Financial statement preparation services for Canadian MSBs
ComplyFactor provides financial statement preparation services for Canadian money services businesses (MSBs), payment service providers, remittance and foreign exchange companies, virtual currency businesses and fintechs. We turn your year-end records into complete financial statements, and support a formal compilation engagement where one is required.
Engagements typically cover review of year-end records, preparation of financial statements on an agreed basis of accounting, supporting schedules, and the GIFI figures your corporation's T2 filing needs. Scope is agreed in writing before work begins.
Financial statement preparation for MSBs, PSPs and fintechs
Most providers preparing year-end statements rarely see a money services business. An MSB, PSP or fintech prepares the same financial statements as any other Canadian corporation; there is no separate framework because the business is regulated. What differs is the data the statements are built from.
Revenue arrives as fees, spreads and commissions rather than invoices. Transaction volume runs through processors, platforms and settlement accounts in several currencies. Balances held for clients sit beside the corporation's own funds, agent networks create two-way commission flows, and virtual currency activity adds its own records. Generic preparation stalls on exactly this data.
Records we work with every day
What is financial statement preparation?
Financial statements preparation covers the work of turning a corporation's accounting records into a complete set of year-end statements. In practice that means reviewing the trial balance and supporting records, coordinating the year-end adjustments, and presenting the results — typically a balance sheet and an income statement with supporting schedules — on a clearly identified basis of accounting.
It sits between two neighbouring services. Bookkeeping records transactions through the year. A formal compilation engagement goes further than preparation: it is a defined professional engagement under Canadian standards that ends with a Compilation Engagement Report. Prepared statements without that engagement are management-prepared statements, suitable for internal use and many routine purposes.
Preparation on its own is not an audit or a review. For how compilation, review and audit compare, and which one an intended user is likely to ask for, see our guide to compilation vs review vs audit in Canada.
Financial statement preparation vs a compilation engagement
CPA compilation engagements under current Canadian standards
CSRS 4200, Canadian Standard on Related Services 4200, has governed compilation engagements since it replaced the former Section 9200 for periods ending on or after December 14, 2021, and it remains the current standard.
The engagement runs on defined responsibilities. Before accepting, the practitioner establishes how the compiled information will be used; where a third party will use it, that third party must be able to request further information from the business, or have agreed the basis of accounting with management.
The practitioner then obtains knowledge of the business and its records, compiles the information on the identified basis (ASPE, IFRS, or another basis suited to the purpose, such as modified cash for internal reporting), discusses significant matters with management, and issues the Compilation Engagement Report with the basis-of-accounting note.
Where an intended user requires a formal compilation engagement, we confirm the requirement and how the engagement will be delivered at scoping, before any work begins.
Still looking for a "Notice to Reader"? Notice to Reader is the former Canadian name for compiled financial statements, and remains in wide use. Banks and business partners still ask for one, and older statements still carry the title.
The change to CSRS 4200 was more than a renaming: the current standard added engagement acceptance requirements, clearer management and practitioner responsibilities, a mandatory basis-of-accounting note and minimum documentation, and the report is now the Compilation Engagement Report. If someone asks your corporation for a Notice to Reader, they almost always mean a current compilation engagement.
Optional additions (agreed separately where they apply)
What financial statements may be prepared?
When might an MSB need prepared or compiled financial statements?
The trigger is almost always an intended user. Common scenarios:
Financial statements for T2 corporate tax filing
Every Canadian corporation files financial statement information with its T2 return using the General Index of Financial Information (GIFI), typically Schedules 100, 125 and 141. The CRA requires the GIFI information itself, not a particular engagement: preparing financial information solely for the corporate tax return falls outside the scope of the compilation standard, so a Compilation Engagement Report is not automatically required just to file.
In practice the two jobs share one foundation. Prepared year-end statements map cleanly to GIFI and keep the tax return consistent with what lenders and shareholders see. Filing runs on fixed timelines, with the T2 due six months after year-end and the balance owing earlier; see our guide to Canadian corporate tax deadlines and penalties for the full calendar.
GIFI at a glance
Financial reporting considerations for MSBs
These are the areas we most often organize before an MSB's statements can be prepared properly.
Processor & settlement reconciliation
Platform reports, processor statements and bank accounts tied together before any figures are drafted.
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Revenue mapping
Fee, spread and commission income separated, with the principal-versus-agent question identified where it affects gross or net presentation.
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Client funds
Balances held for clients distinguished from the corporation's own funds and revenue.
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Foreign currency
Multi-currency accounts and FX activity translated and supported at year-end.
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Agent & network commissions
Paid and received, tied to supporting statements.
Virtual currency & related parties
Holdings listed with dates and determinable values; intercompany and shareholder balances identified.
How any item is presented depends on the applicable basis of accounting, your contracts and your circumstances. We organize the records and flag the items that need a decision; accounting positions remain management's responsibility, and in a compilation engagement the practitioner's CSRS 4200 responsibilities apply.
