Financial Services for Manufacturing | Bookkeeping, Business Plans, Fractional CFO & Financial Modeling — Ledgerive
Manufacturing — Ontario's Industrial Base

Financial Services for
Ontario's Manufacturers.

A senior CPA-backed team delivering bookkeeping, business plans, Fractional CFO and financial modeling built for the way manufacturing actually operates — standard costing and variance analysis, BOM accounting and cost roll-ups, ERP integration across SAP, NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor and Global Shop, SR&ED tax credit maximization, Class 53 accelerated CCA planning, CUSMA rules of origin coordination for exporters, multi-currency accounting, and IRAP, SIF, FedDev and AMIC funding packages. Serving Tier 1/2/3 auto parts suppliers, food and beverage manufacturers, aerospace, pharmaceutical, medical devices, plastics, metal fabrication, contract manufacturers and multi-generational family industrial firms across Windsor, Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Cambridge, Markham and the broader Ontario manufacturing corridor.

CPA-supervised Standard costing & BOM depth SR&ED-fluent Fixed monthly fees
Why Ledgerive for Manufacturing

Built for Standard Costing, BOM & ERP Depth.

Manufacturing finance isn't small-business accounting with an inventory account. It's a distinct discipline anchored in standard costing, BOM accounting, variance analysis, SR&ED maximization and ERP integration. Generic accountants routinely fumble every one of these — and leave five- to seven-figure SR&ED credits on the table every year.

CPA-supervised, manufacturer-fluent

Every manufacturing engagement is led by a senior CPA who's already worked with Tier 1/2/3 auto parts, food and beverage, pharma, medical devices, plastics, metal fabrication and contract manufacturers at your stage. No junior handoffs. No offshore delegation. Standard costing and ERP discipline treated as inseparable from day one.

Standard costing & variance analysis

Standard cost setup for materials, labor and overhead by SKU or part number, ongoing cost roll-forward, variance analysis across material price, material usage, labor efficiency, labor rate and overhead absorption, cost of goods manufactured (COGM) to COGS reconciliation, and the standard-to-actual variance reporting that surfaces where margin is actually being made and lost by product line.

BOM accounting & cost roll-ups

Multi-level BOM structure with proper cost roll-up from raw materials through sub-assemblies to finished goods, BOM change accounting and engineering change order (ECO) impact, effective date discipline when BOMs change mid-period, coordination with your engineering and operations teams on BOM accuracy, and integration between your ERP BOM structure and general ledger. BOM accuracy is where standard costing lives or dies.

SR&ED & Class 53 depth

SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) is the largest under-claimed tax credit in Canadian manufacturing. Process improvement, product development, prototype, new material qualification, quality improvement, automation and Industry 4.0 initiatives all qualify. Class 53 accelerated CCA for manufacturing and processing equipment (phasing through 2027) materially reduces the true cost of capex. Manufacturers who ignore both leave real money on the table every year.

ERP & cross-border fluency

SAP, SAP Business One, Oracle NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor, Global Shop, Made2Manage, Infor CloudSuite, Plex — we integrate all major manufacturing ERPs with your general ledger. Plus multi-currency accounting for USD/CAD, CUSMA rules of origin content documentation and regional value content coordination with your customs broker, duty drawback claims, and transfer pricing where you have a US subsidiary.

Fixed fees, all four services under one roof

Fixed monthly retainer for CFO and bookkeeping. Fixed project fee for business plans and models. Bookkeeping, CFO, business plan and financial modeling from the same team, using the same numbers, telling the same story to your OEMs, bank credit committee, SR&ED consultant and government funders.

The manufacturing landscape

What Ontario Manufacturers Actually Face.

Ontario is Canada's largest manufacturing province and one of the most important industrial economies in North America. The province builds roughly 1.3 million vehicles annually plus a vastly larger auto parts base, anchored by Ford (Oakville), Toyota (Cambridge), Honda (Alliston), GM CAMI (Ingersoll) and Stellantis (Windsor), with a Tier 1/2/3 supplier ecosystem across the province that includes Magna, Linamar, Martinrea, Multimatic and hundreds of smaller suppliers. The emerging EV and battery supply chain — Stellantis-LGES in Windsor, Volkswagen PowerCo in St. Thomas, and adjacent battery cathode and materials investments — is the largest industrial transformation Ontario has seen in a generation. Aerospace anchored at Downsview (Bombardier) plus MRO. Food and beverage manufacturing across the GTA. Meadowvale pharma (Roche, Sanofi, GSK, Astellas). Medical devices in Kitchener-Waterloo. Steel and heavy industry in Hamilton. Chemicals in Sarnia's Chemical Valley. Plus contract manufacturers, plastics and injection molding, metal fabrication, tool and die shops, consumer packaged goods, and specialty industrial across the province.

