Zenbooks

10/14/2026

Today on Moolala, SXM 167:

√ Kenclong Capong: Keys to Home Confidence - DIY projects
√ Aled Ab Iorwerth .schl Housing Market Outlook and Housing Supply Report
√ Aviad Levis: Financial Scams Involving AI
📖 Eric Saumure Zenbooks: Financial Clarity Index - small businesses

09/18/2026

Insurance Business Canada ran a piece this morning on the gap between how Canadian small business owners rate their finances and what they can actually demonstrate. It draws on the Zenbooks Financial Clarity Index alongside data from TD Insurance and Zensurance.

Two of the findings the reporter picked up cut against our own commercial interest. The index found no association between outsourcing a finance function and greater financial clarity. It also found no relationship between how often an owner speaks to their accountant and their likelihood of being audited. We run an outsourced practice. Those are not the answers I was hoping for.

The number I keep returning to is the calibration gap. 35.2% of owners rate their finances as good or excellent while scoring below 60 out of 100, and the gap is widest among firms running on mostly manual processes.

The 2026 index surveyed 565 Canadian SMEs, weighted to Statistics Canada figures for region, employee count and sector. All findings are associational.

If you are writing or presenting on SME finances and want a cut of the data by sector, size or province, send me a note and I will run it.

New data from TD, Zenbooks and Zensurance shows Canadian SMEs overestimate their own financial health, and brokers are positioned to close that gap

08/27/2026

We ran a national survey this year on how Canadian small and mid-sized businesses actually manage their finances. One of the results cost us.

The Zenbooks Financial Clarity Index found, that In-house bookkeeping and outsourced or virtual support scored within noise of each other, 2.8 points apart. Zenbooks is fully remote. We have spent a decade positioning on a distinction the data cannot detect.

What did show up was infrastructure. Integrated accounting, banking and payroll scored 71.9 against 44.1 for mostly manual processes, the widest gap we measured. Regular accountant contact was the strongest behavioural correlate in the dataset.

Which raises a question about the order in which our profession sells its work. We wrote it up for Canadian Accountant.

The missing layer has an old name.

07/22/2026

Zenbooks has been named a finalist in three categories at the Xero Partner Awards Canada 2026.

Large Firm of the Year. Advisory Innovator of the Year. Community Champion.

What means the most to us is the range. One category is about how we've scaled. One is about the work we do for clients every day. One is about who we are when the invoices are set aside. Being recognized in all three, in the same year, isn't something we take for granted.

We've been building this firm since 2015 as a fully remote, cloud-native practice, back when that was a strange thing for an accounting firm to be.

Today we work with more than 300 Canadian businesses coast to coast. This one belongs to the whole team.

Thank you to Xero for the recognition, and congratulations to every firm named a finalist this year! We learn so much for other firm leaders and love collaborating with all of them!

Winners are announced at Xerocon in Denver in August. We'll be there!

https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/306105

07/13/2026

We studied 500 small businesses in Canada and found an important pain point.

According to our recent data (https://zenbooks.ca/resources/technology-in-accounting/), 16% of SMEs say the political landscape is one of their biggest business concerns.

And for professional services firms, the impact is often immediate.

In the current Canada / US political climate, it's volatile. Tax changes. Procurement shifts. Regulatory updates. New reporting requirements.

Most firm owners didn't start a business because they wanted to become part-time political analysts.

The founders winning right now aren't the ones making predictions.

They're the ones building businesses resilient enough that a policy announcement doesn't derail the entire plan.

Because no government can create clarity inside your business.

That's your job.

And if your numbers only work when conditions are perfect, that's not a strategy. It's a hope.

The political landscape will keep changing.

The question is whether your business is built to adapt when it does.

02/19/2026

Chez Zenbooks, on accompagne des PME partout au Canada. Et une réalité revient constamment : les propriétaires d'entreprise manquent de visibilité sur leur santé financière, pas de talent pour gérer leur entreprise.

Un entrepreneur québécois sur trois éprouve des difficultés à gérer ses flux de trésorerie. Ce n'est pas une surprise pour nous. C'est ce qu'on voit chaque semaine.

C'est pourquoi on suit de près le dossier de la finance ouverte. Le cadre fédéral d'open banking entre en vigueur en 2026, mais pour qu'il soit utile aux PME, il faut aller plus loin que les seules données bancaires. Les factures, la paie, les comptes clients, les taxes, c'est là que se trouve la vraie image financière d'une petite entreprise.

Notre cofondateur Eric Saumure propose dans Le Devoir que Montréal serve de terrain pilote pour tester ce modèle. Une idée ancrée dans ce qu'on observe chaque jour avec nos clients.

Le lien est dans les commentaires.

02/16/2026

Canada's $30,000 GST/HST threshold was set when fax machines were standard business equipment.
Let that sink in.

82% of Canadian micro-businesses do their own bookkeeping.

No finance team. No accountant on retainer. Just the business owner.

At 11 PM on a Tuesday.

On Saturday mornings that should be with their kids.
Here's what nobody's saying: compliance obligations don't scale down. A $35,000 business faces the same GST/HST complexity as a $350,000 one.

Same forms. Same deadlines. Same % penalties for getting it wrong.

Our 2023 study showed 8 out of 10 micro-business owners handle their books personally. These aren't theoretical administrative tasks, they're hours stolen from building the actual business.

In Canadian Accountant, Albert Park, CPA, CA, CPA (IL), MTax and Eric Saumure, CPA, CA break down why a threshold designed for the 1990s might be crushing the businesses it was meant to protect.

This isn't about whether GST/HST should exist.
It's about whether the line we drew 30+ years ago still makes sense.

Administrative design either enables or suffocates small businesses.

Full article linked below. 👇

02/09/2026

Stop Hustling from Fear: Unlock True Motivation

Annika Friesen (Annika Friesen Coaching & Consulting) and Eric Saumure (Zenbooks)

Find the full episode of Small Business | Big Insights Podcast on major platforms: https://linktr.ee/smallbusinessbiginsights

02/06/2026

Growth Through Clarity: The Power of Slowing Down

Annika Friesen (Annika Friesen Coaching & Consulting) and Eric Saumure (Zenbooks)

Find the full episode of Small Business | Big Insights Podcast on major platforms: https://linktr.ee/smallbusinessbiginsights

02/06/2026

Does growth really have to mean more hustle?

In this episode, we challenge one of the most common beliefs small business owners hold: that scaling requires longer hours and more intensity. Instead, we talk about why clarity, not hustle, is what actually drives sustainable growth.

We explore what it means to define success on your own terms, how unclear goals can quietly lead to burnout, and why so many business owners hit a plateau even though they are working incredibly hard. The conversation also dives into the leadership habit that often predicts whether a business will stall, the difficulty of letting go, and how strategic hiring, outsourcing, or systems can unlock the next level of growth.

If you are tired of running on the hamster wheel and want to build a business that grows with intention, this episode is for you.

Listen to the full episode here:
https://linktr.ee/smallbusinessbiginsights