Notice To Reader Financial Statements Services in Canada

Does your business require financial statements prepared to meet requirements for external parties like investors and shareholders? SRJ Chartered Accountants experienced staff can help you determine what type of business financial statements in Toronto best meets your needs. We can guide you through the process and help provide clarity to the readers of your business financial statements.

What is a Notice to Reader Financial Statement?

Notice To Reader Financial Statements

A Notice to Reader Financial Statement is a financial statement compilation engagement prepared by Chartered Accountants providing no assurance (and provides no opinion). The business financial statement has not been audited or reviewed, therefore it does not have the level of reliability associated with audits or review engagements. When firms offer no assurance on financial statements that they prepare or assist in preparing, they issue a Notice to Reader Financial Statement report.

It is still likely to be far superior to a business financial statement produced by an uncertified bookkeeper using accounting software. This is because the overall standards and experience of Chartered Accountants play a significant part in the process of preparing the business financial statements. The bookkeeper does not normally ensure that the accounts used to classify transactions are appropriate, and also does not usually enter transactions that are outside the daily routine of sales invoices, purchase invoices, cheques received and cheques issued.

Since the chartered accountant simply compiles the business financial statements based on the information provided by the client, this service is also referred to as a Compilation Engagement.

Providing Notice to Reader Financial Statement

When providing notice to reader financial statement, Chartered Accountant firms must still comply with professional standards and abide by basic accounting principles. Despite providing no level of assurance on business financial statements, the accountant must apply professional judgement and consider the reasonability of the information provided by the client. Should the chartered accountant conclude the information is not reasonable, then the business financial statements cannot be prepared based on the data provided.

The chartered accountant’s concerns must be satisfied for new financial information made available for the notice to reader financial statement or notice to reader report.

Notice to Reader Financial Statement Misconceptions

There are many misconceptions regarding business financial statements and obtaining a notice to reader report or notice to reader financial statements:

  • A lot of small business owners feel they can operate their organization without reviewing business financial statements. These owners believe business financial statements are used to send them to the government or for corporate tax return purposes. However, one of the main reasons for producing a reliable notice to reader financial statements is to ensure there is no overpayment of corporate taxes as a result of overstated income.
  • Bookkeeping software has many functions but unfortunately, the software cannot produce or issue a notice to reader financial statement. The business accounting software packages are designed to easily produce monthly or quarterly financial statements. Business owners should be reviewing these financial statements to highlight problem areas before any significant issues arise. For example, unusually high advertising expenses in the third quarter should indicate to the owner to better manage spending for the rest of the year.

How to Prepare a Notice to Reader Financial Statement

The Chartered Accountant in Toronto does not usually produce Notice to Reader statements until the end of the fiscal year. Chartered Accountants in Toronto helps a company to stay on budget during the course of the year by using the ntr statements to highlight areas of improvement.

As Chartered Accountants in Toronto, our firm follows the following processes when preparing year-end financial statements on a Notice to Reader basis:

  1. Obtain the trial balance, a summary of all transactions recorded into the bookkeeping software from the bookkeeper for the company’s fiscal year-end.
  2. Scan the company’s chart of accounts to observe anything that may be in error or missing from the accounts.
  3. Prepare to adjust journal entries to correct any errors or omissions made for the notice to reader financial statements. Some examples of adjusting entries for the ntr financial statements are:
    • depreciation of fixed assets; or
    • Accrued expenses
  4. Group accounts that adjusting entries have been made to and include it into the notice to reader financial statements.
  5. The notice to reader statements is used for corporate tax returns.
  6. Finalize the corporate income tax returns. The tax impact shown on the tax returns is reflected back onto the notice to reader financial statements with a final adjusting entry.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much do Notice to Readers cost?

Notice to Reader Financial Statements cost at least $2,500 although the exact price depends on the services being provided. These statements are different compared to audit/review engagements as they provide no assurance and are simply an outline of the documents the accountant (CPA) will be receiving from the client and the services they will provide.

Can a bookkeeper prepare a Notice to Reader?

No, a Notice to Reader can only be prepared by a licensed accountant or CPA.

What is an NTR in accounting?

An NTR in accounting, also known as a compilation engagement is when an accountant (CPA) takes on financial statements/documents from a client. Within said documents is a report called the Notice to Reader, which states that the financial statements provided are unaudited, meaning there could be misstatements within.

Can a bookkeeper prepare financial statements?

Yes, non-certified accountants are able to prepare financial statements, although only CPA’s are able to prepare audited financial statements.