
- sales to hospitals, schools, universities and public utilities.

H - Sales by type of client - Question identifier:2.

Clients outside Canada

Total: 100%

Please provide a percentage breakdown of your sales by client location (first point of sale).

• 1: Newfoundland and Labrador
• 2: Prince Edward Island
• 3: Nova Scotia
• 4: New Brunswick
• 5: Quebec
• 6: Ontario
• 7: Manitoba
• 8: Saskatchewan
• 9: Alberta
• 10: British Columbia
• 11: Yukon
• 12: Northwest Territories
• 13: Nunavut
• 14: Clients outside Canada (must equal question 2 in section H)

Total: 100%

Name of person to contact about this questionnaire:

• 1: Mr.
• 2: Mrs.
• 3: Miss
• 4: Ms

• 1: Last name
• 2: First name
• 3: Title
• 4: Telephone number
• 5: Extension number
• 6: Fax number
• 7: E-mail address
• 8: Website address

I certify that the information contained herein is complete and correct to the best of my knowledge.

• 1: yyyy mm dd

We invite your comments below. Please be assured that we review all comments with the intent of improving the survey.