Manufacturing operators face finance realities that touch inventory, cost accounting, tax planning, capex and cross-border compliance all at once. Standard costing is the single most important technical discipline in manufacturing finance. Standard cost setup for materials, labor and overhead by SKU or part number. Variance analysis across material price, material usage, labor efficiency, labor rate and overhead absorption. Cost of goods manufactured (COGM) reconciliation to cost of goods sold. Standard-to-actual variance reporting that surfaces where margin is actually being made and lost by product line. Getting standard costing wrong misstates gross margin by material amounts and hides operational problems until they become financial problems.

BOM (Bill of Materials) accounting is foundational — multi-level BOM structure with proper cost roll-up from raw materials through sub-assemblies to finished goods, BOM change accounting and engineering change order (ECO) impact, effective date discipline when BOMs change mid-period, and integration between your ERP BOM structure and general ledger. BOM accuracy is where standard costing lives or dies — a wrong BOM makes every downstream number wrong. Inventory reserves for slow-moving and obsolete (SLOB) stock, scrap accounting, rework accounting, warranty reserves and quality cost tracking are all core manufacturing bookkeeping.

SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) is the largest under-claimed tax credit opportunity in Canadian manufacturing. Eligible expenditures span process improvement, product development, prototype development, new material qualification, quality improvement programs, and automation and Industry 4.0 initiatives. Federal refundable investment tax credit rates plus Ontario provincial credits materially reduce the true cost of manufacturing innovation. Manufacturers who ignore SR&ED are usually leaving five- to seven-figure annual credits on the table. Class 53 accelerated CCA for manufacturing and processing machinery and equipment, under the Accelerated Investment Incentive introduced in 2018 and phasing through 2027, lets qualifying M&P equipment be fully written off in the year of acquisition — one of the highest-value tax planning opportunities in Canadian manufacturing.

ERP integration is foundational infrastructure. SAP and SAP Business One for mid-market and up. Oracle NetSuite for mid-market cloud. Sage X3 for process manufacturing. Epicor for mixed-mode manufacturing. Global Shop for discrete manufacturing. Made2Manage for job shops. Infor CloudSuite Industrial for automotive and industrial. Plex for cloud-based manufacturing. Each has distinct integration patterns with the general ledger, cost center and cost element discipline, inventory sub-ledger to GL reconciliation, and the standard costing and variance reporting your operations team actually needs.

Layered on all of that: cross-border trade compliance is fundamental to Ontario manufacturing — the US is by far the largest export market, especially for auto, food and beverage, aerospace and industrial. Multi-currency accounting for USD/CAD and where applicable EUR/GBP. CUSMA (Canada-US-Mexico Agreement) rules of origin content documentation and regional value content (RVC) calculation. Duty drawback claims. Transfer pricing where you have a US subsidiary or related-party structure. Plus government funding programs including IRAP, SIF (Strategic Innovation Fund), FedDev Ontario, AMIC (Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Consortium), Ontario Made and provincial and municipal grants. The financing landscape covers Big Five commercial banks, BDC, EDC for exporters, equipment financing specialists (CWB Maxium, Element), factoring for OEM receivables, and family office capital where multi-generational family industrial firms need patient succession capital. What manufacturers need is senior finance leadership at Fractional pricing, deep expertise across standard costing, BOM, SR&ED, Class 53 and ERP integration, plus fluency with Ontario's OEM ecosystem, exporter compliance and government funding programs. Ledgerive was built for exactly that.

When you need finance help

Signs Your Manufacturing Business Needs Ledgerive.

The two service lines manufacturers reach for first are Bookkeeping (get standard costing, BOM, variance analysis, SR&ED and ERP integration right) and Business Plans (close bank credit facilities, government funding submissions, or export financing). Here's how to tell when each is the right answer.

Bookkeeping

You Need Manufacturing Bookkeeping When…

Your P&L doesn't show real product-line margin because standard costing isn't being done properly, your BOM structure and GL have drifted apart, SR&ED is being missed or under-claimed, or your ERP and general ledger reconciliation is a monthly fire drill. Manufacturing accounting is a distinct discipline — and generic bookkeepers routinely miss standard costing, BOM roll-ups, and variance analysis.

