I have GGFL for my consultant corporation's taxes for 3 years. Excellent service, informed advice, tax-saving options and recommendations. Fees were not the cheapest, but in the end, saved me money and a MUCH better experience.
We have hired these guys 3 years back, we did not want to say negative review about them, however after consulting with other people regarding this matter, I realized that it's better to say what we went through, to help people, here is our experience.
We are a small consulting firm, I went to them for business and personal services, first they said we have good affordable package for small business like ourselves, we trusted them and hired them, they not only missed the deadline to file to canada revenue agency but forget to file a certain kind of information return, we found about it next time when other accounting firm mentioned about it, we not only have to pay penaly to govt. but also had to bear hourly cost of their slow staff. they billed us almost three times than they quoted to us. This was very BAD. I approached to senior members including partners and CEO, their partner responded that they did not do any mistake and three times the fees "oh we can not anticipate in beginning", how can a senior person does not know how much it will cost when they said in beginning less fees, they even did not tell us in middle of work about too much fee, at the end a small one person consulting firm had to pay ~10K to them while they promised ~2.5K. We had to pay penalty to government as well. They did mistakes in our taxes and when we moved to different accounting firm they did not hand over book keeping and did not co-operate with new accounting firm as well. One of the WORST accounting firm and non trustable people we find. We advice - DO NOT GO to GGFL.
They are WORST !!
Slow to respond, assigned junior staff, and overcharged. Avoid this firm.
May be knowledgeable accountants, but extremely poor at replying to emails, double the price of most accountants and their customer service is very poor!
GGFL have been my personal and business accountants since I set up my first business in the late 1990s. Their assistance was invaluable. As a small business, I could not have financed the development of new patented Canadian technology without them. Since then, they have taken care of three of my businesses and many business partners. They provide the highest quality service and their fees are reasonable. I strongly recommend them for any small or medium size business in the Ottawa region.
Very happy with their services and their professionalism. I would recommended them for sure!
I had been a client of GGFL for over 5 years but not longer could justify continuing with them for the following reasons:
-estimates for accounting fees not respected. Cost kept exponentially increasing without justification or clarity.
- general lack of transparency on fees. Bills are provided without providing an actual breakdown of fees and hours worked
and when bringing forward concerns to them my accountant took a defensive stance. ( as a professional I certainly could no bill clients the way they do without providing breakdown of fees)
- To be sure I polled everyone at work and no one was remotely close to the 9000$ charged by this office for my accounting costs (average was 5000k with personal taxes included in the bundle).
- getting billed for phone advice when cost was not discussed or agreed.
- My previous GGFL accountant retired and despite being expensive he was personable which made it possible to accept . I was paired with someone but the professional relationship wasn't the same.
They do provide thorough work and I can't complain about their annual corporate tax reports as they are well done and complete. On the other hand there is no justification for the cost they charge to small businesses.
The support staff is great and communication through them is excellent. Kudos to Claudia and Karen.
If you really want their services make sure you clearly establish costs (hourly wage, phone calls etc..) with them or be prepared for a shock.
Otherwise if I would stay away if you are a small business or professional. There is much better value out there.
Highly professional, experienced and knowledgeable. They always work their hardest to ensure your accounting needs are satisfied above and beyond your own expectations.
Shocked to hear that the customer service wasn't fantastic as I've never dealt with a more proactive firm; far better than any of the Big 4. Aside from reaching out well in advance to ensure all files are completed early on our side, any time that there is a new tax policy change that might impact our organization, we receive a call from one of their tax specialists to discuss what might be changing and what we can do to minimize the impact on my organization. 5 stars doesn't feel like a high enough rating.
Estimates not met. Promises not kept.
To summarize, they estimated a max cap of $6000 to $6500, they made us pay $9605.
For details, read our story:
We dealt with a CPA - Principal, Assurance & Advisory Services, in GGFL firm. He told us that GGFL fees for our small business will not exceed $6000 to 6500. Afterwards, when we asked him why we were billed double the amount promised ($11,752), he admitted by email that his estimates were wrong and he told us that the fees were higher than (he) anticipated . He used the time incurred for bookkeeping to justify their outrages fees (they charge $70 per hour for bookkeeping).
At the end of our discussion after meeting with the CPA, he gave us a discount and we ended up paying $9605. In terms of communication, they replied in a timely fashion but they could not retain us as clients, therefore we had to find another firm.
ggfl.ca
