You can switch accountants at any point in the year, and no form or government notice announces it. Your new accountant does most of the work: a required courtesy letter to your old firm, fresh CRA authorizations you approve online, and a records handover. Most switches wrap up inside a couple of weeks. Waiting for a “better time” usually just buys you another season of the same problems.
Clinic owners tend to sit on this decision for a year or more. The books feel tangled, the old firm knows the history, and tax season is always either just finished or about to start. So nothing changes.
Here’s the reality: switching accountants is a routine, structured process that the profession has rules for. It’s far less awkward than most people expect.
Mid-year is fine. Sometimes it’s better.
There’s no rule that says you change firms at your year-end. A mid-year switch often works in your favour, because the new accountant gets to see your books while there’s still time to fix things before anything is filed. If your HST setup is wrong, that’s the difference between correcting course and amending returns.
And if you’re leaving because filings are late or nobody returns your calls, waiting makes that worse, not better. The one honest caveat: a firm picking up a part-finished year may charge a one-time catch-up fee to get your records to a state they’ll sign off on. Ask what that looks like before you commit.
What actually happens between the two firms
CPAs don’t just quietly swap clients. Under the CPA code of professional conduct, the incoming accountant must contact the outgoing one before accepting the engagement and ask whether there’s anything they should know that would affect taking you on. The outgoing accountant is required to respond promptly. It’s a professional courtesy letter, not a gossip session, and your consent is needed before any detail gets shared.
Your part is small: a short, polite note to the old firm saying you’re moving on. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.
Your records come back to you. Anything you gave the firm, plus your filed returns and financial statements, gets handed over. The firm’s internal working papers are theirs to keep, and that’s normal. The code also says a CPA shouldn’t hold your information hostage over a fee dispute, though settling any outstanding invoice keeps the handover clean and fast.
The CRA side, and the 10-day trap
There’s no CRA form that says “I’ve changed accountants.” Those are two separate systems: your old firm’s authorization on your CRA accounts doesn’t expire just because you stopped working with them. It stays active until someone removes it.
So a proper switch has two CRA pieces. Your new accountant submits an authorization request for your business and personal accounts, and you confirm it from your own CRA account. That confirmation has a deadline: if you don’t approve the request within 10 business days, it’s cancelled and has to be submitted again. Then the old firm’s access gets removed, which either they or you can do.
Skip that last step and your former accountant can still see your tax information indefinitely. Most people never check.
The clinic-specific part
For a health practice, the first real conversation with a new accountant should be about which side of the HST line your income sits on. Exempt treatment income, taxable massage therapy, product sales, insurer reports, or a mix of exempt and taxable. If a prospective firm doesn’t ask about that in the first meeting, that’s your answer about whether they know clinics.
To make onboarding quick, gather the last two or three filed returns with their notices of assessment, your most recent financial statements, HST and payroll filings if you have them, and access to your books. If part of the reason you’re switching is that the books themselves are the problem, our guide on whether you need a bookkeeper or an accountant is worth a read first.
Common questions
Will switching mid-year mess up my filings?
No. Your filing history, carryforward balances, and instalment records all live with CRA, not with your old firm. A new accountant with authorization can see all of it.
Will my old accountant be difficult about it?
Almost never. Client transitions are a normal part of practice, and the professional rules require the outgoing firm to cooperate with the incoming one. If a firm drags its feet on a handover, that usually confirms the decision.
When is the one bad time to switch?
The week a filing is due. If your corporate return or HST filing is days away, let the old firm finish that one filing, then move. Any other point in the year is fair game.
Thinking about making the change? Tell us about your practice and we’ll walk you through what the switch would look like.