Common manufacturing triggers
  • Your P&L doesn't show real product-line or SKU-level margin because standard costing and variance analysis aren't in place
  • BOM structure has drifted and cost roll-ups don't match what your engineering team says the products cost — inventory value is unreliable
  • SR&ED is either being missed entirely or under-claimed — you suspect five- to seven-figure annual credits are being left on the table
  • Your ERP (SAP / NetSuite / Sage X3 / Epicor / Global Shop) and general ledger reconciliation is a multi-day fire drill every month
See Manufacturing Bookkeeping
Business Plan

You Need a Manufacturing Business Plan When…

You have a real deadline — a bank credit facility renewal, an SIF or FedDev funding application, an IRAP submission, an EDC facility for export growth, an equipment financing decision, or a family succession filing — and the plan has to be strong enough to actually close the financing or the funding.

Common manufacturing triggers
  • You're preparing a bank credit facility renewal or increase with a Big Five bank or a manufacturing-specialist commercial lender
  • You're applying for SIF (Strategic Innovation Fund), FedDev Ontario, AMIC, IRAP or a provincial manufacturing grant program
  • You're preparing an EDC (Export Development Canada) facility application, or growth capex financing for major equipment investments
  • You're planning family succession or intergenerational transfer of a multi-generational manufacturing firm
See Manufacturing Business Plans
Featured services for Manufacturing

Manufacturer-Native Bookkeeping & Business Plans.

The two services manufacturers lean on first, delivered end-to-end by a senior CPA-led team with deep automotive, aerospace, food and beverage, pharma, medical device, plastics and contract manufacturing specialization. Fractional CFO and Financial Modeling are available alongside as your stage requires.

Bookkeeping for Manufacturing

Monthly bookkeeping, catch-up bookkeeping, HST filings and payroll for manufacturers — tuned to standard costing and variance analysis, BOM accounting and cost roll-ups, inventory reserves (SLOB, scrap, rework, warranty), SR&ED expenditure tracking, Class 53 capex discipline, ERP integration across SAP, NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor, Global Shop, Made2Manage and Plex, CUSMA rules of origin coordination, and multi-currency accounting. Reviewed by a CPA.

  • Standard costing & variance analysis by SKU/part number
  • BOM accounting & multi-level cost roll-up
  • Inventory reserves (SLOB, scrap, rework, warranty)
  • SR&ED expenditure tracking & Class 53 capex
  • ERP integration (SAP, NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor, Plex)
Explore Manufacturing Bookkeeping

Business Plans for Manufacturing

Bank-ready, funder-ready and export-ready business plans for manufacturers — bank credit facility packages, SIF (Strategic Innovation Fund) submissions, FedDev Ontario applications, IRAP packages, AMIC funding applications, EDC facilities for exporters, equipment financing packages, and family succession plans. Written for exactly what each reviewer wants to see.

  • Bank credit facility & growth capital packages
  • SIF, FedDev, IRAP, AMIC funding submissions
  • EDC facility packages for export growth
  • Equipment financing (CWB Maxium, Element, bank)
  • Family succession & intergenerational transfer plans
Explore Manufacturing Business Plans
Where we work in manufacturing

Manufacturing Sub-Verticals & Ontario Cities We Cover.

Deep specialization across the manufacturing sub-verticals that actually define Ontario's industrial base — and coverage across every core Ontario manufacturing city.

Manufacturing sub-verticals we serve

Our deepest manufacturing expertise — from auto parts to food and beverage to advanced manufacturing.

Auto Parts (Tier 1, 2, 3) Tool & Die Shops Aerospace & Aviation Food & Beverage Pharmaceutical Medical Devices Industrial Machinery Plastics & Injection Molding Metal Fabrication & Machine Shops Chemical & Specialty Materials Electronics & Hardware Packaging & Printing Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Contract Manufacturers Advanced Manufacturing & Automation
How we work with manufacturers

Remote-First, ERP-Native.

The engagement rhythm every manufacturer can expect — designed around your production calendar, OEM cycles and SR&ED filing timeline.

Step 1

Free 30-min discovery call

NDA before the call, always. We walk through your product lines, your ERP, your OEMs, your priorities and deadlines. Honest answer on fit inside the call itself — not a follow-up email.

Step 2

Written proposal in 48 hours

Scope, deliverables, timeline and fixed fee — all in writing. If the scope needs to change, we redraft once for free. What we quote is what you pay.

Step 3

Start in 3–5 business days

Engagement letter signed. Access granted to your ERP (SAP, NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor, Global Shop, Plex), QuickBooks/GL, bank feeds and prior financials. First deliverable — usually a standard cost review or BOM reconciliation — lands the same week.

