Kelly O'Toole, H.B. Comm

BC-Based Bookkeeper for Canadian Small Businesses

Hi, I'm Kelly. I've been running Kelly J. Bookkeeping since 2011 - a home-based, fully Canadian virtual bookkeeping practice serving small businesses across BC and beyond. I work in QBO, Xero, Wave, and Sage. My data never leaves Canada, I never outsource offshore, and your financial information is handled with the security and confidentiality it deserves. If you need a human who understands the numbers and will give you a straight answer, you're in the right place.

I have real conversations with my clients and their accountants. That includes the uncomfortable ones - when the books are a mess, when deadlines have passed, when nobody quite knows what happened. You name the mess, I have seen it and cleaned it up. I don't judge. I just get people moving in the right direction.

I answer the phone. You can reach me at 604-498-2682 or by email - whichever works for you.

Background and Credentials

I hold an Honours Bachelor of Commerce through the CGA/Laurentian University partnership program with a focus on accounting. I left the CGA designation path, in good standing, to build this business and put what I had learned to work directly with clients.

Today I hold a QBO Advanced ProAdvisor certification and have hands-on experience across QBO, Xero, Wave, Sage, and Excel. I have worked with everything from brand-new startups to multi-year cleanup files with complicated histories.

I am also the person behind the GST/HST blog series you may have found online. Let's be honest - the CRA website is a rabbit hole. My goal is to climb out of that rabbit hole so 90% of small business owners don't have to. Plain language, real examples, broken down into chunks that actually make sense. I use AI to help with the writing - but the breakdown, the presentation, and the guidance behind it are mine.

Continuous learning is part of the job. I am always taking courses, researching changes, and staying current on CRA updates, software releases, and best practices - because falling behind is not an option when someone is trusting me with their numbers.

How I Work

I take the bookkeeping off your plate so you and your accountant can do your jobs without chasing each other for information. I don't cross lanes - I'm not your accountant, your tax preparer, or your financial advisor. I'm your bookkeeper. That clarity matters, and the CPA firms I work with will tell you the same.

When a client comes to me behind - on their books, on their GST/HST, on their CRA obligations - the first thing I do is help them understand exactly where they stand. No panic, no judgment. Then we build a plan to get caught up and get moving. A lot of people don't realize how manageable it actually is once someone breaks it down for them.

I also build bookkeeping systems for small business owners who need things set up properly from the start - or untangled after years of winging it. A good system means your books are consistent, your accountant is not chasing you at year end, and you are not dreading the next CRA deadline. Some clients hand the whole thing back to me after that. Others want to run it themselves, which leads to the training.

One of the most rewarding parts of what I do is 1-on-1 QBO training. There is something genuinely satisfying about watching someone go from completely overwhelmed by their books to handling them confidently on their own. The best outcome is when a client only calls me to double-check something they have already done themselves - and they're right.

Everything stays in Canada. I work remotely with clients across BC and handle all data processing and storage here - not abroad, and not through platforms that route your financial information offshore.

A Little More About Me

When I am not in the books, you will find me at the gym running on a curve treadmill that hates me, training for Hyrox, boxing, or on the trails with my Shepherd Great Pyrenees cross, Riley. I like puzzles - which is probably why messy files and tangled accounts are my favourite kind of problem to walk into.