Companies to Watch in OBJ, Summer 2019
Sandy Tunwell’s journey from bookkeeper to head of Ottawa’s go-to provider of bookkeeping and accounting services for new and small businesses began 25 years ago with a modest request.
After being told she’d be a good teacher, Tunwell approached the Ottawa Board of Education to ask if she could teach an accounting course for small businesses.
After finding that her students kept asking her for more one-on-one help, Tunwell quickly saw the demand for a different type of bookkeeping help and opened her own business. “I wanted to be talking with people and helping them manage their business,” she says. One of Tunwell’s focuses since day 1 has always been, “To change the accountant / client relationship”. She has combined her vast knowledge of accounting with her strong social skills to develop a unique approach to bookkeeping.
accountrain’s team works onsite at their client’s office as needed, with biweekly being the most popular and logging extra hours as required, such as preparing year-end financial statements or working with auditors.
accountrain also specializes in working with not-for-profit organizations, which face unique challenges because their reporting standards are different than private businesses. The bookkeeping can be more complex with various funders involved and every year end must be reviewed by an outside audit firm. We have become known for consistently having “clean” audits. As well the Board of Directors are responsible for the financials and therefore need to be confident with the accounting team.
One of accountrain’s longstanding clients is the Charlotte Birchard Centre for Early Learning (CBCEL). When Cathy Romano-Franzese joined the organization as executive director in February 2013, part of her onboarding process included working with Tunwell on financial strategy. She had one-on-one training sessions to learn about financial reporting, which she concedes was, “not one of my strong suits.”
“It’s great to have someone knowledgeable like Sandy working with us,” says Romano-Franzese. “We see accountrain as part of our team.”
Last year, Tunwell also created new financial reports for CBCEL to help with key decision-making. Tunwell and her staff created a report template that can track which programs are the most profitable to help CBCEL decide on future programming.
The report was designed based on many years of experience working with project-driven organizations.
CBCEL’s provincial and federal funding is tied to specific programs. So Tunwell and her team created a system where the funding could be matched with each program in great detail so that the report clearly shows where the money was spent and which programs were profitable. It’s one example of how accountrain was able to accommodate a unique financial need.
“It’s great to have someone consistent and competent working alongside us,” says Romano- Franzese.
“I wanted to be talking with people and helping them manage their business.”
Financial tips for startups
To mark its 25th anniversary, accountrain underwent a complete rebrand, redesigned its website and held a huge client appreciation party.
Many of those clients have attended various workshops hosted by accountrain that help break down financial issues facing organizations.
accountrain founder Sandy Tunwell says one of the most common questions she’s asked is whether a company should incorporate and, if so, when. She says part of the answer lies in how the company plans to use its net profits.
For example, a young entrepreneur leading a company that’s pulling in funds not needed for company expenses may want to use the money for personal reasons. In that case, Tunwell says they may be incorporating for the wrong reasons, or the wrong time.