Step 4

Weekly cadence + SR&ED-ready

Standing weekly call, always-on Slack, monthly close by the 15th, quarterly variance analysis review, annual SR&ED coordination with your SR&ED consultant, OEM audit prep when the moment comes. No help-desk queue, no offshore relay.

Manufacturer voices

What Manufacturers Say After 90 Days.

We're a Tier 2 auto parts supplier shipping into US OEM programs and our standard costing was a decade out of date. Our previous accountant treated variance analysis as an afterthought. Ledgerive rebuilt standard costs by part number, tied them to our Epicor BOM structure, and set up proper variance reporting that finally shows which parts are actually profitable. Our OEM annual audit went cleanly for the first time in years — and we recovered material SR&ED credits on process improvement work we'd been doing but never claiming.
RT
Rick T.
Owner, Tier 2 Auto Parts Supplier — Windsor
My family runs a specialty food and beverage manufacturing business serving retail and food service across North America. Our BOM had never been properly maintained in our ERP, our margin per SKU was invisible, and we'd never touched SR&ED despite years of product development work on new formulations. Ledgerive rebuilt BOM accuracy, set up proper standard costing, and coordinated our first SR&ED claim. The claim alone covered multiple years of fees.
SR
Sunita R.
Co-Owner, Food & Beverage Manufacturer — Brampton
We're a mid-size plastics injection molding shop that's been in the family for two generations. We ran on hunches for years but wanted proper standard costing and variance discipline as my son took over operations. Ledgerive integrated our Sage X3 with proper GL discipline, set up standard costing per mold and per part, and rebuilt our capex planning around Class 53 accelerated CCA. Cash tax dropped materially and we finally have real numbers to plan the next equipment cycle around.
MB
Marco B.
Principal, Plastics Injection Molding — Vaughan
We're a contract electronics manufacturer serving industrial and medical device customers across Canada and the US. Our margin by customer was invisible, our USD accounts receivable was creating exchange rate noise nobody was managing, and our CUSMA content documentation had gaps. Ledgerive rebuilt customer-level margin reporting, tightened our multi-currency discipline, and got our CUSMA documentation into a state we could actually defend. Our bank credit facility renewal came through at improved terms.
KC
Kenneth C.
CEO, Contract Electronics Manufacturer — Markham
Manufacturing FAQ

Questions Manufacturers Ask.

Straight answers to the questions that come up on nearly every manufacturing discovery call.