Financial statement preparation services across Ontario
ComplyFactor prepares year-end financial statements for businesses across Ontario from offices in Mississauga and Cambridge, with remote delivery across Canada. The engagement is identical wherever the corporation is based.
Financial statement preparation in Toronto
Toronto is home to Canada's largest cluster of money services businesses, payment platforms and fintech companies, yet most financial statement preparation in Toronto is delivered by generalist firms that rarely see this kind of transaction data. Our service was built the other way around: MSB, PSP and fintech records are the starting point, not the exception. Toronto corporations work with us remotely, from records collection through delivery of the year-end statement package, with preparation planned around the timelines lenders, investors and banking partners set.
Financial statement preparation in Mississauga
ComplyFactor's Mississauga office is at Suite 211, 320 Matheson Boulevard West, surrounded by one of the country's densest concentrations of remittance, foreign exchange and payment businesses. Financial statement preparation for Mississauga clients follows the same remote workflow we use nationally, with the option of meeting locally where that helps. Many Mississauga MSBs already work with us on FINTRAC registration or their AML program; adding year-end statement preparation keeps the financial and regulatory sides of the business consistent.
Serving businesses across the Greater Toronto Area
We also prepare year-end financial statements for regulated businesses in Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Oakville and the wider Greater Toronto Area, with a second Ontario office in Cambridge. Delivery is remote, so location changes nothing about the engagement.
What we need to prepare your financial statements
Depending on your business model and engagement, the request list draws from the items opposite. Not every item applies to every corporation — the checklist is confirmed at scoping.
Our financial statement preparation process
Scope the engagement
We confirm the business, the year-end, who will use the statements, whether preparation or a formal compilation is required, and whether T2 filing is also needed, then issue a written scope and quote.
Collect financial records
You receive a tailored checklist and upload records through secure exchange.
Review and reconcile
Records are organized and tied together, with gaps flagged early. This is preparation, not audit-level verification.
Prepare the financial information
Statements are drafted on the agreed basis, and open questions are resolved with you.
Complete the compilation, where required
The basis-of-accounting note and Compilation Engagement Report are added under CSRS 4200.
Deliver the final statements
You receive the statement package, GIFI-ready figures and carry-forward notes where in scope.
What you receive
We do not provide audit or review assurance and cannot promise acceptance by any particular lender, investor or regulator; the intended user's requirements govern.
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Why MSBs choose ComplyFactor for financial reporting support
Built for regulated financial businesses
MSBs, PSPs, remittance and FX companies, virtual currency businesses and fintechs make up our client base, not the edge of it.
Fluency in the records
Settlement reports, processor statements, agent files and multi-currency ledgers do not need explaining before work can start.
Consistency across obligations
Statements, GIFI figures and regulatory filings come from one organized set of records, so they agree with each other.
Clear engagement scope
Fixed scope and pricing agreed in writing, with preparation and any compilation engagement clearly separated.
Ontario offices, Canada-wide delivery
Mississauga and Cambridge offices, with remote engagements across Canada.
Frequently asked questions
It is the process of turning a corporation's accounting records into year-end financial statements, typically a balance sheet and income statement, through year-end adjustments and organized presentation on an identified basis of accounting.
Typically a review of year-end records, coordination of adjusting entries, preparation of the statements on an agreed basis of accounting, and the supporting schedules. The exact set is confirmed in your written scope.
Preparation produces management-prepared statements with no report attached. A compilation engagement is a defined professional engagement under CSRS 4200 that adds a basis-of-accounting note and a Compilation Engagement Report. Our full comparison of engagement types covers how review and audit differ.
No. The practitioner compiles information provided by management and does not test transactions or verify balances, so no assurance is expressed. Where a user needs assurance, a review or an audit is the appropriate engagement.
Canadian Standard on Related Services 4200, the current Canadian standard for compilation engagements. It replaced the former Section 9200 and applies to compiled financial information for periods ending on or after December 14, 2021.
Notice to Reader is the former name and is still widely used informally. CSRS 4200 replaced it with the Compilation Engagement Report and added acceptance, responsibility and disclosure requirements, so the change was more than a renaming.
Not automatically. Being an MSB does not itself require compiled statements. The need is set by intended users: a lender, investor, shareholder agreement or transaction may require a compilation or a higher engagement.
The T2 must include financial statement information in GIFI format, so complete year-end figures are required. A formal CSRS 4200 compilation is not automatically required just to file the return.
Yes. Toronto corporations are served remotely through secure document exchange, on the same engagement terms we use across Canada.
Yes. ComplyFactor's Mississauga office is at 320 Matheson Boulevard West, and local meetings are available where useful.
The core set is prior-year statements and T2, the trial balance and general ledger, bank and processor statements, and revenue and expense detail. The full checklist covers the rest, confirmed at scoping.
Get your year-end financial statements ready
Tell us your corporation's year-end, what the statements are for and the state of the records. You will receive a written scope and quote for financial statement preparation services matched to your business: preparation only, preparation with a compilation engagement, or statements coordinated with your T2 filing. Regulated businesses should not have to translate their own numbers for their provider.