Do you work with mid-size Tier 2 and Tier 3 auto parts manufacturers?
Yes — Tier 2 and Tier 3 auto parts manufacturing is one of our deepest manufacturing specialties. Ontario builds roughly 1.3 million vehicles annually plus a vastly larger parts base, and the Tier 2/Tier 3 supplier ecosystem across Windsor, Oakville, Cambridge, Alliston, Ingersoll and the broader auto corridor is enormous. We handle the specific finance realities including standard costing per part number with variance analysis, BOM accounting and cost roll-up, ERP integration (SAP, NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor, Global Shop, Made2Manage), USD-denominated AR from US OEMs and Tier 1 buyers, CUSMA rules of origin coordination for content compliance, SR&ED claims on process and product engineering, and the working capital discipline auto suppliers need given long payment cycles from OEMs.
Do you handle standard costing and variance analysis?
Yes — standard costing is the single most important technical discipline in manufacturing finance. We handle standard cost setup for materials, labor and overhead by SKU or part number, ongoing standard cost roll-forward as inputs change, variance analysis across material price, material usage, labor efficiency, labor rate and overhead absorption, cost of goods manufactured (COGM) reconciliation to cost of goods sold, and the standard-to-actual variance reporting that surfaces where margin is actually being made and lost by product line. Getting standard costing wrong misstates gross margin by material amounts and hides operational problems until they become financial problems.
Do you handle BOM (Bill of Materials) accounting and cost roll-ups?
Yes. BOM accounting is foundational manufacturing finance work. We handle multi-level BOM structure with proper cost roll-up from raw materials through sub-assemblies to finished goods, BOM change accounting and engineering change order (ECO) impact, effective date discipline when BOMs change mid-period, coordination with your engineering and operations teams on BOM accuracy, and integration between your ERP BOM structure and your general ledger. BOM accuracy is where standard costing lives or dies — a wrong BOM makes every downstream number wrong.
Do you handle SR&ED tax credits for manufacturers?
Yes. SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) is the largest under-claimed tax credit opportunity in Canadian manufacturing. We coordinate with SR&ED consultants and your engineering team on eligible expenditure identification for process improvement, product development, prototype development, new material qualification, quality improvement programs, and automation and Industry 4.0 initiatives. Federal refundable investment tax credit rates plus Ontario provincial credits materially reduce the true cost of manufacturing innovation. Manufacturers who ignore SR&ED are usually leaving five- to seven-figure annual credits on the table.
Do you handle Class 53 accelerated CCA planning?
Yes. Class 53 accelerated CCA (manufacturing and processing machinery and equipment) is one of the highest-value tax planning opportunities in Canadian manufacturing. Under the Accelerated Investment Incentive introduced in 2018 and phasing through 2027, qualifying M&P equipment can be fully written off in the year of acquisition. We coordinate CCA planning across Class 53 (M&P equipment), Class 50 (computer equipment), Class 43.1 and 43.2 (renewable energy equipment where applicable) and Class 1 (buildings), and ensure your capex planning surfaces the full tax value of equipment investments. Getting the timing right on qualifying purchases materially reduces cash tax.
Do you handle ERP integration across SAP, NetSuite, Sage X3, Epicor and Global Shop?
Yes. Manufacturing ERPs are foundational infrastructure and we work with all major platforms — SAP and SAP Business One for mid-market and up, Oracle NetSuite for mid-market, Sage X3 for process manufacturing, Epicor for mixed-mode manufacturing, Global Shop for discrete manufacturing, Made2Manage for job shops, Infor CloudSuite for automotive and industrial, and Plex for cloud-based manufacturing. We handle the integration between your ERP and your general ledger, cost center and cost element discipline, inventory sub-ledger to GL reconciliation, and the standard costing and variance reporting your operations team actually needs.
Do you handle cross-border and CUSMA rules of origin coordination?
Yes. Cross-border trade is fundamental to Ontario manufacturing — the US is by far the largest export market for Ontario manufacturers, especially auto, food and beverage, aerospace and industrial. We handle multi-currency accounting for USD/CAD and where applicable EUR/GBP, CUSMA (Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, the successor to NAFTA) rules of origin content documentation and regional value content (RVC) calculation coordination with your customs broker, duty drawback claims, customs classification consistency, and the transfer pricing documentation where you have a US subsidiary or related-party structure. Getting CUSMA content compliance wrong exposes shipments to full duty at the border.
Do you handle inventory reserves (SLOB) and quality cost accounting?
Yes. Inventory reserves for slow-moving and obsolete (SLOB) inventory, scrap accounting, rework accounting, warranty reserves and quality cost tracking are all core manufacturing bookkeeping. We handle SLOB reserve calculation methodology (days-of-supply thresholds, obsolescence risk categories), scrap and rework accounting tied to production reporting, warranty reserve calculation based on historic warranty rates, and the quality cost tracking that shows where the true cost of poor quality actually hits the P&L (often much larger than the direct scrap number suggests).
Which Ontario cities do you serve manufacturers in?
Ledgerive serves manufacturers across Ontario's manufacturing corridor — Windsor (auto, tool and die, plus the Stellantis-LGES EV battery ecosystem), Oakville (Ford Canada plus mid-market industrial), Mississauga (Meadowvale pharma, plus large mid-market and Pearson corridor logistics-adjacent manufacturing), Brampton (food and beverage, plastics, industrial machinery), Vaughan (plastics, packaging, food manufacturing), Cambridge and Kitchener-Waterloo (Toyota Canada plus medical devices, precision machining and advanced manufacturing), Markham (electronics, contract manufacturing, Chinese-Canadian owned specialty), Hamilton (steel and heavy industry), Toronto (aerospace including Downsview plus specialty food and CPG), and the broader Ontario manufacturing base. Every engagement is remote-first with on-site quarterly reviews available.
How quickly can you get started with a manufacturer?
Bookkeeping and Fractional CFO engagements typically start within 3 to 5 business days of the discovery call. Business plans and financial models start within 3 business days, with 2 to 4 week delivery. Rush turnaround is available for SR&ED claim deadlines, IRAP or SIF (Strategic Innovation Fund) application windows, bank credit facility renewals, OEM audit prep, ERP go-live cutover, family succession filings or acquisition closings — always confirmed on the discovery call itself so you know before you commit.
How do you handle pricing?
We quote a fixed fee in writing after the discovery call — monthly for CFO and bookkeeping engagements, fixed project fee for business plans and models. Pricing depends on business size, product complexity and ERP scope. We don't publish pricing publicly because engagements vary too much — but we're happy to give you a firm, written number on the call itself.

Ready to get finance right for your manufacturing business?

30 minutes. NDA first. No pitch. Just a real conversation about your product lines, your ERP, your next 12 months, and whether we're the right team to deliver the finance work behind them.